NEW HUMAN CAPABILITIES IN A DYNAMIC WORKPLACE Point of view document December 2015 Large organisations are experimening with implementing lean methodologies, design thinking and open innovation to step up their innovation capabilities. However, these practices are not simply 'out of the box' processes that can be adopted into the current work model. To leverage their potential, we need a whole new way of working that is customer centric, commercially disciplined, and experimental. Claro Partners set out to understand this new way of working by talking to and immersing into new types of organisations that are forging new human capability practices. We focused on three key elements of human capabilities to support new innovation practices: a new organisational design, a new type of employee, and a new work experience. This document shares our perspective on why organisations need a different way of working and describes how to achieve this through reframing the way we think about these three key elements. It's based on our own practice and research around the world with leading organisations.

1. 1|
NEW
HUMAN
CAPABILITIES
IN
A
DYNAMIC
WORKPLACE
POINT
OF
VIEW
December
2015

2. 2|
NEW
HUMAN
CAPABILITIES
IN
A
DYNAMIC
WORKPLACE
Point
of
view
document
December
2015
Large
organisaLons
are
experimenLng
with
implemenLng
lean
methodologies,
design
thinking
and
open
innovaLon
to
step
up
their
innovaLon
capabiliLes.
However,
these
pracLces
are
not
simply
'out
of
the
box'
processes
that
can
be
adopted
into
the
current
work
model.
To
leverage
their
potenLal,
we
need
a
whole
new
way
of
working
that
is
customer
centric,
commercially
disciplined,
and
experimental.
Claro
Partners
set
out
to
understand
this
new
way
of
working
by
talking
to
and
immersing
into
new
types
of
organisa;ons
that
are
forging
new
human
capability
prac;ces.
We
focused
on
three
key
elements
of
human
capabili;es
to
support
new
innova;on
prac;ces:
a
new
organisa;onal
design,
a
new
type
of
employee,
and
a
new
work
experience.
This
document
shares
our
perspec;ve
on
why
organisa;ons
need
a
different
way
of
working,
and
describes
how
to
achieve
this
through
reframing
the
way
we
think
about
these
three
key
elements.
WE
NEED
A
NEW
WAY
OF
WORKING
A
new
way
of
working
requires
a
new
approach
to
organising
people.
Big
companies
tradi;onally
organise
for
control,
which
has
its
benefits:
predictability,
standards
and
stability.
Control
however,
has
its
disadvantages
too:
it
can
discourage
employees
from
experimen;ng,
and
competes
with
their
desire
for
freedom.
A
work
model
based
on
control
oIen
results
in
low
employee
engagement,
wasted
resources,
and
a
lack
of
ability
or
willingness
to
respond
to
customer
needs.
In
such
an
environment,
the
brightest
of
talent
feels
constrained
and
frustrated,
and
either
gives
up
on
trying
to
do
anything
different
and
innova;ve,
or
leaves
the
company.
At
the
other
end
of
the
spectrum,
giving
employees
full
freedom
is
not
the
solu;on
either.
While
it
gives
employees
the
space
to
exercise
crea;vity
and
choice,
uncontained
freedom
creates
chaos,
high
risk
and
uncertainty.
The
tension
between
control
and
freedom
results
in
a
destruc;ve
tension
that
frustrates
both
employees
and
companies.
A
new
organisa;onal
design
addresses
this
tension
and
turns
it
into
a
construc;ve
one,
that
benefits
both
organisa;on
and
employees.
Freedom
Control

