Guest article from John R. Mattox, II, Ph.D., VP of Action Learning Associates
Doug Gray, Ph.D., CEO of Action Learning Associates
Tangible and Intangible Assets
Financial capital is the lifeblood of businesses. It allows leaders to invest in the tangible and intangible aspects of the organization that will drive growth and achieve business goals. From an accounting perspective, people are an intangible asset. Like tangible assets such as real estate, buildings, computers, manufacturing equipment, raw materials, etc., WE KNOW that people bring substantial value to the organization.
“We hire the best people,” is not a marketing catch phrase for companies like Google, Amazon, Qualcomm, McKinsey, KPMG, and other organizations that rely on innovations and intellect to achieve their mission. The best people develop new technologies. They build products that can be patented and resold. They program better and faster to streamline business operations.
Yet, the accounting industry struggles with quantifying intangible assets and how to report them on.
Why is this so important?
Investors (individual or corporate) review auditing statements to determine whether a company is a worthwhile investment. An article by EverEdgeGlobal.com titled The Missing Trillions: Valuing Intangible Assets provides several examples of the disconnect between current valuation statements and actual value in the market. Here is the quote that kicks off the article, “According to a recent report from the UK Treasury, the world’s five most valuable companies are together worth £3.5 trillion, yet their balance sheets report just £172 billion of tangible assets. The other £3.3 trillion of value is missing in action.” Investors are no longer well informed because accountants cannot accurately report the value of intangible assets.
HR is going to drive change for business within the next 3 years.
Until recently, the only human capital metric that was required for public reporting by the Securities and Exchange commission (SEC) was the number of employees.
On August 26, 2020 the SEC ruled that companies should start reporting information about human capital. Why? Wouldn’t it be valuable to know the turnover rate within an organization or the vacant positions among leadership? What about culture? Diversity? Ethical violations? Would this information change the way you value a company and influence whether you invest or not? The SEC’s answers to these questions are yes.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) agrees.
In 2018 after several years of discussion and development in technical committee, the organization approved ISO 30414, a standard for Human Capital Reporting. This NEW standard recommends that large organizations report 23 people metrics and small organizations report ten metrics.
The ISO encourages organizations to adopt these standards so all organizations can provide useful information to stakeholders. The standards also allow for comparison across organizations—again, to help make more informed investment decisions. The standard also serves as a guide for organizations that are not measuring human capital well. It is a playbook of important measures. Peter Drucker said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Here is the opportunity for organizations to get better by measuring and managing one of their largest costs and also one of the greatest influencers of profitability.
What are the Human Capital Measures?
The ISO standard contains 11 general reporting areas which are listed below:
Compliance and ethics
Costs
Diversity
Leadership
Organizational culture
Organizational health, safety, and well-being
Productivity
Recruitment, mobility, and turnover
Skills and capabilities
Succession planning
Workforce availability
Along with these reporting areas, the standard provides specific metrics and recommended ways to calculate them.
Expect updates to definitions and calculations in the coming years as practitioners adopt and apply the standard. Conclusion
Employees are gaining recognition as a differentiator that adds more value than traditional tangible assets. For decades business owners and audit leaders have struggled to frame and quantify the value that employees bring. Now with the ISO 30414, there is a viable framework and detailed measures for demonstrating value.
The SEC is now requiring publicly traded companies to report material information about human capital.
Let me repeat that: The SEC is now requiring publicly traded companies to report material information about human capital.
Measurement and reporting of these metrics will provide investors with valuable information to fuel decisions. It will also provide business leaders with valuable metrics to monitor and manage a critical driver of success.
If you need additional information, please contact John Mattox or Doug Gray at Action Learning Associates by phone 615 236 9845. We can help your team measure and manage your ISO 30414 compliance initiatives. Get ahead of the curve. Call us today.
OPINION: There is no need for mystery in the consulting industry.
FACT: Annual revenue from management consulting in the U.S. was over $58B in 2018.
