Leveraging Human Capital

...highlight the critical implications of recruiting, training, managing, assessing, enabling and rewarding employees and to reinforce a more rigorous approach to managing this component of the business.

The term "human capital" may seem overly formal and perhaps even a little clinical, especially for an industry still characterized by relationship-driven sales and strong ties to its employees.   However, the term  is used to highlight the critical implications of recruiting, training, managing, assessing, enabling and rewarding employees and to reinforce a more rigorous approach to managing this component of the business.

As much as distribution is about products, services, customers, and vendors, it is also about human capital, which is at the heart of a distributors capabilities.   The growing acceptance of online tools actually increases the importance of the human dimension by freeing employees from repetitive, routine non-value-added activities--allowing them to focus on tasks that can add value and differentiate the business.

ACTION POINT: Develop a long term human capital strategy to guide your tactical decisions about where to recruit, who to hire, what training to offer and how to assess and reward employees.