SSON held its HR Transformation & Automation Digital Summit recently, which featured insightful and informative presentations on developments within the HR sector. In our session ‘Proactive HR Solutions to Navigate Attrition and Strengthen Your Talent Pipeline,’ Aranzazu Lopez, Managing Director and Head of Operations at Lufthansa Group Business Services discussed Lufthansa’s best practices for strengthening their organization's talent pipeline. Especially, the importance of HR within the company, from implementing strategic retention measures to identifying key talent.
Managing Performance and Potential
At Lufthansa GBS, performance and potential are looked at every year for every employee in the organization. Lopez stressed the importance of this, sharing that it helps to keep employees “connected” to the overall “goals for the whole organization.” Lufthansa has been measuring its employee performance in ‘OKRs’ (Objectives and Key Results.) The aim of using OKRs is to set an overlying, general objective, that cascades down to all levels of the company from the location, to then each team that makes up that location. This means that each team member will receive a set of OKRs that they can work on during the year, with quarterly managerial check-ins to track and assess progress. This helps to keep everyone aware of what is expected of them, from a business operational perspective, and furthers the organization’s business goals.
Developing career plans tailored to your employee profiles
Lopez led us through the steps Lufthansa has implemented when creating specific career plans for each employee. The first step in this would be to look at it from a “process-orientated” perspective. Where do the strengths of this individual lie? Are they looking at how they can improve how they currently handle tasks, to ensure they are performing as well as their colleagues? Once this path has been identified, the second point is looked at, which relates to leadership potential. Does this employee have soft skills they are developing that will be useful in leadership? The first path would be for colleagues who will be geared towards the path of making sure processes within the organization, run smoothly. And, the latter, will be the colleagues that will oversee the employees performing the operational tasks within the organization. This is important for leaders to identify the specific needs of each colleague and ensure the development opportunities in their future are “clear and concise.”
Communication with employees and colleagues
Making sure those in leadership are touching base with employees frequently, helps in keeping an open communication loop between employees and management. Lopez shared that as well as quarterly check-ins, other tools such as “coffee talks” and “town halls,” are helpful within Lufthansa, for keeping everyone informed of what is going on within the organization. These tools also provide a platform for employees to raise questions and concerns, which can equate to valuable feedback that can improve the overall employee experience.
If you would like to find out more about this topic, please see the discussion above from our speakers on demand. If you would like to see more great insights from SSON, join our next online event, the Process and Continuous Improvement Virtual Summit.