Drilling for Human Capital Reserves

Cut Through the Bull

Okay. That makes sense,” you say. “But let’s bring it down from 30,000 feet to the level of everyday life in my company. Let’s put some meat on the bones of the consultant-speak mumbo-jumbo, huh?”

Well, it doesn’t take an IQ of 140 to know that the technology resources we use today are not necessarily productivity advancements. How much time is wasted every day reading through e-mail streams to glean out important information? How much stress is caused by the 24-7 accessibility that’s possible now with Blackberrys and cell phones? How much money is wasted dumping data into shared systems that nobody uses or needs? Is that real-life enough for you?

In the 1990s, conventional wisdom was that the birth of the Internet and the widespread use of Web-based platforms would improve communication within organizations, thereby increasing productivity and ultimately investment returns. Some of those dreams have been realized, but those of us living in the real world of business know that those technologies haven’t been the panacea that was promised. In fact, I’d suggest that the information age has become an information overload that creates confusion, busywork, and indecision, rather than productivity.

The point is to make the untapped resource of your human capital your number-one priority.

To blast through those obstacles, the McKinsey experts say that business leaders must create organizations with clear hierarchies of decision making. A backbone of management authority, with tactical decision-making authority on the front lines, will nurture the most hidden reserves of brain power in the work force.

Business leaders must also be smart about technology investments that are supposed to educate, train, and help their people share knowledge. Don’t just throw every blasted document into a shared network; do research to discover what information people really need to get their jobs done. Don’t create a million mini–Web sites on an internal server that are useful only for a handful of people; create a Wikipedia-like “companypedia” that enables employees across divisions to collaborate and share knowledge—without wading through bureaucracy.

Whether you focus on the health and wellness of your employees, provide ongoing education and training opportunities, or get smarter about your organizational structure and its supporting information structure, the point is to make the untapped resource of your human capital your number-one priority. Old mindsets and structures aren’t keeping up with today’s new challenges, just as oil production cannot keep up with world demand.

Leaping successfully into the new world will take a big commitment by management to drill deep for untapped human reserves of talent, knowledge, skills, and relationships within our organizations. Human capital is a great resource and a source of competitive advantage in the marketplace, if properly tapped—so get on with it, you wildcats!