If you are ready to invest in your organization through an Action Learning Associates, LLC workshop, then you are probably wondering about the costs. You may also be wondering how much you should invest in your team. Use these fee ranges. Your investment costs are direct (e.g., training, travel, facilities, food) and indirect (e.g, lost work opportunities, low engagement or undesired turnover from uninvited associates). Your benefits are direct (e.g., consistent delivery of key content, accelerated launch speed, increased engagement) and indirect (e.g., model professional development, cascade initiatives to all associates, digital distribution.) Do your cost:benefit analysis. Use these investment ranges. Then contact us.
Question:How much should you invest in your team?
Answer: You should only invest invest enough to guarantee that your outcomes are exceeded. Not a dollar more.
Use these Organizational Consulting Activities and Fee Ranges as a guideline.
1. Consulting Day Onsite. Fee Range $5,000-$10,000. The primary reason to invest in external consulting is to accelerate desired changes in performance or behavior. The services may include (1) assessments, (2) coaching or consulting, or (3) skills training. Those services may be for individuals, groups (defined as 2+ people), or organizations. Be wary of consultants who bill by the hour, because that practice is transactional and inherently unethical. Be wary of consultants who offer an “in-town reduction,” or who charge additional fees for materials or excessive travel. Only select external consultants who provide tremendous value, clear contracts, expected outcomes, and then exceed any promises. We typically provide you with 3-4 choices. For details click here.
2. Consulting Day Offsite (e.g., research, data analysis, assessment development). Fee Range $1,000-$5,000. The primary reason to invest in such consulting days is to enable an expert to customize evidence-based content for your organization. Be wary of consultants who charge an excessive fee for research on your project. Those consultants may not be subject matter experts- they may be billing you for their self-study. That practice is both expensive and unethical. However, it is fair and reasonable for any consultant to provide a summary of value provided for any offsite consulting work such as customization, research, or data analysis. We always include those expenses in our value-based contracts for services. Click here for details.
3. Keynote or other brief speech. Fee Range $5,000- $15,000. The primary reason to invest in a motivational speaker is to introduce a new topic or to accelerate learning. For instance, when we speak on “How to Accelerate a Culture of Fiscal Accountability Using the OKR Process” or “How to Apply Positive Psychology to Your Organization” the material is customized for your specific learning outcome. Only select speakers who can provide video evidence of their relevant expertise. The real benefit of investing in our keynote speaking is to integrate customized learning content into your performance or behavior outcomes. For details on our speaking expertise click here.
4. Half-day workshop. Fee Range $4,000- $7,500. Adult learners require meaningful experiential events. Anything else is a waste of time, money and energy. There may be a compelling business reason to provide content in a half-day workshop, rather than a full-day workshop. In all of our workshops we provide workshops we integrate virtual or digital training into the process, with pre-event assessments, a digital playbook, and post-event impact boosters. Those are evidence-based aspects of our Action Learning process. Therefore, we provide them at no additional cost for a workshop of any length. Be wary of the assumption that a consultant can “condense a full-day of content into a half-day.” That assumption is absurd. Half-day workshops have different business outcomes than full-day workshops. For details on each workshop design, contact us here.
5. Full-day workshop. Fee Range $5,000- $15,000. Only select proven management consultants who provide tremendous value. Adult learners demand meaningful experiential events. Anything else is a waste of time, money and energy. Leadership development must be customized if you want measurable impact. We have delivered workshops on “Coaching New Managers, Why Managers Fail, Emotional Intelligence, Communication, Executive Presence, Managing Using the OKR Process, How to Create a Positive Organizational Culture, Leadership Development, and Family Succession Planning.” Be wary of any leadership program that is “off the shelf.” There is little evidence to support their value. Consider these facts: Your operational investment into your full-day workshop is multi-fold. The direct costs of the facility ($5,000) plus the direct costs of 20 people away from their desks ($20,000+) plus the real business lost from that day ($20,000+) mean that your investment in that full day workshop for 20 people actually exceeds $45,000. We strongly recommend that you invest in our expert leadership consultants to accelerate a complete process of pre-event assessment, customized delivery, and post-event impact boosters tied to your business outcomes. We have delivered hundreds of these programs. For details contact us today.