3. 3|
The
digital
music
streaming
service
Spo5fy
exemplifies
how
autonomy
in
alignment
can
work
successfully
in
a
complex
product.
Spo5fy’s
technology
architecture
is
built
in
a
way
that
enables
100
separate
pieces
of
the
service
technology
to
be
coded
and
released
independently.
Teams
have
full
ownership
over
a
specific
feature
of
the
product
–
such
as
the
play
buBon
or
browsing
feature-­‐
but
s5ll
align
to
make
sure
all
the
pieces
are
fiDng
together
in
the
final
offer
and
serving
the
mission
of
the
company.
KEY
ELEMENT
#
1
THE
NEW
ORGANISATIONAL
DESIGN
In
our
research
we
idenLfied
five
principles
for
a
new
organisaLonal
design
that
build
on
a
construcLve
tension
and
enable
organisaLons
to
respond
to
both
today’s
dynamic
business
landscape
and
the
changing
lifestyles
of
both
employees
and
customers.
1. Move
from
‘control
versus
freedom’
to
‘autonomy
in
alignment’
2. Be
accountable
to
the
customer
before
the
company
3. Organise
around
offers,
not
capabili;es
4. Enable
problem-­‐solving,
don´t
provide
the
solu;ons
5. Don´t
set
it
and
forget
it
1.
MOVE
FROM
‘CONTROL
VERSUS
FREEDOM’
TO
‘AUTONOMY
IN
ALIGNMENT’
Our
research
revealed
a
new
type
of
organisa;on
that
promotes
a
more
construc;ve
tension
through
work
prac;ces
that
grant
greater
autonomy
to
employees
while
ensuring
they
are
coordina;ng
their
efforts–
a
way
of
working
we
call
‘autonomy
in
alignment’.
This
relieves
the
tension
in
the
tradi;onal
work
environment.
Alignment
loosens
the
reigns
of
control
as
it
allows
for
different
perspec;ves
to
get
to
the
end
goal,
while
autonomy
provides
freedom
with
accountability.
As
we
argue
in
this
document,
‘Autonomy
in
alignment’
is
a
key
principle
to
aWract
and
retain
a
new
genera;on
of
employees
that
seek
purpose
and
impact
in
their
work.
In
this
new
way
of
working,
it
is
crucial
to
define
zones
of
employee
autonomy.
So,
rather
than
control,
leaders
facilitate
a
kind
of
‘intrapreneurship’,
that
empowers
people
to
use
their
own
knowledge,
experiences
and
crea;vity
to
achieve
company
goals.
Employees
decide
on
their
approach,
methods
and
tools,
and
exercise
crea;ve
freedom
to
come
up
with
their
own
ini;a;ves
and
build
a
case
for
them.
To
be
able
to
work
this
way,
new
organisa;ons
provide
transparency
across
all
parts
of
the
organisa;on
to
allow
individuals
to
see
how
their
work
connects
to
the
bigger
picture
of
the
company.
Alignment
Autonomy
Freedom
Control
assumes
mul5ple
perspec5ves,
rather
than
imposing
one.
It
demands
transparency
more
than
oversight,
so
individuals
can
see
the
bigger
picture
and
their
role
within
it.
implies
deciding
what
kind
of
discre5on
employees
should
have
and
then
truly
providing
it.
It
enables
individual
accountability
to
avoid
the
chaos
of
complete
freedom.
Spo5fy
technology
architecture

4. 4|
2. BE
ACCOUNTABLE
TO
THE
CUSTOMER
BEFORE
THE
COMPANY
Conven;onally,
as
companies
scale,
they
add
more
layers
of
management.
This
creates
long,
hierarchical
and
inefficient
lines
of
accountability,
that
diverts
the
focus
of
work
away
from
the
customer.
New
types
of
organisa;ons
respond
to
customer
demands
in
a
more
agile
way
by
making
employees
accountable
to
the
customer
first,
and
empowering
employees
to
make
decisions
autonomously
on
the
ground.
New
organisa;ons
achieve
this
by
reducing
processes
of
‘repor;ng
up’.
They
don’t
have
departments
solely
responsible
for
customer
engagement.
Understanding
and
mee;ng
customers’
needs
is
everyone’s
job.
Performance
metrics
connect
directly
to
customer
sa;sfac;on,
and
incen;vise
employees
to
make
customer-­‐centric
decisions.
3. ORGANISE
AROUND
OFFERS,
NOT
CAPABILITIES
In
the
old
organisa;onal
model,
where
for
the
sake
of
efficiency
departments
are
organised
around
capabili;es
such
as
marke;ng,
design,
or
customer
research,
employees
oIen
loose
sight
of
how
their
work
impacts
the
end
customer.
Very
few
departments
have
direct
customer
contact
and
thus
can’t
get
valuable
feedback
from
the
people
they’re
serving.
Employees
oIen
perceive
their
work
as
just
a
piece
in
a
murky
system,
and
don’t
feel
personal
accountability
for
the
end
deliverable.
Organising
instead
around
offers
provides
employees
with
a
clear
connec;on
between
their
work
and
the
value
delivered
to
the
customer.
New
organisa;ons
integrate
capabili;es
in
teams
that
can
work
autonomously
to
deliver
end-­‐to-­‐end
offers
to
customers.
Rather
than
specialising,
team
members
develop
a
broad
range
of
capabili;es
and
skills,
and
can
take
on
different
roles
to
improve
the
offer.
They’re
not
bound
by
a
single
func;onal
role.
This
way
of
working
also
mo;vates
the
new
employee
who
is
more
interested
in
having
impact
than
perfec;ng
a
single
skill.
MaB
Black
Systems
product
MaB
Black
Systems,
a
company
that
manufactures
aerospace
parts,
is
a
good
example
of
a
company
that
has
embraced
the
principle
of
accountability
to
the
customer.
They
have
created
a
model
based
on
“virtual
companies”
in
which
each
employee
sells,
designs,
manufactures
and
delivers
custom
parts
to
their
own
clients.
Each
employee
is
fully
accountable
to
their
own
clients
and
can
see
the
sa5sfac5on
of
their
clients’
in
their
interac5ons
with
them,
as
well
as
their
own
virtual
profit
and
loss
sheets.
Handelsbanken
UK
doesn’t
have
centralised
departments
for
different
capabili5es.
Instead,
it
has
totally
autonomous
branches
responsible
for
delivering
an
end-­‐to-­‐end
banking
service
to
their
own
customers.
Their
branches
act
like
individual
companies,
and
have
decision-­‐making
power
over
all
ac5vi5es
from
marke5ng,
to
credit
applica5ons,
from
products
to
pricing.

