BEE Partner, South Africa Economy Watch

Investment No. 6: Integrate executive development with the strategy process

Given that Strategy is the process of putting an organisation into a more favourable position in the marketplace relative to its competitors by integrating customer needs, competitive realities and its own internal capabilities, proactive executive development will improve the chances of strategic success. This is because properly trained executives can design and deliver more effective strategies.

It is imperative that the talent pipeline delivers both the quantity and quality of managers who can guide the future strategic thinkin_gof the organisation. This prevents the planning process from getting too far ahead of the executive development process. It also means that the organisation does not rely on outside talent to fill key management positions.

There are a number of practices that companies need to pursue in order to make this happen:

• The head of human resources and/or training needs to be brought into the strategy process.
• The senior management team must buy into the concept of executive development.
• The HR director and/or head of training must have a good understanding of the goals and objectives of the organisation, as well as the challenges it faces. He or she will need to advise on the talent required to reach these goals, and will be responsible for creating development programmes that will help the COM’ pany to achieve its strategic objectives.

Investment No. 7: Invest in capabilities building

South African companies are facing intense pressure from corn^- petitors at home and in the global arena. One way of managing this situation is for a company to produce products and services that bring higher value to the marketplace than those of its competitors, which will then help the company to differentiate itself from its opposition. For this to happen, it needs to innovate faster, but _also to develop its innovative capability. In order to do this, South African companies need to have employees with skills that match or exceed the requirements from the marketplace. Developing the right skills capability will assist companies in this country to manage new technologies, improve productivity, generate new products and services, and, of course, improve their bottom line.

Investing in capabilities building means being passionate about developing one’s employees and unlocking their potential. Development, however, has to be properly targeted. It needs a proper set of objectives, and has to be measurable in terms of adding value to the company’s ability to compete. Transparency is critical in this process, as employees need to fully understand the value of whatever development is being proposed. Indeed, they should be part of the process. To create the greatest impact, development should be balanced between formal training and on-the-job training.

Given the skills shortage in South Africa as a result of the brain drain and the effects of HIV/AIDS, there are seven categories of capability development that companies need to address.

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