LEAD MAGAZINE | 2019
PAUL TER WAL
THE ROLE OF THE VALUE-TO-
PROFIT MODEL IN 21ST CENTURY
ORGANISATIONS:
How employee engagement impacts both corporate
goals and profitability: Happiness Makes Money
Management models, like Sustainable
Leadership, that help us understand
more about employee engagement, core
values, accountability and employability
are becoming increasingly valuable in
these uncertain times. Good as these
models are, I believe there is a lack of
‘glue’ uniting them as a cohesive whole.
In my view, a key component of the
uniting glue is employability and this
is what I built into the Value-to-Profit
model.
The criticality of employability
Employability is a critical concept for
successful employees in the 21st-
century, whether they are a high-ranking
executive, an office junior, or a machine
floor operative. All need to know what
their employability is and what impact
it can have over the long term especially
for our Happiness.
From a formal perspective,
employability can be defined as:
“The ability of a working individual to
find added value for himself or herself
in performing work, and through that
work and deliver added value to an
organisation, both now and in the
future.”
To me, the most appealing part of this
definition is the idea that employability
belongs to the employee, and not to the
employer. This represents a considerable
shift in mindset for many individuals –
and also for many employers. 95% of the
employers still believe that productivity
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