An educational and research unit affiliated with the Medill School of Journalism’s Integrated Marketing Communications Department at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Corporate Benefits
A Better Understanding of How to Maximize Organizational Performance Through a Strategic, Integrated Approach to People Management
The Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement was founded to conduct research in People Performance Management, an emerging field that focuses on the process of promoting organizational growth through a strategic, integrated approach to maximizing consumer and employee performance. The Forum’s research is aimed at helping organizations better understand the specific strategies and tactics they can employ to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction, retention, and references to other customers, by engaging all employees and channel partners to efficiently meet or exceed customer expectations. This process is becoming popularly known as integrated external and internal branding.
Premises
The Forum’s work is based on several hypotheses: 1) Many organizations fail to maximize their profitability because of an inability to systematically and efficiently fulfill customer expectations in a way that can be measurably demonstrated; 2 ) organizations often pay a price for making promises in marketing that are not consistently delivered by customer-facing or internal employees; 3 ) organizations will increasingly need to develop customer-focused management processes, rather than focus on the traditional supply-chain management model, because it has become possible for any company to quickly undercut or knock off competitors through technology or outsourcing. Today’s advantage lies in creating a customer experience that keeps people coming back, referring friends and colleagues and willing to pay more for quality.
A New Academic Field
An objective of the Forum is to create an academic field for People Performance Management.
Northwestern’s Medill School offers the first graduate-level course related to the subject, and affiliations are being formed with graduate-level professors at University of Missouri at Columbia, the Krannert School at Purdue, the University of Wisconsin and others.
How to Benefit
The Forum offers four key benefits to organizations:
- Research—Latest findings
- Education—A day of learning
- Think Tank—High-level input into research and best practice design
- Publicity—Opportunity to get exposure as an organization dedicated to the principles of generating growth and profits through a strategic focus on people.
The Impact of Research
Already, in its first three years, the Forum has had a significant impact on business thinking. Its research findings have confirmed a tangible link between the external brand—or the sum total of customer expectations and feelings—and internal branding: the ability of all employees and channel partners to deliver customer expectations on a profitable basis. It has also found that significant silos exist between the marketing, sales and operations departments that need to integrate people performance strategies. In fact, the existence of these silos represents the single biggest obstacle to implementing a customer-focused business model. These findings have helped contribute to a heightened interest on the part of the media and in business and academic circles in the link between external and internal branding.
Opportunities for Corporations
Organizations seeking to maximize their performance through a strategic focus on human capital can benefit by helping to fund or contribute valuable information to research related to human capital performance.
The Research Opportunity
Many organizations conduct various strategies and tactics to maximize people performance management and integrate them to various degrees. In particular, they employ a variety of external marketing communications along with internal incentive, recognition, communications (print, Internet and e-mail publications; meetings and events, and promotional products) and training to one way or another affect consumer, employee or channel partner engagement. For organizations with an interest in measuring one or more of these strategies and tactics to better understand how they affect organizational performance, or to benchmark their level of business integration against other companies, the Forum offers a no-cost research opportunity. The research, conducted by authorized faculty, is completely confidential, but there are only two no-cost opportunities per year.
Under the terms of the program, the participating organization receives all of the research for its own use and the Forum is allowed to publish some of the key findings of the study, and correlate the findings with other organizations. It may not disclose the name of any participating company without its written permission, nor any information that can lead any outside observer to identify the company involved.
If you would like to participate in this program, contact the Forum Managing Director: 630-369-3772.
The Education Opportunity
Northwestern University holds an annual summit on People Performance Management. In this one-day session academics, researchers and business executives and managers meet to hear presentations on the latest research and case studies and to share ideas related to the issues presented. It is open to all managers and executives interested in all aspects of People Performance Management as it relates either to external or internal marketing and branding. For the latest dates, go to http://www.performanceforum.org and click on Seminars.
The Public Relations Opportunity
Organizations committed to People Performance Management, such as those featured in Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies, often have a desire to publicize their commitment to people. As a leading clearinghouse of information related to People Performance Management, the Forum often is contacted by the general business media, trade, or local publications noted for information on the subject, or to identify organizations that can offer their own perspective. If your organization is committed to the principles of driving business success through a strategic focus on customer and employee satisfaction, our public relations team can add you to the list of spokespeople on call to handle publication interviews. For information, contact he Forum Managing Director: 630-369-3772.
How to Get Started
For more information, contact the Forum Managing Director, Sue Peterson, at 630-369-7780 or email sue@performanceforum.org.
