SUCCESSFACTORS / WHITEPAPER WInnIng THROUgH TAlEnT In UnCERTAIn TImES Question to Ask* How effectively are you able to steer the ship? Are your people aligned? • Do all your employees know what is expected of them? • can you rapidly commit people resources to new courses of action in response to changes in the external environment? • can you instantly communicate the new course of action and ensure employees map their own projects and priorities to them? • Do you have the ability to see all project activity? To check progress real-time? • can you act promptly when it’s time to halt or reverse existing resource commitments? • Are your people aligned? * Companies can ask these questions any time, but the pressure of a challenging economic environment puts a premium on having the answers. 2. Cut with precision, if you must — but not bluntly. Once you know the strategic goals for your organization, focus on costs. If layoffs become necessary, view them as your chance to optimize your workforce — weeding out the low performers and letting your best talent grow. Avoid the traditional across-the-board cut. Untargeted downsizing sheds stars and leaves you Question to Ask with mediocrity. If you trim the wrong 10%, you Are you prepared to ma ke tough could destroy most of the firm’s value today. You decisions about your workforce? Who could undermine your growth tomorrow. You could should stay and who should go? alienate remaining employees. Before making any big decisions about your workforce, it is necessary • What is the cost of terminating an A-player first to develop a clear picture of your talent pool. while simultaneously keeping a c-player? What message does that send to the How well do you know your talent? Poor remaining employees? performance management processes, systems and • If you had to make the cuts, can you: metrics can be disguised by strong business o Identify the bottom 10%? 20%? conditions. But during down times, a lack of solid o Identify stars in your underperforming busi- information on workforce performance can lead to nesses? poor decision making. Moreover, lack of information o Ensure that they won’t be lost or de-motivated? can also delay hard decisions on downsizing your • Do each of your employees know what it workforce. takes to be an “A-player”? If you had to Once you know who your bottom performers are, make the cuts, would they understand why for example, you can immediately save money by certain employees were kept onboard, and either reducing their pay or letting them go. others let go? 6