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Talent & Culture

Putting people first in the new world of work

In today’s talent-driven economy, human capital is the most potent source of value creation for any organization. More importantly, organizational culture drives competitive advantage by serving as a magnet for high-performing talent and as a central driver of strategy execution. While many leaders acknowledge this reality, the ability to realize the maximum value of talent and implement a magnetic organizational culture has become increasingly difficult to achieve. The challenge of managing talent – especially in the face of rapid change and transition – is becoming one of the most pressing challenges for leaders to navigate.

Ankura assesses, measures, and improves talent performance and helps our clients establish performance cultures that maximize value contribution. We operate at the nexus of business strategy, human capital management, and financial outcomes through a rigorous financial, metrics-driven process that helps our clients realize the full performance of its people.

The Culture Lab at Ankura

Execution Focused, Strategically Aligned

In today's competitive environment, every organization must operate with a culture of continuous improvement and inclusivity to drive sustained business and human performance. Companies with healthy cultures outperform.

Offerings

Talent Strategy

Ankura’s Workforce Architecture for Value Expansion (WAVE) solution suite is a progressive, multi-disciplinary methodology that helps executive teams accelerate strategy execution, minimize talent-related operating risks, and create corporate value. WAVE prompts critical decisions that optimize the deployment and development of talent to create competitive differentiation. Talent initiatives are tracked via Ankura’s proprietary Human Equity Valuation (HEV) governance system, which will form the backbone of your dynamic workforce management system.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is one of the most significant competitive advantages of a company and among the hardest to replicate. Company culture is a magnet for great talent and a key determinant of employee engagement and retention. Most importantly, culture is central to strategy execution; it strongly influences the behaviors required to excel in the marketplace. Employing empirically-based culture measurement and management tools and implementation methodologies, Ankura has worked with scores of senior leadership teams to create accountable and agile company cultures.

Organizational Design & Cost Optimization

In an environment of constant change and increasing complexity, organizations must evolve to capitalize on emerging opportunities. Whether the need is to drive innovation, customer intimacy, operational excellence, or just improve collaboration up, down and across the organization, Ankura works with teams of cross-functional leaders to create lean organizational structures designed to achieve these outcomes. Leveraging both formal (processes and systems) and informal (culture and engagement) structures, the reimagined organization will inspire greater employee commitment and productivity, accelerate decision making, and improved financial performance.

Executive Team Performance

A strategically aligned, high performing executive team is central to business success. Yet too many executive teams remain stuck in unproductive patterns that can slow decision-making and impede strategy execution. In today’s volatile business climate, even successful leadership teams recognize the need to raise the bar on their own performance. Ankura works with scores of executive and mission-critical teams to create stronger alignment, ensure greater clarity on roles and priorities, and improve team communication and accountability. Our work does not end in a conference room or with an off-site; we engage with teams directly “on the field” to deliver immediate and obvious results.

Executive Coaching

Executives who are out of sync with a business’s strategy, or with one another, can jeopardize the success of the organization. Ankura has a strong track record in successfully addressing these challenges, including work with leaders who have rejected or have failed to respond to other approaches. Equally important, however, is the opportunity to advise successful leaders in their quest to become remarkably effective in driving corporate value. Our executive coaching dossier includes hundreds of executives across dozens of industries, from startups to Fortune 100 companies. We employ a variety of psychometric and behavioral assessments as well as provide confidential, objective, and insightful guidance to help leaders rise above their limitations, perceived or otherwise, to become truly exceptional.

Value-Based Succession Management

In the current talent crisis, retention of key leaders becomes an imperative. Ankura’s contemporary approach to succession management creates an irrefutable link between strategy and roles, allowing the identification of the roles that drive disproportionate value and the people most likely to succeed in them. This two-pronged analysis yields better decisions regarding individual succession candidates as well as a deeper understanding of the cumulative experience and expertise needed in pivotal roles to strengthen your competitive differentiation. The succession process moves from a perfunctory HR requirement to a compelling driver of talent deployment and business valuation.

Our Latest Thinking

The Ankura Difference

Ankura has decades of human capital management experience, deep expertise, and proven methodologies and tools to measurably and meaningfully improve our clients’ return on workforce investment. We have executed sweeping, culture-shaping initiatives for hundreds of organizations around the world from Fortune 100 companies to smaller, fast-growth startups. Our work takes many forms including talent strategy formulation, culture by design, talent acquisition and performance management, leader development, M&A diligence, integration and value creation, and human capital risk mitigation for Boards of Directors.

Key Contacts

Photograph of Angela L. Cinefro
Angela L. Cinefro

President & Co-Head of Transformation, Talent, & Transactions

Chicago, IL

Let’s Connect

We solve problems by operating as one firm to deliver for our clients. Where others advise, we solve. Where others consult, we partner.

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