In Pt 1, we left you with these questions: Is the Chief People Officer a panacea for all people related challenges in an organization? Is hiring a CPO the solution to all issues related to employee engagement, retention, and growth?
Notwithstanding the importance of CPOs’ roles as organizations increasingly value their human capital, it takes the entire executive team, mid level management, and every employee in the organization to acquire and retain talent, improve workplace culture and environment, and increase profits.
Often dubbed the “Chief Happiness Officer”, even being called a “Quarterback” for the organization, “a CPO is a strategic resource that is able to look across the entire business to drive change”, according to this article.
The expectations for a CPO can sometimes be unrealistic since a CPO cannot singularly deliver the magic for all talent related results and a positive work environment. A quarterback without a fully coordinated and high performing team cannot score results, neither can a CPO.
A CPO’s success is possible only if the entire C-suite is aligned behind clear and well-defined goals, coordinating and collaborating together to execute various connected parts of people, technology, processes, systems, products, marketing and sales. They need to deal with constant growing pains as a team.
There must be timely communication in all directions, horizontally and vertically, among the entire executive team, HR department, mid level management and employees.
Below the CPO executive leadership team, the extended leadership team plays a critical role in implementing policies, strategies, and changes.
A CPO does command a bird’s eye view across the entire organization. By taking care of talent management, culture, employee well being, a CPO feels the pulse of an organization and where it is on the path of achieving its goals.
As a bridge between the workforce and the organization, a CPO needs to be in the know about the needs and wants of the employees and those of the business. To close the gap, the CPO initiates improvements of employee experience in order to keep top-performing talent in a competitive market.
Towards that end, these are just a few of many tasks for a CPO:
By understanding the employee journey from start to finish, and by leveraging their company-wide view of employee experience, CPOs act as the eyes and ears for employee experience across the organization. This allows them to make data-driven decisions that optimize the work environment and ultimately fuel business success. CPOs are uniquely positioned to identify areas for improvement and make strategic adjustments that drive business growth.
A CPO needs to be a well-rounded leader with not only deep HR knowledge but also a strong grasp of the business. Excellent communication and problem-solving skills are also crucial for success in this role.
What a company’s brand stands for is manifested in its culture. Changing company culture is one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing to do. But what’s even harder than shaping a culture, is persistent and relentless effort to realize behavioral changes.
Company culture, under the umbrella of a company brand, permeates everyday decisions about who gets hired, fired, promoted, rewarded.
While the C-suite, CPO and the executive team set the course of action, the success of any culture change hinges on the extended leadership team – the mid-level managers and how they flex their management muscle. They translate policy and strategy into actions and behaviors on the ground, making or breaking the entire initiative for cultural changes.
If the company prioritizes innovation, it cultivates a culture of innovation and teamwork, and this priority leads to talent strategies and people management details. For example: if some top innovative performers feel stuck under a subpar manager, instead of the “too little too late” way of taking action after the performers are so frustrated that they leave the company, a CPO can PROACTIVELY transfer them to a better-fitting team, led by a manager who can unleash their innovation, or train their existing manager to be more adept at leading innovation, thus avoiding resignations and the cost of time and money in finding replacements and onboarding.
By taking a proactive approach to your people strategy, A CPO is a “leadership catalyst” for cultural changes and a “guardian angel” for the company brand culture.
Even with a strong CPO executive team, organizations seldom have all the capabilities and expertise internally. TEP.Global provides partners, coaches, and consultants with a wide range of services over a prolonged period of time. We seamlessly integrate with your internal teams. With close collaboration, we empower you to make lasting changes to your organization and healthy bottomline.
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TEP.Global not only has a combined 100 years of experience and expertise in people management, talent acquisition, executive assessment, but also deep knowledge in building teams and workplace culture in organizations of all sizes. For more information and insights, please contact us.
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