Working Strategically with Human Capital

A good way to compete is to aim to be unique. Competition is not about being the best with a few winners and many losers. It is about being unique in the eyes of the customers you serve. A BMW is a good car and so is a Volkswagen. They can both be described as the “best” car, however, the question is which car is unique to you as a customer.1 Human capital metrics can help identify that uniqueness inside your company and support execution of your business strategy. Human capital measurement has the potential to become talent management. In this chapter, several case examples help to illustrate how human capital metrics should be driven by the business strategy and how proprietary metrics for your specific strategic choice can be created. Working strategically with human capital also involves considerations about uniqueness, quality, access, privacy, and governance of people data. Usage and application of human capital metrics are dependent on the organization maturity of your company and will evolve with past experience and over time. You may want to look at the maturity matrix that I will introduce later in this chapter as an opportunity to progress from one level to the next at your chosen speed.