Workforce Advisory: Getting the job done

We are re-entering familiar territory when it comes to the challenge of sourcing talent. It's a topic that is at the forefront of the minds of practically every manager responsible for employing and retaining staff in today's organisations.

Other topics associated with attracting and retaining talent include organisational agility, risk management, accountability and governance - from board and CEO level through to the middle and line management. All of these issues impact the return on human capital investment made by the organisation in what basically comes down to as 'getting the job done'.

Getting the job done is big business, regardless of the size of your organisation. The reality of getting the job done is that without the talent, the job can't get done. Yet what continues to be underestimated in the talent dilemma is the impact of organisation leaders in the attraction and retention of talent.

It continues to be evident that although the consequence of the GFC lessons are being felt across the organisation, the corresponding response to the lessons are not necessarily being reflected throughout the entire organisation, starting at the top.

Organisations today need a different style of leadership. For many leaders, the experience of the GFC was a first and therefore leadership skills were tested. Those leaders that fared best were those who had previous experience in challenging times, were strong and effective communicators, engaged effectively with their people and did not go into 'reactive panic'. They were able to effectively balance long-term needs with short-term crises action and took steps that secured customers, key talent and focused on core business.

There are common focal points or experience requirements that people who operate at the top leadership level need to possess. Complementary to experience are interpersonal skills. Industry experience and competent commerciality do not equate to being an effective leader today. You must be able to listen, allow others to do, accede to a consensus view, support and not unduly intrude yet conversely pursue strategic direction and respond to changing markets diligently and lead the organisation and its people with you, along the journey.

Today the overarching strategic focus of the majority of organisations is 'growth'. Our research shows that the emerging leaders of today have considerably more experience in high visibility, risk and business growth as a result of what has been identified as being critical to those organisations that survived the last 18 months. Competencies and experience are all very well and good, however it is critical to have a clear view of what the success profile of the particular leadership role within an organisation is. Having a structured process in place that evaluates the key experiences relevant to the role, the types of business and leadership challenges likely to be faced now and over the next 3-5 years, is essential.

Having a clear view of structured and objective leadership evaluation processes as well as an in depth review of the leaders' strength and development needs will put organisations in the best position to appoint and review leaders confidently, against competencies and performance indicators that are relevant to the strategies of the organisation. Some types of assessments that can give levels of assurance include a combination of business simulations, structured interviews and psychometric testing which provide a holistic overview of an individual leader.

The lessons learnt have resulted in various organisations understanding the importance of technical systems and operational processes in recruiting and retaining key talent. However, in addition to these fundamentals is the ability to deliver on the company strategy through the faultless execution of appointing the right leaders, implementing effective HR practices and connecting a culture that is conducive to high performance. The leader's ability to provide clear and regular communication of the company's vision, the ability to manage stakeholder relations, implement effective risk management strategies that provide for contingencies and that mitigate risk, whilst maintaining solid returns on investment, is critical.

All of this requires leaders to engage their people in the vision and to 'get the job done'. It seems obvious, but before leaders can engage others, leaders must first be engaged in not only the company vision and the ways of doing things around here, but in the way they communicate the vision, walk their talk and behave towards their human capital.

About the author

Craig McCallum is general manager marketing: specialist recruitment & consulting services at Chandler Macleod Group. For more information phone 02 9269 8879 or e-mail craig.mccallum@chandlermacleod.com

Your comment