6. Executive Retreat Programs, per day. Fee Range $10,000-$70,000. Executive leaders have unique demands on time and energy. They require condensed leadership development training through remarkable experiences. We have facilitated executive retreats with private chefs in the mountains and with professional actors in the city. The reason to invest in an executive retreat program is to accelerate new learning in short, remarkable periods of time. The goal is strategic transformation or breakthrough. The Action Learning model fosters breakthrough experiences. Customization for your executive team is mandatory. That process requires partnership with external trusted consultants because internal training departments lack the required objectivity. We have delivered dozens of Executive Retreat programs throughout the U.S. That’s why you should call us today. For details contact us.
7. Systems Implementation (e.g. talent assessment, organizational culture change, succession planning initiative). Fee Range $10,000- $50,000.Organizational leadership is defined broadly as a series of interventions toward desired business outcomes. That process requires ongoing active leadership from external consultants. We provide the objective assessments and recommendations that you require. Be wary of any consultants who depend on online talent assessments for lower level employees, or those who sell boilerplate programs. Perhaps you know that 60-70% of planned change initiatives fail to be adopted. We do not want you to waste any time or money. Your success requires executive sponsorship, valid assessments (often at individual, team and organizational levels), proven process steps with measures for accountability, and specific expertise. We are experts at implementing organizational change. We typically provide 3-4 choices, milestones and a set of solutions. For details contact us.
8. Family BusinessSuccession Planning. Fee range $15,000- 85,000. We have demonstrated expertise that family business leaders require. The objective of succession planning is to expedite the process of transitioning the management and ownership of your business to the next generation of business owners. Your key results (KRs) may include: KR1: assess the strengths, weaknesses, hidden talents and blind spots of all nuclear family members using a series of 1:1 confidential interviews and validated assessments (e.g., the DISC, PIAV, EI assessments.) Distribute those team results to the nuclear family members. KR2: Create a customized succession planning manual within the next 6 months. That reference manual can be useful for decades ahead. KR3: Develop family rules for decision-making, key roles, schedules, milestones, timelines, managing conflict, evaluation, note taking and direct communication within the next 3 months. KR4: Design and facilitate a series of family business meetings— up to 14 meetings in the next 12 months, if needed. KR5: Design and facilitate a Family Council Meeting at some point within the next 12 months. Family business leaders have unique demands that require external consultants like Action Learning Associates, LLC to facilitate critical behavioral and performance changes. For details and confidential examples contact us.
9. Employee or Customer Surveys. Fee Range $15,000- $100,000+. Caution: the ability to create an online survey does not make one expert in the use of surveys. The primary reason to invest in any survey is to assess a population and make informed recommendations toward some desired business outcome. Valid data requires external consultants with a reliable process. Internal “consultants” or departments may be self-serving, because they are required to justify their importance. Consequently, their survey findings may not be valid. External service providers like Action Learning Associates, LLC are absolutely essential for an objective assessment of your organizational performance. The scope of your investment in these external surveys must vary with the scope of your business needs. Assessments are (1) quantitative, (2) qualitative, or (3) mixed. We strongly recommend that you hire an external consultant for surveys. We have demonstrated expertise with customers in all business sectors. Contact us for examples or details.
10. Strategy Formulation. Fee Range $50,000- $150,000. One definition of strategy is a 3-year horizon line of behavior that reinforces the organizational culture. The process of strategy formulation requires expert facilitators who can assess purpose, mission, values and culture. External consultants with unrelated expertise often provide the best value to your organization. For instance, we have worked with attorneys and accountants for 20+ years. Recently we were hired to work with a mid-sized company of IT providers who required a new way of thinking about strategy. Then we were hired to help leaders at a top-tier university determine their next strategy. Each client was delighted with their new strategy. Be wary of any consultant who says, “I have no bias.” We all have biases, and expertise, that affect any investment in strategy formulation. Our bias is based on evidence-based research in positive psychology that assumes that groups can flourish. Our strategy formulation services are always provided in measurable outcomes with milestones, so that all parties are delighted.For details contact us.
