TYPES OF WORK

Performance consultants typically encounter three categories of work when working with a function that is focused on the “people side” of business.

Transactional Work

Transactional work is administrative in nature. Typically this work addresses the needs of a specific individual. When a manager seeks guidance in how to interpret a specific organizational policy or when an employee inquires about the status of her tuition reimbursement payment, transactional requests are received. Procurement managers need to process requests regarding suppliers, and call center representatives need to respond to questions from customers—each of which is a transactional request. This work must be done effectively and promptly. This category of work is important, but it is not strategic. Transactional work is increasingly being outsourced or transitioned to self-service through technology. The goal of many HR, learning, OD, and other functions today is to accomplish transactional work through alternative means, thus freeing up time to work on more strategic opportunities.

Tactical Work

Tactical work focuses on the design and implementation of solutions that support successful workgroup performance. Examples include utilizing an e-learning methodology for compliance training or the introduction of a more efficient work process. Tactics are intended to support a strategy. The problem is that many tactical solutions are implemented with minimal or no linkage to a strategic goal. In these instances, the solutions are essentially programs or events. How many times have we seen a manager take a single action, such as reorganizing the function, in hopes of achieving greater efficiency? Yet over time, greater efficiency is not achieved because other needed changes are not implemented. Or what about a training program rolled out to hundreds of people with limited connection to a business goal? Solutions implemented as stand-alone tactics have minimal probability of a long-term impact on business results. Certainly there are times when a single solution is appropriate—for example, to certify employees in handling specific types of projects. But more often than not, single solutions do not bring about sustained change in performance or long-term business results. Instead, they consume valuable resources in terms of money, people, and time.

Strategic Work

Strategic work benefits the long-term and overall aims and interests of the organization. It requires clear business goals that guide the performance requirements of people who support those goals. Strategic work is inclusive of tactical work—a strategy with no tactics is just a dream. As performance consultants, we want to ensure that the work we do to design and implement tactics directly supports one or more strategic goals of the organization.

How do you know you are working on a strategic initiative? The characteristics of strategic work are as follows:

It focuses on business units, functions, or the entire enterprise. It is macro, not micro, in focus.

It is long-term in scope, frequently taking actions that will benefit the organization over the long term (over one or more years) and not short term (the next quarter).

It is directly linked to one or more business goals or needs of the organization.

It is solution-neutral in its early stages. The role of a performance consultant is to work with clients to identify the problem or opportunity before beginning to work on tactics.

It requires multiple actions to be implemented; single solutions do not yield strategic results.

As a performance consultant, it is important to focus on the strategic results needed and not just the tactical solutions to be implemented. You want to make sure you are not just doing something, but that you are doing the right thing. Chapters 6 through 8 will help you accomplish this, because doing the right thing generally requires some level of assessment.