People are value creators
People are our greatest assets, a catchphrase often found on websites, in annual reports and business presentations. It always makes me smile when reading this. Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely believe that many organisations have good intent when it comes to “managing the people asset”. They struggle however somehow to put common sense into common practice. Organisations seem to be leaving a lot of value on the table simply by not making the most of what “their” people could do and would actually be delighted to contribute. As an example, most people would welcome the opportunity to bring their full selves to work. Yet in too many companies people seem to take on a different persona to fit in with the corporate identity. Just imagine if you could create a working environment where people wouldn’t feel constrained? How much more positive energy would this generate to create value for the organisation? How much easier would it become to keep the people you most value connected to your organisation? How delightful would it be to be a leader in such an empowering working environment? How attractive would your organisation become for the type of talent you never imagined would be interested in belonging to your network? How much further would your organisation go and how much more would it achieve? Yet, we do seem not to put the creation of these type of opportunities high on the business agenda. Other business levers such as finance, operations, sales, marketing, procurement, risk management take priority.
Effra consult believes significant value can be created if you put your people and how your organisation works at the heart of business strategy, planning and implementation and elevate it to a primary business lever. In our view, this goes far beyond traditional approaches to talent management, organisational effectiveness or human resources. People should no longer been seen as assets that needs maximising. If you leverage your people in this new way and shed a light on your business through a people lens, we believe organisations will spot new opportunities and possibilities to create value. People can become your primary business lever and at Effra consult we refer to people as value creators.
Our mission and purpose is therefore linked to supporting organisations to act on the human centre design paradigm and, by doing so, making them realise the unrealised value they are currently still leaving on the table linked to people.
At Effra consult, we are in discovery conversations with a private equity company interested in achieving higher multiples through leveraging their leadership teams and re-evaluating their people architecture. We are working with the senior leadership of an established organisation who realise that the new approach we initiated around talent management is providing them with a powerful business planning and engagement tool creating competitive advantage. Effra consult is also supporting start-ups at the top of their game from a product development and go to market strategy, yet need to shore up the human side of their business plan.
Needless to say we want to practice what we preach too. So at Effra consultwe operate as an ecosystem bound by shared values where every “Effragette” is truly her or himself and works only on these projects in line with their personal purpose.
If you think this is utopian, you might want to know that we are currently already collaborating with the likes of Anthemis, Amey, Barclays, BondIt, Delio and HSBC and more to be revealed soon.