11. Organizational or Group Assessment. Fee Range $20,000- $200,000. External consultants like Action Learning Associates, LLC are the ONLY people capable of providing objective data about your organization. Internal consultants have an inherent bias that limits their effectiveness. We partner with your internal leaders to provide the data you need to make informed decisions, reduce cost, or mitigate risk. For 30+ years we have provided expert organizational and group assessments. Assessments are (1) quantitative, (2) qualitative, or (3) mixed. We know that the best talent assessment methodology includes a multi-rater (2+ consultants) multi-method (quantitative and qualitative) design, because the result has high predictive validity and reliability. However, your team may only need a quantitative assessment. Our theoretical modelfocuses on positive psychology, therefore we make recommendations based on your individual and organizational capacity to flourish. Then we help you implement those recommendations. Those details are here.
What are you waiting for?
Now is the time to reach out to Action Learning Associates, LLC and take advantage of our business coaching services. We can help you decide which service is best for your organization.Contact us today.
How to make your next proposal better than your last one.
Let’s face it, of all the skills you can bring to bear to help your clients, the limiting factor is your ability to get proposals signed. You need to make money. You want to share your genius with the world world. You need to get your proposal written and sold. You need to deliver value at each step of the sales process. Here are three great ways to write coaching proposals that sell. You can be smarter than your competitors.
Less fluff, more value. Your job is to add value and solve your client’s problems. Nothing else matters. Your model, framework, tactic or magical gifts do NOT provide value to your client. Your solution is the value. Stay focused on the results you can deliver.
2. Fewer credentials, more results. Congratulations, your certification/ degree is a huge accomplishment. But nobody understands what it means. Make sure more space is devoted to results than credentials.
3. Make it easy to understand. If your buyer has to exercise their brain to realize how good your proposal is, then you haven’t done the work required to make it great. Keep the structure simple.
The Feedback Process
EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR: Tom Stone
We all talk about feedback a lot. Most leaders think they do it well. But my opinion is that we simply don’t know how to give feedback well. The problem is our inability to give good feedback creates problems down the road.
A lack of feedback gives people unspoken approval for unacceptable behavior. This false approval encourages people to continue patterns of behavior that don’t help them or anyone else.
But it gets worse. Everyone in an organization is constantly evaluating competency. So a lack of feedback not only affects the person who needs to receive, but it also affects everybody else who knows that feedback should be given.
A leader is never out from under the microscope. Giving good feedback is one of the surest ways to encourage effective behavior and to demonstrate leadership competency. It is a skill that can be learned, and we can learn to teach it and demand it as part of our culture.
Feedback leads to learning.
The Leadership Wisdom of Dogs
EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR: Krissi Barr
The attributes, traits and characteristics that separate leaders from the rest of the pack can be clearly seen in the behavior of dogs: loyalty, perseverance, friendship, teamwork, honesty, bravery, ingenuity, playfulness, curiosity and an unflagging desire for more information.I call it the Fido Factor.
Faithful leaders earn the trust of their team and their customers by doing the right things and living up to their word.
Inspirational leaders move people to do the meaningful and the extraordinary.
Determined leaders combine perseverance with a dose of fearlessness to keep moving toward goals.
Observant leaders are committed to taking in as much information as possible in order to make the best decisions.
Our Credo: (if you like these beliefs, then you’ll love us)
1. Chaos in the marketplace for “professional coaching” can be reduced with outcome-based protocols.
2. The strengths of professional coaches (e.g., integrity, fairness, collaboration, leadership, bravery) can be leveraged to co-create the future of professional coaching.
