Putting Talent at the Centre An Evolving Imperative for Manufacturing 2025

3 Once an organization understands its workforce at a given site, it can incorporate talent investments into a standard process that mirrors what companies do for capital expenses. Frontline talent takes a local approach, and the initiative’s pilot programme showed this clearly. Indeed, most of the innovations viewed in the pilot (56%) were developed at the site level. Of course, talent investments deserve attention from corporate leaders, and operationalizing talent investments throughout the network likely requires a quarterly review process for talent investments where business cases are presented and prioritized based on impact. However, it’s vital for headquarters to create an approval and authority structure that enables sites to manage their investments locally. Ideally, this would include different levels of authority based on the investment to create enough flexibility that entrepreneurial leaders can implement quick fixes without undue red tape. For talent innovation to become ingrained in investment strategy, companies must be able to demonstrate clear benefits, which is why it’s crucial for companies to measure returns on talent investment. All pilot sites were able to tie productivity and stability impact to their talent innovations. Unfortunately, this is the exception rather than the norm – measuring impact from talent-related investments like a new training programme is uncommon. Sites should begin by identifying the leading and lagging indicators for each investment, along with estimating the return on the cost of implementation.3.1 Create a structured talent investment processWay forward: Operationalizing frontline talent investment The right processes and teams are required to drive investment in talent. Meeting the evolving people-centered imperative means transforming the mindset around talent and recognizing it as an investment rather than a cost line. The natural next question is how to shape and operationalize that investment. This chapter explores the way forward: creating a structured process and building a cross- functional team. For talent innovation to become ingrained in investment strategy, companies must be able to demonstrate clear benefits, which is why it’s crucial for companies to measure returns on talent investment. 25 Putting Talent at the Centre: An Evolving Imperative for Manufacturing