People & Strategy Winter 2015 Vol. 38 Issue 1 - 59

But there's a virtuous cycle at work here. Our OHI studies
show that companies that work on this stuff soon see real
change in the metrics.

time frames. So business leaders should now
expect fast improvements in organizational
health. Good, timely metrics allow rapid
experimentation; good leaders are never afraid
to experiment.

AT: What is your advice to senior-level HR
professionals? What is the role of the CHRO
in designing for and managing organizational
health?
CG: I talk with CHROs about several big priorities. First and foremost, you've got to be a
partner in performance. The business unit leaders are accountable for business performance;
the CHRO must be too. In fact, she must be
seen to be a performance partner. That puts her
on the right side of the table; anything she then
proposes is going to be better received.
Next, the CHRO has to be very conscious of
how the top executive team spends its time.

That time is the most precious resource a company has. The ways it is spent send crystalclear signals about what's important and bring
attention to critical issues. So it deserves every
bit as much focus as you would put into managing your manufacturing processes, your service operating processes, your sales processes.
I also urge HR leaders to systematically measure every relevant factor that moves, whether it's for OHI or some other tool. Opinions
about organizational health are great, but
CHROs have to use data and systematic measurement and assessment to tackle the key
questions if they are to deliver answers with
the same level of rigor as the rest of business
management.
Last but not least, CHROs must find ways to
learn from and with others. In some ways, the
management process is more universal than
the manufacturing process or service operative process. There are literally tens of thou-

sands of organizations facing the same
challenges of how they run the place, and all
are trying to bridge those gaps and build
those communities.

AT: Thanks for this advice for HR leaders,
Chris. So what's next? How will the business
of organizational health evolve?
CG: There are several ways in which I see this
evolving. One is that "solutionized" delivery
will become a bigger part of organizational
health metrics. Another is that these measures
will improve naturally as they absorb more
usage data and as companies participate
more actively in those measures-as they
become active in the business conversation
about organizational health.

AT: Will there be an underlying technology
platform that brings all these diverse activities
together?
CG: Yes, that's the third way I see this all
evolving. I see increased integration and I
would expect much of it to happen on top of
the HRIS. But let's be clear: I'm not talking
about an all-singing, all-dancing HRIS system
that perfectly manages organizational health.
What I do anticipate is that the pace of integration will pick up, with more organizational
health tools being integrated into HRIS.

AT: Chris, thanks very much for your time and
your perspectives. Very informative. We look
forward to hearing about how organizational
health practices are being adopted. You've
made a very strong business case for why
CHROs should care about it
CG: Delighted to talk. I'm passionate about
this topic. As I mentioned earlier, we're on a
mission to make these metrics part of everyday business discourse. I really do believe the
day is coming when boards of directors and
other stakeholders start asking for those
kinds of metrics because they're hearing
about organizational health's impact on longterm performance. I'll be glad to share the
next installment of our OHI story!

References
Capitalism for the long term, March 2011, Harvard
B u s i n e s s R e v i e w . h t t p s : / / h b r. o r g / 2 0 1 1 / 0 3 /
capitalism-for-the-long-term.
VOLUME 38/ISSUE 1 - 2015

People & Strategy Winter 2015 Vol. 38 Issue 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of People & Strategy Winter 2015 Vol. 38 Issue 1