If you are accountable for financial performance and shareholder value, you want to use every available tool for improving profitability.  Your workforce is your most valuable intangible asset and may be the most powerful weapon in your arsenal.  But workforce performance problems that plague most organizations could be keeping your employees from performing to expected levels and reaching critical financial goals.

Any business strategy is only as good as those charged with executing it – the workforce.  To achieve success, you must have:

• the right people in the right positions
• standardized best practices consistently applied
• employees with the skills, motivation and tools to implement initiatives

If these key factors are not in place, you are “leaving money on the table.”  Every workforce performance problem has an associated cost, and some have an enormous cost.  Almost always, the cost of the solution is significantly less than the true cost of the problem.

Although workforce performance problems occur every day and cost billions of dollars annually, they are not even on the radar of most executives.  How well your workforce performs is not just an HR issue – it’s a CFO issue as well.  Executives assume that managers have the skills needed to identify and solve problems because “that’s what they are hired to do.”  However, workforce performance problems are often ignored or unknown until they reach crisis level.

According to Dr. Seth Leibler, CEO of The Center for Effective Performance, “It is not uncommon for executives to overlook the link between human performance and the bottom line.  Every business initiative is about producing results and increasing shareholder value, and workforce performance problems are the primary cause of diminished returns on your investments.”

“Diagnosing and then solving performance problems is possible,” says Dr. Leibler.  “It’s basically figuring out what turns people on and off, determining what people need to do their job well and what obstacles are keeping them from performing to the level expected.”

To determine the factors affecting the performance of employees, Dr. Leibler suggests turning to experts like CEP to conduct a “performance analysis” of the critical work gaps in your organization.  A performance analysis will provide valuable information such as:

• Monetary cost of performance problems to your organization
• What the performance problems are -- lack of skill, lack of motivation, or lack of supports like systems and information
• Realistic and economically feasible solutions, including “fast fixes”

“CEP is like a secret you don’t want your competitors to find out about.  If you use them, you can create a competitive advantage,” said Roy Barnes, Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Marriott Vacation Club International.  “CEP is a legitimate offensive financial weapon.”

If you provide your workforce with the required strategies, training, tools and resources, it can be a true competitive advantage, impacting the bottom line and driving shareholder value,” concludes Dr. Leibler.

The workforce performance experts at CEP can help your organization reach your financial targets.  For more information, go to www.cepworkforceperformance.com or call us at 770.458.4080.