Empower employees to create value

Corporations that strive to lead the market and create value for their clients, need to attract, develop, and retain the best people and tap their creativity.

In fact 'the winners in the war for talent will win the war for market leadership,'predicts Gerry Redmond, Partner of the Learning and Development unit at global professional services firm, Ernst & Young.

Echoing E&Y's Global Chairman Jim Turley, he says that a corporation's growth is closely linked to its people and that growth in turn creates opportunities for employees.

This is the thinking that also drives E&Y's 'People First' strategy, as Mr Redmond notes, 'We are in the business of creating value and confidence for our people and our clients.'

'The idea of generating value through our people to create value for our clients, may be a little different from the traditional approach of focusing on your clients. However, if you get great people, motivated and empowered, you will get leading edge products, great service delivery and satisfied clients,' Mr Redmond says.

To retain high-performing motivated workers, corporations need to understand the goals of their employees and seek to accommodate and enable these within business objectives. That may include 'on-the-job coaching and finding innovative ways to reward the right behaviours,' Mr Redmond says.

'An organisation's HR policies and processes should support and enable the business strategy. Some companies fail to align the key processes that enable their workforce to perform well. To be effective, knowledge, training, and appraisal/reward systems must be aligned to what the business wants and needs the employee to do on the job.'

While successful organisations need to create conditions for motivated and inspired people to develop and improve their skills and careers, individuals themselves must identify their personal goals and drivers and then pursue them with passion and commitment.

E&Y's 'People First' is a programme that demands excellence and high performance in return for challenging and rewarding careers. But first, Mr Redmond suggests a crucial test for those willing to take the high road.

'Often people fail to try out new things or areas because of a fear of looking bad or not being as good at the new things as they are with what they already know. It is important to try out new things regularly. This is how you really find out what you enjoy and what you don't. Also check in regularly with yourself, asking what is it about your job, your hobbies and your friends that you like. Knowing yourself is a fundamental element to setting and managing your goals. This is extremely important,' he says.

In a complex business environment, continuous learning is equally crucial. He notes that organisations are increasingly asking employees to do more in less time, demanding that individuals continually acquire new skills and sharpen existing abilities. In this context, learning to effectively use knowledge tools and technology is a must, he points out.

'Those who can leverage knowledge and knowledge systems will be able to generate better quality solutions, faster for clients,' Mr Redmond says.

He points out that all E&Y professionals have access to their internal knowledge network, the Knowledge Web, or Kweb as it is referred to. This award winning online source of knowledge includes industry databases, including best practices, and technical guidelines and examples gathered from leading external providers and E&Y's professionals.

Ernst & Young's continuing commitment to the career growth of its people, has earned public recognition. In March this year, the US-based Training magazine ranked E&Y 7th, in the list of top 100 companies evaluated on the basis of qualitative and quantitative criteria. The annual rankings recognise organisations that excel at human capital development.

In terms of on the job skills development, E&Y conducts assignment assessment and sets skills development targets.

Through various assignments over the year, employees get the opportunity to further hone their skills working under a team leader, while also providing professional service to clients, Mr Redmond says.

'One of our goals is to have our people learn a new skill or develop their existing skills as a part of their engagement. For each assignment, the team will set three sets of goals, one set in relation to the client needs, one in relation to the firm's operating objectives and thirdly, their own development goals. In this way everyone has a personal stake in each assignment and there's greater motivation,' Mr Redmond says.

'In other words, from our team's perspective any engagement is a learning environment.'

Drawing on the culture of 'People First' at E&Y, he advises young professionals to look at ways of developing their personal capital, based on their own goals and needs, while developing the type of general attributes that will make them a valuable asset to any organisation. (see graphic, right).

Whatever form it may come in - Web-based, classroom or on-the-job - learning needs to be continuous, he says.

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