5. 5|
4. ENABLE
PROBLEM-­‐SOLVING,
DON´T
PROVIDE
THE
SOLUTIONS
Large
companies
oIen
centralise
their
problem-­‐solving
capabili;es
with
the
inten;on
of
providing
standardised,
cheap
and
efficient
solu;ons
to
customer
needs.
However,
in
today’s
context
where
customer
needs
are
ever
more
niche
and
dynamic,
we
need
a
model
that
allows
for
problem-­‐solving
on
the
ground.
In
this
new
type
of
organisa;on,
employees
move
beyond
execu;ng
exis;ng
solu;ons,
and
become
problem-­‐solvers
themselves.
They
are
given
the
power
to
problem-­‐solve
at
the
point
of
interac;on
with
the
customer.
Employees
follow
their
own
judgment,
knowledge
of
the
context,
crea;vity,
experience
and
exper;se
to
deliver
value
to
the
customer
and
the
business.
New
organisa;ons
do
not
standardise
how
employees
should
respond
to
problems,
instead
they
invest
in
growing
the
problem-­‐solving
capabili;es
of
all
their
people,
and
rely
on
the
cross-­‐pollina;on
of
best
prac;ces
and
lessons
learned
from
failures.
Zappos
‘Powered
by
Service’
5. DON´T
SET
IT
AND
FORGET
IT
Organisa;onal
design
is
tradi;onally
seen
as
the
stable
backbone
of
a
company.
However,
to
be
resilient
in
today’s
dynamic
context
where
customer
needs
as
well
as
employees’
career
paths
and
expecta;ons
are
increasingly
unpredictable,
we
need
dynamic
and
agile
organisa;onal
design.
This
means
prac;cing
ways
of
working
that
are
flexible,
and
constantly
keeping
a
cri;cal
eye
on
how
your
organisa;on
is
working,
what
needs
to
be
changed
and
what
can
be
improved.
In
new
types
of
organisa;ons,
the
way
of
working
is
a
con;nuous
experiment.
Leaders
as
well
as
employees
are
not
afraid
to
try
new
things.
From
company
structure,
to
roles
and
rela;onships,
these
organisa;ons
are
in
constant
transforma;on
towards
a
beWer
state
that
aligns
with
their
business
challenges.
SnapScan
‘snap,
pay,
go’
app
Zappos
is
an
online
shoe
and
clothing
company
known
for
its
excep5onal
customer
service.
They
have
achieved
this
quality
of
service
through
giving
full
responsibility
to
their
call
center
employees
on
how
to
best
respond
to
customer
issues.
Employees
are
not
bound
by
pre-­‐defined
scripts.
They
don´t
deliver
solu5ons
defined
by
their
employer,
but
they
are
expected
to
be
crea5ve
and
do
the
best
they
can
to
make
the
customer
happy.
SnapScan,
a
mobile
payment
startup,
has
been
itera5ng
on
its
organisa5onal
design
from
their
early
days.
Like
most
companies,
they
started
with
a
founding
team
where
everyone
would
do
everything.
As
they
transi5oned
into
product
development
phase,
they
reorganised
in
full-­‐stack
teams
that
could
deliver
a
specific
piece
of
the
product.
Once
they
developed
the
product,
they
reorganised
into
teams
delivering
specific
func5ons
such
as
development,
sales,
or
customer
support.

