#10 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

Success = Having the Right People

 

“The success of an organization is dependent on the quality of its people and their commitment to excellence.” (Drucker)

It follows that to establish a high performing culture you have to be able to attract and retain the right people with the skills and character to take your enterprise forward. Of course, for organisations that are already “in the zone” it is far easier to find and keep people. They are known for being successful, having a positive culture supported by great leadership and management. But what if you are still trying to get there?

In this post I am going to talk about how you get the right people in the first place.

When the economy is growing good people with the right skills and abilities tend to be in short supply. Those in jobs, having gravitated towards good companies, are not looking to move (why would they?) and the small number of the candidates you want will look at well-known companies with a record of success. So what can you do when you are still on the road to success and at first glance do not seem to have much to offer? Traditional advertising, either in the media or on line, is not hugely successful. The result is often expensive, but wasted, effort getting CVs from pretty unappealing candidates often via seemingly expensive recruitment agencies.

One frequently underutilised and misunderstood approach is Search, or “Headhunting” as it is sometimes known.

Headhunting is usually perceived as a method only used by big companies to find top level executives via some mythical black book kept by a hugely expensive consultant sitting in plush offices in London! The reality could not further from this.

Search is research – it’s the process of selecting the environment within which the sort of person you are after might be found, identifying the actual potential candidates and making direct contact with them. This provides the opportunity to have a conversation as even well settled individuals are usually curious, you have connected to their ego and so will have that initial chat. Then it is possible to explain in far more detail what you have to offer than can be conveyed in a job ad. Following this process will invariably lead to the person you are after.

In over twenty five years of “headhunting” I have used this approach to find sometimes quite junior people, but with specialist skills and knowledge, for small companies without it costing the earth. Design Engineers, Flavourists and a Head of Retail in Italy are just a few of the roles where Search has worked when conventional advertised recruitment has failed. The cost – a lot less than not having somebody or employing the wrong person!!

So there you have it. To succeed you need the right people and sometimes that means adopting an unconventional approach to getting them. Headhunting is not just for the big boys!

(In my next post I’ll talk more about how you select the right people from your short list of great candidates to help build a great team - and keep it!) 

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#9 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

Leadership. What is it?

If you look back at my first blog, I asked the question, “Do you belong to a High Performance Culture?”

I asked if you were a manager or a coach.

Now, for me one of the key characteristics of a leader is that they are a coach

Over the past decade a phrase has entered the HR lexicon of management speak - Authentic Leadership. It is a concept introduced by management expert Bill George in his 2003 book "Authentic Leadership" and developed further in the later book "True North." George describes authentic leadership as a leadership style that is consistent with a leaders' personality and core values, and that is honest, ethical and practical. (My emphasis)

You’re probably getting the results your processes are designed to deliver.

I see it every day, in all walks of life – good people giving their all but not producing the kind of outcomes they, or anyone else, wants. Are they happy in their work? Of course not, most carry on and do their best simply because they care; they achieve what they do in spite of, not because of “the system”.

Adding insult to injury are those who, when looking for changes, focus on people – often by adding more targets and measures and then castigating those who “fail” to achieve them. The system is sacrosanct, “we have always done it this way” or “that is the way it has been decided”. People, however, are not responsible for the system in which they work, if the system is not fit for purpose then they cannot succeed. Deming1 summed it up nicely;

“A bad system will beat a good person every time”