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New Leadership Must Inspire New Talent

The following blog post is part 3 of a 3-part series, which is adapted from a speech given by Harlan Schafir (CVO, CEO of ExactHire and Human Capital Concepts) at the Collective Alternative Executive Speaker Series on September 17, 2015.


In my previous two posts from this series, I discussed how changing demographics, views on the nature of work and the workplace, and rapid advances in technology have converged to create intense competition for talent in today’s job market. I believe that this has resulted in making talent management the #1 constraint to a business’s growth. As a solution, I’ve proposed that organizations seek to adapt their work culture to attract, hire, and retain top talent. Today, I would like to discuss how leaders of  an organization can do the same by adapting their leadership style.

Style, Not Substance

It’s easy for business leaders to become defensive when we begin to talk about “adapting leadership style”. I can imagine the response to such a proposition would be something like: “But my leadership style has been successful to this point!” or possibly, “I didn’t dictate the style of the leaders who led me! I fell in line and paid my dues.” or even, “ These whiny, spoiled millennials want everything their way.”

However, when we talk about “adapting” leadership style, it’s important to understand that this refers to changing the delivery of your values or principles, not changing your values and principles themselves. In other words, if you are a leader who values trust and accountability, then the change is in how you engage employees in imbuing those values through their work; trust and accountability do not need to be discarded simply because it appears that the two values are threatened by a shift in workplace culture like, say…an employee’s need for telecommuting or flexible work arrangements.

So the question before leaders today is: How do I effectively communicate my values and principles to a new generation of employees in a way that inspires their loyalty and motivates their work?

Leading a Multigenerational Workforce

Much has been written, spoken, and thought about the Millennial Generation. These blogs, tweets, posts, podcasts, ebooks, etc. have gone to great lengths–some based on dubious sources and research–in describing how DIFFERENT this group is from those generations before it.

So much has been written, in fact, that one might believe that “leading millennials” is the most pressing and important challenge before business leaders today. But I believe it’s much bigger than that. It’s about leading a diverse workforce that, for at least a little bit longer, will span 4 generations.

And while 4 generations working side-by-side is unprecedented, the concept of leadership evolving in response to generational shifts in the workforce is hardly anything new.

Leadership Styles Over The Years

Dr. Tim Elmore–a noted author, thought leader, and speaker on Leadership Development–speaks of the different styles of leadership over the past half century as being products of the time–and specifically products of each period’s emerging generation.

  • 50’s – 60’s (The Military Commander)

    Organizations were run from top-down. Authority was not questioned. If someone left a staff position, they were considered disloyal. These leaders led from positional authority.

  • 70’s (The CEO)

    This leader led by creating a vision that would influence followers to buy-in and work toward fulfilling the leader’s vision. Productivity was the focus. The style was still very top-down.

  • 80’s (The Entrepreneur)

    This leader was pioneering and often preferred the unconventional. They managed by “walking around.” They felt the most critical element was being the first to do it. Innovation was the focus. This style allowed for employees to share ideas that could be implemented, which helped them tolerate the fact that the leadership style was still top-down.

  • 90’s (The Coach)

    This leader assembled and worked with teams. They saw themselves as coaches of players. The leader found the proper roles for all the players, so that together–as a team–they could accomplish more than the sum of its individuals. This style was participatory, but still top-down.

  • (Today) Poet Gardener

    This leader is discerning of the culture and ideas that emerge from others. They gather thoughts from others and draw connections in order to make the best decisions–even if the ideas are not their own. They see their primary function as developing their people, and they equip and empower employees accordingly.  These leaders value individual and organizational growth, but see the the latter being driven by the former. This is leading with shared ownership.

Adapting Leadership Style

The fact that we can map the evolution of leadership styles and their differences is evidence that the challenge before business leaders today–to adapt their style to a new generation of workers–is not new; however, what could be considered unique is that meeting this challenge today will directly impact the constraint to an organization’s growth.

In other words, whereas previous changes in leadership styles evolved in order to increase efficiency or production indirectly through the employee, now this evolution in leadership is required in order simply hire and keep an employee. It has a direct impact on an organization’s ability to grow.