6. 6|
KEY
ELEMENT
#
2
THE
NEW
TYPE
OF
EMPLOYEE
In
the
new
way
of
working
individuals
carry
their
own
responsibility
for
creaLng
and
delivering
value
aligned
with
the
company’s
goals.
These
organisaLons
need
a
new
type
of
employee
with
a
disLnct
set
of
personal
characterisLcs,
and
a
new
value
proposiLon
to
a_ract
and
retain
their
new
talent.
AN
AUTONOMOUS
COLLABORATOR
The
new
employee
needs
to
autonomously
plan
and
drive
towards
the
best
output
without
heavy
oversight
from
management.
They
need
to
be
self-­‐mo;vated,
self-­‐disciplined
and
genuinely
interested
in
the
impact
of
their
work.
At
the
same
;me
they
need
to
be
great
collaborators,
with
empathy
for
peers,
and
an
ability
to
understand
the
big
picture
of
the
company.
AN
INTRAPRENEUR
This
new
employee
needs
to
be
an
intrapreneur,
and
take
on
a
broad
and
dynamic
set
of
tasks.
They
need
to
have
–
or
have
the
ability
to
acquire
–
a
broad
set
of
skills.
They
shouldn’t
shy
away
from
taking
risks,
but
be
willing
to
take
on
the
responsibility
and
accountability
that
comes
with
it.
They
should
push
innova;on
through
their
own
ini;a;ves
to
create
value
in
the
organisa;on.
A
PATH
FINDER
In
the
new
organisa;on
the
path
is
not
set
out
for
people.
The
new
type
of
employee
needs
to
be
inherently
curious
and
resourceful
to
find
their
own
ways
of
working
and
their
own
best
prac;ces.
They
need
to
be
collabora;ve
to
ensure
their
way
of
working
is
compa;ble
with
their
peers’.
THE
NEW
EMPLOYEE
VALUE
PROPOSITION:
CONTRIBUTION,
MEANING
AND
GROWTH
A
good
salary
and
the
promise
of
stability
are
no
longer
enough
to
aWract
and
retain
the
new
talent.
The
new
employee
seeks
to
have
a
real
contribu;on
and
derive
meaning
from
seeing
the
impact
of
their
work.
Rather
than
climbing
a
ladder
to
the
top,
they
experience
the
organisa;on
as
one
catalyst
in
their
career
where
they
can
grow
towards
their
next
phase.
GROWTH
CONTRIBUTION
MEANING
Alignment
Autonomy
Freedom
Control
The
new
employee
value
proposi5on
• Curious
• Resourceful
• CollaboraLve
• MulL-­‐skilled
• Responsible
risk
taker
• HolisLc
thinker
• Self-­‐moLvated
• Self-­‐disciplined
• Empathic
Characteris5cs
of
the
new
employee
who
can
work
in
the
new
type
of
organisa5on

7. 7|
KEY
ELEMENT
#
3
THE
NEW
WORK
EXPERIENCE
About
this
project
Claro
Partners
conducted
global
research
to
understand
new
models
of
work
that
enable
organisa;ons
to
respond
in
agile
ways
to
changing
business
contexts,
and
to
changing
needs
and
expecta;ons
of
employees
and
customers.
Our
research
included
20+
interviews
with
thought
leaders
and
industry
experts,
5
company
visits
and
desk
research.
The
new
way
of
working
should
be
embedded
into
the
everyday
experience
of
the
employee,
and
deliver
the
employee
value
proposiLon
through
all
its
touch
points.
In
this
new
type
of
organisa;on,
the
role
of
human
capabili;es
is
to
create
an
employee
experience
that
enables
autonomy
in
alignment.
New
organisa;ons
use
each
touchpoint
from
recruitment
to
alumni
to
apply
new
ways
of
working
in
the
employee
experience.
Key
touchpoints
in
the
employee
journey
Claro
Partners
www.claropartners.com
+34
931
786
332
Aldo
de
Jong
|
Partner
aldo.dejong@claropartners.com
Gunes
Kocabag
|
Project
lead
Evelien
Griffioen
|
Associate
Harry
Wilson
|
Associate
ATTRACT
The
journey
begins
before
employees
join
the
company.
Focus
on
nurturing
sustained,
two-­‐way
rela;onships
earlier
in
the
recruitment
process.
Recognise
the
importance
of
iden;fying
soI
skills.
ENGAGE
The
experience
is
self-­‐made
and
cyclical
rather
than
pre-­‐defined
and
linear.
Make
employees
responsible
for
responding
to
the
customer
in
a
fast-­‐changing
environment.
Give
power
and
responsibility
to
the
team
members,
so
that
they
can
own
and
shape
their
work.
EXTEND
People
stay
engaged
aIer
they
have
leI
the
company.
Flex
your
company’s
boundaries
and
embrace
open
innova;on.
Create
a
posi;ve
exit
experience
so
alumni
remain
a
valuable
part
of
your
network.