The build-up to both tournaments, however, has been characterised by a significant amount of negative coverage. In Brazil, the spectre of incomplete stadiums remains a significant concern, while Qatar has been accused of human rights violations against workers and serious doubts have been raised over the feasibility of playing in such a hot country. The common theme has been ill-consideration of those most affected at the grass roots: the individuals tasked with implementation and delivery.
This is evidence of what can happen when significant projects are embarked upon without sufficient consideration being given to the appropriate systems, resources, attitudes and engagement required to deliver them at the ground level. The examples of Brazil and Qatar show the importance of underpinning the pursuit of ambitious plans with an effective and acceptable strategy that considers the infrastructure necessary to realise them.
More often than not, the key to that infrastructure will be the workforce. Organisational ambition and strategy have the greatest chance of success where practices and structures exist that allow employees to work effectively in an environment where they genuinely feel like an integrated part of the overall vision.
HR is ideally placed to support this as a voice for culture and engagement in any organisation. We should expect to be involved in developing policy, workforce planning, managing risk and ensuring that strategy is interwoven seamlessly with operational service delivery considerations.
But is your HR service at the forefront of developing the practices that will facilitate all of the above? Gaps between strategy and operational implementation can quickly emerge, creating huge risks for the business in terms of delivering impact and outcomes.
This has been evidenced on a global scale in Brazil and Qatar. A failure to bring to prominence the importance of culture and engagement in the workforce, as the fertile ground within which any organisation’s strategies will germinate and flourish, will inevitably lead to such gaps becoming schisms.
Qatar has responded by introducing a ‘workers’ charter’, providing rights including minimum working hours and statutory annual leave. While the success of this in practice has yet to be seen, it shows Qatar’s growing realisation that, despite its ambitions and financial resources, nothing is more important than an engaged workforce – one that not only feels valued, rewarded and proud to share the responsibility of delivery, but is also fully engaged with the vision and understands how that strategy has evolved.
For any organisation, the goals should be simple. First, ensure that business strategy is practical and based on the first principles of operational service delivery. In Cafcass, every strategic aim is predicated on safeguarding and achieving the best outcomes for the children and families we work with.
Second, recognise and plan for how business strategy will affect all staff and stakeholders, ensuring that any risks to service delivery are managed early. Third, ensure there is a culture of employee engagement throughout the organisation that facilitates the enactment of strategy for the benefit of operational and business outcomes.
Jabbar Sardar (pictured) is director of HR and organisational development at Cafcass
