A Vision for a New Type of Engagement Advisory Firm
A highly experienced advisor on compensation, human capital analytics and impact measurement technology has assumed leadership of the International Center for Enterprise Engagement to create a new kind of engagement advisory firm.By Darwin Hanson
Note: The author recently acquired management of International Center for Enterprise Engagement from the Enterprise Engagement Alliance. ICEE was originally founded to promote certifications in ISO human capital standards. After five years of effort, it became clear that standards provide useful benchmarks and roadmaps for planning and disclosures but that most organizations are more interested in using them as a roadmap to guide effective practices relevant to their organizations rather than becoming certified. Darwin Hanson is CEO of Talent Management Evolution, a compensation and human capital analytics technology firm.
We Sell Performance, Not Products and Services
A New Business Practice Made Possible Through Technology
Click here to subscribe to RRN weekly, and here for an RRN media kit.
Extensive empirical research shows that having highly engaged stakeholders can enhance both financial and share price performance. A new type of advisory service is required for those organizations seeking to achieve enhanced performance through people—sales and non-sales employees, customers, distribution and supply chain partners, and communities.
The incentive, reward, recognition and related technology firms that currently concentrate on engagement appear to overlook an essential fact: engagement is driven not by ad hoc tactics but rather through a holistic approach. It must start with a clear purpose defined through goals, objectives, and values—not simply with incentives, rewards, recognition, motivational events, promotional products, technology, or other “things.”
Whether the goal is a strategic effort to harmonize the interests of all stakeholders toward a common organizational purpose, goal, or objective, or for a small team to achieve an important goal, the world of total quality management has proven that it is not “tactics” that move mountains. it is an integrated approach that aligns all the tactical efforts used to engage and equip people toward the organization’s raison d’etre.
ICEE’s practice applies the proven principles of total quality management to people. Total quality management offers a holistic approach to long-term success through external and internal customer satisfaction. Driven by continuous improvement, it involves everyone—from top leadership to frontline employees—towards the organization’s primary goal.
We Sell Performance, Not Products and Services
In my practice at TM Evolution as an advisor to organizations large and small on compensation and human capital analytics for over 19 years, my Linkedin feeds are filled with prescriptions from vendors on how rewards and recognition tactics and technology are the secret to engagement and organizational success. They tout the benefits, but nowhere do they talk about actual impact metrics; information needed by executives to consider the value of their investments. A look at the history of these companies indicates that they appear to focus on products and tactics to solve their goals, rather than using strategic performance improvement, compensation, or analytics to understand the impact and design of a requirements-based solution.
It’s no wonder that engagement remains at near record lows, despite hundreds of billions of dollars collectively spent each year to acquire and keep customers, employees, distribution and supply chain partners. The key lesson of total quality management is that it requires a strategic and systematic approach that is measurable, auditable, and harmonizes the interests of all stakeholders involved.
The large Investments we see in tactical solutions warrant a greater level of impact measurement today, especially when technology and analytics have made it so much easier to correlate investments with results.
Of course, rewards, recognition, appreciation, and motivational events are important aspects of a holistic quality approach, but most important is a strategic system. A system—facilitated with technology—that starts with a strategic plan that aligns the relevant branding, multi-media communications, learning, social recognition, appreciation, rewards, metrics, analysis and other tactics to engage people and enhance experiences.
A New Business Practice Made Possible Through Technology
ICEE will be the first advisory firm I know of in stakeholder engagement that sells the achievement of purpose, goals, and objectives related to all stakeholders based on clear impact metrics. To be clear, tactics such as communications, learning, voice, surveys, compensation programs, and motivational events may be recommended and employed to achieve the organizations goals. But this will be the tactic to serve the strategy, not the other way around. Our model can help management with implementation and impact measurement, as well as provide impact assessment and program design.
We have access to multiple enterprise engagement technologies that make it easy to bypass traditional organizational siloes by putting all the engagement levers on a single platform, reducing the need to draw upon the resources of already strained communications, human resources, and training colleagues, while insuring alignment of programs with strategic impact results.
We transparently recommend the best solutions that align with the client’s overall strategic requirements, even if that means redeploying the tactics already in use. For many organizations, they can use technologies they already own. Some organizations need an outside source. We aren't locked into any one solution.
Depending on client’s needs, we assess the purpose, goals, objectives, and values of the task; the status, including impact measurement of current efforts; the opportunities to enhance performance along with associated risks, and a recommended game plan.
Our model is performance-based fees for strategic engagement efforts to address two key needs:
- Helping organizations harmonize the interests of all their stakeholders toward a strategic purpose, measurable goals, and objectives, at the strategic, organization-wide or tactical, team-focused needs related to sales, quality, productivity, service, cost-reductions, innovation, safety, etc.
- Using the organization’s strategy, recommend, design, implement, and measure the impact of aligned tactical solutions. This is accomplished using a transparent model based specifically on client needs, budgets, and value added.
- Helping companies objectively measure the impact of current engagement efforts against their purpose, goals, objectives, and values, as well as effective practices and standards.
- Providing advisory services on the application of total quality management practices to the design and implementation of stakeholder management efforts.
- Validating the stakeholder management information in corporate sustainability reports.
For More Information
Darwin Hanson, CEO
darwin@brainerd.net
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 15th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:
1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009; click here for a media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996; click here for a EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards insights and how-to information since 2020.
2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder
Management Academy to enhance future equity value and performance for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
6. Public speaking and meeting facilitation on stakeholder management. The world’s leading speakers on all aspects of stakeholder management across the enterprise.
