Human Capital Infrastructure

The key to any successful organization, whether it is a professional football team or a 150-million-general contractor, is to hire, develop, and retain talented team members. If increasing the profit margin from 2% to 4% is your strategic goal, then your talent profile might be different from the profile of a company that wants to develop the technical expertise necessary to build nuclear power plants. FMI works with clients to create the human capital infrastructure required to implement their specific strategic goals.

Job Descriptions: Employees are more capable of producing exceptional results and are aligned with the business strategy when they have clearly defined objectives and roles. Not only do job descriptions serve as a platform for performance evaluations and counseling on performance issues, they provide a means of communication during the hiring process by ensuring that each applicant is clear about the expectations of the role.

Performance Metrics: Managers and employees use performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of their human capital in terms of company standards, industry standards, and financial metrics. Metrics serve as a baseline for incentive compensation, individual and business unit goal setting, and operational decision-making.

Performance Evaluations: A standard performance evaluation process enables a firm to offer consistent, thorough evaluations to their employees. Employees who receive effective feedback on a regular basis are more productive and focused. In addition, consistently applied performance evaluations help employees and their managers create individual employee development plans.

Incentive Compensation: A truly vibrant compensation plan tied into the overall business plan provides guidelines for employees to accomplish stretch goals and therefore increase the ability for a firm to exceed financial and operational goals. Incentive compensation should be variable in nature to allow flexibility in targeting key people in key positions within proper budgeting guidelines.

Career Paths: Individual development plans empower employees to grow in the direction established by the business as well as in ways that nourish personal goals. Some employees will naturally strive to progress to higher levels within the organization, while others will prefer to remain at their current level and implement continuous improvements to their tools and processes. Career paths serve as valuable tools that foster communication and planning around employee development and goal attainment.

Infrastructure Development Process

Step One:
Define specific responsibilities and performance metrics for key employees.

Step Two:
Implement a process for reviewing performance and driving accountability.

Step Three:
Provide incentives for performance and motivate employees to reach beyond goals and achieve superior results.

Step Four:
Develop career paths for individuals that include goals, training, and development plans.