KeenHire Blog by Margaret Graziano

Talent Strategy 3.0 - Leading Companies Choose Their Talent Wisely

Every time the right person walks out of your door and the wrong person walks in, the cost to your bottom line is immense.

With a rocky economy, emerging global competitors on the rise, four generations in the workforce, Sr. level leaders on the verge of retirement or their version of retirement (contracting) and a future of opportunities knocking at your high potential workforces’ door, it is time to start thinking about how you are going to incorporate the ‘talent mindset’ in your company.

The Society of Human Resource Management reports that 6 of the top 10 Workplace Trends are directly related to talent acquisition, selection & retention. The number 1 trend to most likely have a major impact on the workplace is workforce retention, and the most critical HR function effecting business strategy is Staffing/Employment and Recruiting.

The above issues are not separate -they are looked at as Talent Management and there is no better time than right now to master the distinctions of Top Grading and Employer of choice.  

The time is now to ask yourself the following questions:

Who are my A players?  What makes them tick?

What is my strategy to keep them engaged?

How do I attract more people with the same values, competencies and winning behaviors?

When I find what I think right looks like, how do I measure the candidates against the people who are A players? Do I have a benchmark?

What competencies are missing on my team, the presence of which would make a difference? 

With duplication, replication and limited protection for IP - tomorrow's companies will compete based on who they hire and how those people execute company strategy, sales and service delivery. People will become American companies keen competitive advantage.

The only way to compete based on talent is to choose that talent wisely, with the end in mind. 

KeenHire teaches Executives and Top Management who to hire, how to hire, when to hire and how to leverage those that are hired. We help business leaders hire the right people, at the right time, for the right cost for the right length of time.

 

Can Leaders Be Made Or Are They Born?

As I read and re-read Think and Grow Rich and begin to migrate this marvelous piece of work into Keen's Leadership development program, I have to first look at myself and shore my own capabilities and capacities up to those leaders that I admire.  Currently, I am in the middle of assembling Keen's executive advisory board and Keen's leadership team.  The nice part of a recession is our recruitment process has gleaned many suitors, the awesome thing about it is - I selected and continue to select team members out of abundance not scarcity. I know that what KeenHire offers is more than cool. It more than makes a difference in High Tech, Information Technology, Energy, Robotics and Heathcare companies, and therefore I also know that I can attract, select and retain the best of the best as my partners, executives and staff.  If I want the best, I also know that I need to be the best. I can never be 'done' developing myself or getting better. I don't look at this as a burden, I look at it as a challenge and part of my mission.

When I look at the leaders I have worked with through out the years in running a staffing business and in actually being a leadership coach; the gap in what is and what isn't leadership  is fairly large.  The good news is a person, if their heart really calls them to lead, can choose to be a catalyst and develop them self in the traits necessary to lead with excellence. The bad news is that it is not easy.  The guidelines of Napoleon Hill are classic, foundational and fundamental principles for being an extraordinary leader in any walk of life. 

Given we are about to face the most challenging workforce of our lives, everyone in leadership is going to have to step it up, tell the truth about what works and doesn't and get help to get better. 

We will all be stretched, we will all need to be better with people than we have ever been. We will need to engage and inspire while developing, coaching and acknowledging. We will  need to be mavens at the hiring process and performance management and if we can't find a way to be a leader who is skilled at those types of competencies, we need to step aside and recruit and hire someone who is naturally competent at it; for it we don't the competitor next door will swoop down on our top talent and whoo them away. 

Actually, even when we are at our best, our mission critical and difference making key players may still get lured away. Keep in mind, the word on the Talent Management Street is that people don't leave companies, they leave Managers - so our job as leaders is to be and create excellent managers, specifically the managers who lead the best and brightest of Sales, Engineering, of our workforce.

Excerpts From Think And Grow Rich - By Napoleon Hill

The Power of Thought

Desire:The Starting Point of All Achievement


Faith: Visualizing and Believing In the Attainment of Desire


Autosuggestion: The Medium for Influencing The Subconscious Mind



Specialized Knowledge: Personal Experiences or Observations



Organized Planning: The Crystallization of Desire into Action

Decision: The Mastery of Procrastination

Persistence: The Sustained Effort Necessary To Induce Faith

Power of the Master Mind: The Driving Force

The Mystery of Sex Transmutation

The Subconscious Mind: The Connecting Link

The Brain: A Broadcasting And Receiving Station for Thought

The Sixth Sense:The Door To The Temple of Wisdom

How to Outwit the Six Ghosts of Fear

The Devils Workshop

So you might be asking yourself, "What any of this has to do with you, me, KeenHire or the price of tea in china?"   I first began re-reading the book last spring, as a guide book to creating the company of my dreams. A company that would grow beyond anything I myself could fund, manage and control. What I have learned through studying this book and Napoleon Hill's work is that success, personal and business is all a matter of the thoughts and actions of the people running the company.  Instinct told me this when I first started in recruiting, and instinct again told me this when I trained and watched hundreds fail in my 25 years of managing and training people in the recruiting industry.

What I know now know is that a good leader will not only clear his own head, she will ensure she surrounds herself with people who are on purpose, committed and driven to achieve the the intention - no matter what anyone on the outside says.

Too often great ideas get squashed by negative comments, a great new potential hire quits just short of reaching a win, a solid performer gets promoted to their highest level of incompetence, a long term mission critical player gives one great idea after the next, yet their ideas fall on deaf ears and then they leave and everyone stands around and wonders what happened. 

To run a great company, we must be great. To continually outperform the competition we must surround ourselves with top tier caliber people and all of us must execute our plans with intentionality and discipline.  Success is not something that just, happens.  Success is planned for and persistently pursued.  Success is not a part time endeavor and it takes work.

As the economy shift and companies begin to hire, we all need to remember why it is that we had to lay so many people off.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics stays in 2009 US companies, had an average turnover of 50%, while voluntary turnover stayed at around 22%.  If these numbers are correct, why were our companies lopsided with overhead and how do we prevent that from happening again? 

What do we need to do now, from a strategic stand point to re position our employee value proposition, so the best and brightest chose to join and stay with our firms?

In the research that Keen has done, we have seen and experienced companies who think attracting top talent is only a sourcing problem; others believe and report that it is a selection problem and others are going deeper and saying it is a management and leadership problem.

What ever the reason, the solution is up to you to resolve and execute for your company. Whether you are in HR, Recruitment or Talent Management the next five years will be the most exciting time for you to reinvent your personal value proposition.  You will be called on to deliver much more than a great immediate cure to the pain of the day, you will be called on for strategic direction, insight and action.

Pick up a copy of Think and Grow Rich as there is a new version out, revised and expanded by Dr. Arthur Pell. There is an entire section on creating the job of your dreams and lots of great information on what it takes to lead in good times and bad. This book is an excellent addition to your personal collection.

Best of Success
Margo

Living In the Zone

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:”

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone..

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special. 

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do. 

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved. 

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."