Monday, November 14, 2011

Hunting Talent

Needed:  Experienced professionals interested in joining a world-class organization doing cutting-edge work.

Requirements:  Give up your  job, tenure, retirement accrual, vacation seniority, relationships with colleagues and overall standing in your current organization to start all over again.

Now that sounds like a great opportunity doesn’t it? But that's exactly what we're asking people to do in the reality of today’s world of hunting talent. Give up everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve in their organization and begin again with us.  That can be a tough sell.

Retaining Is Easier Than Hunting
One of the things I find interesting about Talent Acquisition is that so often leaders overestimate their own skill set and the environments they’ve created.  After all, the data  clearly indicates employees are much more inclined to leave ineffective leaders than they are to leave ineffective organizations. 


 
So if we’re facing a large number of vacancies shouldn’t we first take an objective view of our own leadership style (myself included) and its impact on our departments?  Let’s face it, if we can keep our employees, we don’t need to pay the overtime, push the remaining staff to cover open shifts, and wear ourselves out trying desperately to find high demand talent in a low supply world.

Hunt Your Team
Plenty has been written about paying attention to your employees whether it’s rounding, holding staff meetings or involving them in decision-making.  Lots and lots has been written.  Why do you think that is?  Because leaders still don’t do it.  That’s why. 

Plenty has also been written about evaluating your own performance as a leader so you can make a positive impact on the team.  Lots and lots has been written.  Why do you think that is?  Because leaders have so many blind spots to their own challenges that they use easy excuses to justify their poorly performing areas. 

Ever heard this one – “we’ve had a lot of turnover, but it’s been good turnover.”  When you have so much “good turnover” that you are now facing a major staffing crisis, it’s time to take a look in the mirror.

Hunt Yourself
Stepping up and taking responsibility for creating a difficult environment is not a weakness; in fact, it is one of the most courageous things a leader can do. If you’re worried that admitting you’re not perfect will hurt you consider this: you already have many eyes on you due to the situation you’re in.  Take action now to correct it versus leaning so hard on that “good turnover crutch.”  That tired approach just doesn’t work any more.

How About You
Have you fallen into the leadership excuse trap of blaming others for your current set of challenges?  Why?  No one is out to get you, actually there is a lot of support that can be rolled out….you just need to take that first step.

I’d love to hear from you.

No Excuses.


pics courtesy of sureshkumar and findyourcalm

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