by Eric J. McNulty | 11:02 AM July 5, 2007
I spent some time in late June leading a session on “HR and the CEO: Forging the Critical Alliance” as part of the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference. One of the presenters was Dennis Donovan, former head of HR at Home Depot under Robert Nardelli and long-time HR veteran at GE.
Dennis put forth an interesting equation that I think has applicability far beyond HR. It was this: VA = Q x A x E. “VA” is Value Added, “Q” is the Quality of what you do, “A” is the Acceptance in the organization, and, “E “is how well you Execute.
Quality and Execution are pretty straight forward and get plenty of attention. It was the “A” that I found interesting. Donovan maintains that unless an organization accepts what you do, the best quality and execution will not maximize the value created. The equation is a multiplicative one by design: anything multiplied by zero equals zero.
The key takeaways are twofold: First, you shouldn’t forget to spend time building acceptance and appreciation for your unit and its contribution among broad-based constituencies throughout the organization. This “internal PR” is every bit as important as the effort you put into systems, processes, development, and delivery. It will be easier to attract collaborators, leverage resources outside of your direct control, and get the attention of top management.
Second, if your function or unit isn’t accepted you are going to be frustrated as are your top performers. Your efforts will seem under rewarded and it will seem as though you are always pushing rocks uphill. If it seems that the acceptance may never come, you may want to find another organization to join.
If you are contemplating joining a new organization, investigate the level of acceptance during the interview process. Probe when meeting both with those in the unit and those in other parts of the company. Try to discover how frequently and how quickly people from this unit move up in the company. Are they leaders or followers in strategic initiatives? Does the unit head have a strong relationship with senior management?
Acceptance by the organization is the context in which you work. And context is critical to your success. Are you building acceptance?
ERIC J. MCNULTY
Eric J. McNulty is Director of Research at the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a joint program of the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the co-author of Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration.
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