3. Teams are stronger than individuals. Collaborative projects reduce individual risk and yield higher rewards.
4. Expert leadership coaches and authors will contribute best practices and attract more users or followers.
FACT:
There are over 50,000 “professional coaches” in a $7B global industry that lacks professionalism. Literally anyone with a business card can self-declare that they are a “professional coach.”
OPINION:
The result is chaos in the marketplace, unethical practices, and a market ripe for disruption and consolidation.
The Process is a community of expert leadership consultants and coaches. Join us.
Your Next Steps (How you can help):
1. Are you subscribed to the Process? If not, click here
2. Forward this email to ALL the leadership consultants you know.
3. Are you an expert? Yes, you are. Submit some expert content and share your genius with the world. Click here.
Many people ask me this question. So you are not alone. In fact, self-leadership is an ancient subject turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. It is MUCH harder to lead my self than it is to lead others. And it requires daily deliberate practice for me to lead my self.
My purpose in life is to teach others how to be better leaders. I know what works. Hopefully the following two steps will be useful to you.
There are two ways to lead your self:
1. self awareness
2. self care
Self awareness requires core skills such as openness, self appraisal, clarity, self esteem. There is a massive amount of research in psychology and organizational development on the subject of self awareness. There are countless religions and faiths and daily practices on the subject of self awareness. Amid these conflicting and spurious theories there is a need for clarity. We use assessments to provide data. There are over 15,000 validated assessments. We can provide assessments for any individual behavior or competency imaginable. Evidence-based consulting is mandatory in any profession, from law to healthcare to psychology.
A key coaching question is “What assessments do I need to increase my self awareness?’
Self care requires core skills such as expression, sustainability, resourcefulness, action. Consider the fact that humans now have more digital information available than EVER in the history of mankind. We now KNOW what we should do. However, we do not always DO what we should do. Imagine a grandmotherly person. She towers over you with an apron and shakes a wooden spoon… as she tells you what you should do. That image of a wise, older person may help you.
A key coaching question is “How can I take care of myself today?”
One more point. There is a myth that leadership is a personal act. By definition, the word “leadership” means influence at two levels: on my self and others. The goal of self leadership is not to attain some mystical state in isolation on a mountain. Humans are defined by relationships. No one develops as a leader when living in isolation. And too many people spend hours alone, writing in journals, or focusing on their weaknesses. When Maslow described self actualization it was not thought to be a resting place. The goal is to improve the quality of relationships with others. Leadership is both a personal act and a team act. We adopt evidence-based research in positive psychology because it works. We want YOU to flourish.
The goal of self leadership is to have a greater relationships with my self and others.
I do know the answer for hundreds of other business leaders. Since 1997 I have consulted and coached business leaders in manufacturing, health care, education, HR, safety, technology, finance and accounting. I have guaranteed results for clients ranging from executive teams at F500 companies to small business owners struggling to make ends meet.
I do know the process. I do know what works.
It costs much more money, time, and energy to attract new customers than it does to upsell to existing customers. That is a fact. Expenses vary from 2-7x the cost of upselling an existing customer. Acquisition costs can be reduced when we work together.
You will need to 1) define the problems, 2) provide solutions, 3) model accountability. I call this the 3A Coaching Process.
You are probably struggling with the following challenges:
people challenges
strategy challenges
execution challenges
cash and financial challenges
Typically, I define the problems using organizational and individual assessments. I determine where you are making money. And where you are losing money. I determine how you need to present solutions to your target markets.
Then I provide a host of best-in-class solutions for you to sell more to your potential new customers. They must learn about you. You must provide tremendous value. (This website is an example.) When your prospects receive tremendous value, then they will be inclined to purchase your products and services.
Then we model accountability so that you move beyond good intentions. We want you to sell more services.
We have hundreds of executive consultants and behavioral coaches, with expertise in sales, so we can help you immediately.
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