Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Using ROI to Build Your Case for a New Program

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Using ROI to Build Your Case for a New Program I recently had the opportunity to keynote the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM)’s 60th anniversary conference in Chicago. After I spoke, I attended an extremely useful session from Elizabeth Ruske and Betsy Sobiech of Tiara Coaching. Although the topic was elevating global women’s leadership, the speakers presented a simple process for planning a strategic, ROI-generating initiative that is relevant across the board. I only wish I had had 10 years ago.In the HR space, ROI can be rather elusive, and this is one reason our functions tend to get relegated to the tactical realm. For your future benefit, here is Tiara’s process using women’s leadership as an example. Step One: Assess Where You Are Rate women’s leadership development in your organization from 1 to 10, with 1 being that no programs currently exist, and 10 being that you have visible efforts and sponsorship for female leaders. On the same continuum, indicate where you will be by next year, and where you will be by the year 2020. While completing this step, consider that women’s leadership development might include women’s affinity groups, mentoring for women, succession planning, leadership and career coaching, learning opportunities, rewards and recognition, recruiting and hiring, company communications, and other efforts designed to attract, retain, and advance women. Step Two: Determine the “Why?” Look at where you want to be in the year 2020. Why do you want to be here? What is the bigger vision? Using the example of women’s leadership, this might include the fact that half of all of your college hires are women, yet by the middle management level, most have been lost or grounded. It might be the case that most of your customers are women and you need your employee demographics to match your consumer profile. Or finally, you might consider that companies with more female leaders have better overall financial performance. For more where this came from, head over to the SilkRoad blog.