Nearly every week this year an article was published about the talent strain across all industry sectors, particularly the tech and data side of things.
Most managers surveyed said it’s the number one issue they struggle with. Those who have built winning teams face a big challenge in trying to hold onto their talent - who are being aggressively pursued by competitors. There are now 1001 ad tech firms out there making bold recruitment cold calls and approaches through LinkedIn, attempting to poach Australian talent for roles based here and abroad.
Sure, it’s a seller's market and the days of placing ads or hiring recruitment companies to line up 20 good applicants are well and truly over and unlikely to ever return (unless you’re Google).
Given the huge shift in talent acquisition and the changing skill sets and roles now opening up in our industry, one of the biggest challenges for 2015 will once again be: how do we attract and keep great people in our industry, and in Australia?
The formula for success I believe involves three simple things; simple in concept but very difficult to execute as it requires real leadership versus management, to uncover what building and inspiring high performing teams really takes.
1. Have a vision before a recruiter
High performing and talented people want to feel a part of something that is meaningful. They need a sense that their contribution will make a difference and have a direct impact on the success of the business. They crave excellence and need the journey to excite them, challenge them and fulfill an innate desire for autonomy, mastery and purpose.
So often I’ve seen time-poor managers rely on lazy, rushed and uninspiring recruitment practices that evolve around stale processes and managers asking a bunch of unimaginative questions and making decisions based on predictable answers. In corporate structures the initial approach to desirable talent is often made via junior recruiters who don’t understand the business, let alone the vision.
Failure at the outset.
It sounds simple but if talent is important, irrespective of seniority, the best person to make the call is the hiring manager. It shows that you are serious and deserving of their time. In an interview they want to hear what it is that you stand for, what are you are trying to create and why.
Without this, money becomes the primary point of contention. Be able to clearly articulate what you are offering by way of serious best-in-market skill development, specialised one-on-one coaching and creating a culture where they are going to love coming in each day.
2. Hire for ‘traits’ over ‘skills’
I would say that more than half the truly exceptional talent I know in advertising and media didn’t start out here.
In emerging sectors demand always exceeds supply – operators naturally enter into bidding wars, overpaying for often fairly basic and teachable skills. They are chasing ‘skills’.
Outside of highly specialised functions there is an abundance of talent hungry to enter the industry. They often exhibit a combination of essential traits; intelligence, tenacity, dedication, integrity, self belief, curiosity, intuition, empathy and an innate desire to learn and succeed. What they ask in return is an investment of time. It may not address the burning needs of today’s massive workload or next quarters looming budget but it will address issues of sustained churn and over-paying for average talent which becomes a systemic drag on quality and costs.
Great talent reciprocates great leadership by way of over-performance and loyalty – priceless.
3. Know your team’s motivators
One of the most common challenges I encounter talking with managers is that they believe that others are, or should, be motivated by the same things that they are.
The reality is that we are all motivated by quite different extrinsic (benefits, conditions, security) and intrinsic (autonomy, mastery, purpose) motivators. Discovering what these are is essential to a. knowing which individual buttons to hit in the recruitment process, b. leading each individual differently to achieve optimum performance, and c. sustaining high performance over time.
As leaders we need to ask ourselves if we have an inspiring vision to share. Are we investing time into talent and gathering a true understanding of what it is that our next great hire actually wants and needs?
If we’re doing these things, then I doubt this talent shortage will be a problem for long.
Kerry McCabe
MD - Asia Pacific
RadiumOne
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