ABSTRACT
People are the key strategic asset in an organization. According to Chris Mihm, Director of Strategic Issues at the General Accounting Office (GAO), people policies must be at the heart of mergers and acquisitions to achieve success. In Mihm’s talk “Going Beyond Green: Strategic Transformation through Human Capital Planning” (November 14, 2002, Washington, D.C.), Mihm indicated that 80 percent of the GAO’s budget goes towards people, namely salaries and earnings. Individual transformation needs to be made before organizational transformation can be achieved. Mihm outlined some key practices for organizational transformation:
Ensure that top leadership drives the transformation.
Establish a coherent mission and integrated strategic goals to guide the transformation.
Focus on a key set of principles and priorities at the outset of the transformation.
Set implementation goals and a timeline to build momentum and show progress from day one.
Dedicate an implementation team to manage the transformation.
Use the performance management system to help define responsibility and assure accountability for change.
62Establish a communications strategy to create shared expectations and report related progress.
Involve employees and obtain their ideas and gain their ownership for the transformation.
Build a world-class organization.
