The RBL Review: Institute Insider

An RBL Institute Mini Forum White Paper
By Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood & Justin Allen

Participating RBL Institute Members:
Brian Miller, Wal-Mart  | Douog Bryant, Cardinal Health | Quinn Wilson, Flextronics | Conor Mollohy, British American Tobacco | Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, Kellogg | Hallstein Moerk, Nokia

In an effort to clarify the role HR should play in making strategy happen, HR leaders from The RBL Institute's member companies joined Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Justin Allen on a one-hour conference call. After sharing challenges, ideas, and potential solutions, we developed the following framework and identified various viruses that impede successful implimentation.

Download the RBL Institute mini-forum whitepaper "Global Talent" in .PDF format.

One of the most critical capabilities we see in markets today is the ability to innovate. Innovation can occur in multiple areas including products, services, distribution, administrative systems, strategy, etc. But what is the discipline of innovation and how can you, as an HR manager, bring it to a company?

Dave Ulrich introduces an innovation protocol - a framework that HR professionals can bring to management teams to drive a disciplined discussion about building innovation as a capability.

Additional Resources

	Many of the capabilities discussed in this series were first introduced in the book, How Leaders Build Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.
	View videos on each of the organization capabilities.

All companies must understand and respond to the needs of their customers if they are to be successful. HR professionals are ideally positioned to build that capability by bringing customer information into the firm, disseminating that information throughout the firm, and using that information as the basis for integrating and coordinating the activities of their organization.

In this video, Wayne Brockbank describes the role of HR in developing a "Customer Connectivity" capability within the organization and provides examples of HR organizations that have achieved success in this area.

Additional Resources

	HR's role as a "Strategic Architect" is discussed in the recent book HR Competencies (Ulrich, Brockbank, Johnson, Sandholtz and Younger) Click to learn more.
	View videos on each of the organization capabilities.

No one disputes that leadership matters. We recognize good leadership firsthand when a leader we admire inspires, excites, engages, or even leaves us. Beyond our personal awareness, research has shown that the quality of leadership helps meet the expectations of investors, customers, and employees. While we can stipulate that leadership matters and that we know it when we encounter it, it is much more difficult to find the elusive answer to the simple question, "What makes an effective leader?"

In their forthcoming book Leadership Code, Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood, and Kate Sweetman, attempt to answer that question. In a brief and clear way, the authors synthesize existing scholarly and applied research on leadership to identify the essential rules that govern what all great leaders do.

In this video, Dave Ulrich introduces The Leadership Code and describes the Leadership Code model.

Additional Resources

	Pre-order Leadership Code before Nov 30, 2008 and get a free Leadership Code self-assessment, plus access to the author videos and online tools. Visit www.LeadershipCodeBook.com/offer to find out how.
	Learn more about The Leadership Code. Visit www.LeadershipCodeBook.com and download an excerpt from Chapter One.

An RBL Institute Mini Forum White Paper
By Dave Ulrich & Justin Allen

Participating RBL Institute Members:
Jane Howard, BAT | Keith Lawrence, P&G | Bob Moresy, Cambell Soup | Carole Watkins, Cardinal Health

Imagine this: You are the Chief HR Officer of a Fortune 500 company and every morning, every single one of your 100,000+ employees wakes saying, "I absolutely love my job. I'm going to get in to work and give my company everything I've got to add value for our stakeholders!"

An impossible dream? Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but in the daily battle to add value for multiple stakeholders, companies are increasingly acknowledging the importance of creating and embedding an integrated, simple, and strategically-aligned employee value proposition. Whether faced with mergers and acquisitions, downsizing in a tough economic environment, or simply working to ensure employees are engaged and dedicating high levels of discretionary effort, a solid EVP can have an immense impact if leaders can make it real.

In a lively conversation on May 29, 2008, four senior HR leaders from some of the world's premier companies discussed the challenges, opportunities, and best practices in employee value proposition delivery. The following sketch provides key points from the discussion. We first list challenges currently faced by senior HR leaders, and then outline insights on (A) WHY employee value proposition (EVP) can be beneficial, (B) WHAT a good EVP must be, and (C) HOW we can make it real for our employees.

Download the RBL Institute mini-forum whitepaper "Employee Value Proposition" in .PDF format.

As global trade continues to increase sharply, general managers and HR professionals must understand what is required to do business in emerging economies. In this video, Wayne Brockbank talks about two key questions that global organizations must consider: First, what are the basic requirements of doing business in emerging markets? Second, how do we leverage these countries as sources of competitive advantage? (8 min)

Additional Publications

What knowledge and abilities distinguish successful HR professionals? Learn about the six competencies identified in the largest study of global HR competenices in HR Competencies by Dave Ulrich, Wayne Brockbank, Jon Younger, Kurt Sandholtz, and Dani Johnson.