The mindset of “Here’s my leadership style. Here’s my culture. Accept it.” will not cut it. For businesses today, leadership style and culture may be more important than ever before. In order to grow, we must adapt to the new realities of a changing workforce.

“The mindset of ‘Here’s my leadership style. Here’s my culture. Accept it.’ will not cut it.”

Becoming A “Poet Gardener”

So how do we begin transforming our leadership style to one that engages and inspires a new generation of workers, while still serving to encourage and affirm preceding generations? Oh, and still results in the overall growth and increased profitability of our company.

I think it begins with listening. Until we are able to understand the needs and values of our employees and those that are prevalent and unique within each generation, we cannot effectively lead and inspire. I would like to provide a quick story of how I realized this.

Before starting ExactHire, I had spent over 25 years leading employees–mostly Baby Boomers. But it was with ExactHire–around 2012–that I began encountering a different type of worker: the millennial. What I noticed most in these workers was the change in expectations. And so, rather than forcing my leadership style–honed through managing Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers–I stopped and listened. And then I began to understand the expectations of this new generation of employees and how I could meet them.

The point here is that employee expectations change. Sometimes this is due to generational shifts in the workforce, sometimes it’s because of popular culture or societal shifts that span generations. But inevitably, employee expectations will change. Your approach to meeting these expectations as they change will define your leadership style and, ultimately, determine whether you retain top talent. 

And this is important not just in addressing a seeming crisis–like a massive generational shift in the workforce–but also in building the type of organization that, thanks to its leadership culture, is “self-sustainable” and can adapt to future change–long after you’ve gone.

ExactHire provides hiring and employee onboarding solutions to assist organizations in attracting, hiring, and retaining talent. To learn more about how you can leverage our SaaS solutions to optimize your talent management efforts, contact us today!

Feature Image Credit: Change by F Delventhal(contact)

Talent As A Critical Resource

The following blog post is adapted from a speech given by Harlan Schafir at the Collective Alternative Executive Speaker Series on September 17, 2015.


 

Many organizations are growing, and so is their need for talent. The problem that many employers are beginning to face is in finding and retaining that talent. Today, I’d like to talk about staffing our organizations to meet the demands of growth and turnover–or simply, talent management.

An organization’s growth in this decade and beyond will be determined by how its leaders respond to the challenges associated with talent management. Talent has become and will remain the #1 critical resource for businesses in this decade. And for the foreseeable future, I can think of no issue more threatening to the growth of SMBs than this one.

The following quote I recently read sums it up nicely:

“The changing workforce is influencing the way companies do business, suggesting that workforce stability will be an employer’s competitive edge.”-Roger E. Herman, CSP, CMC


Today’s Workforce

Demographic shifts have placed vital demands on talent. And while the dynamics of the talent market have changed over time, the impact of this change is now upon us in full force.

But if the demographics were changing, how did we not see it before now? Did we fall asleep?  Let’s look back over the last 8-10 years, beginning right about the time the recession started.

Through The Great Recession of 2008-2009 and the slow recovery that followed, the vast majority of organizations were trimming their workforce, attempting to do more with less, and trying to just keep their businesses solvent. So the focus for most leaders was on increasing sales–this was the constraint to growth.

The Workforce and Hiring Since The Recession

YearBusiness ClimateMillennial WorkforceHiring NeedsHiring Concern
2007-2009Sales Declining22%LayoffsNone
2010-2014Sales Flat, ModestSteady IncreaseSlight IncreaseLow
2014-2015Sales GrowingSignificant increaseSignificant IncreaseHigh

At that time, Millennials were entering the workforce, but studies showed that many were just taking jobs to have jobs. Although their percentage of the workforce was slowly increasing, hiring was stagnant. So many organizations hired one, maybe two Millennials and that was it. There simply was not enough hiring taking place for Millennials to make their mark on organizations, and so the dynamics in the workplace and how these companies operated really didn’t change.

It was only recently that hiring increased significantly as sales have continued to grow and show stability following the recession and slow recovery.

2011-2015 job openings talent

And as companies go to the market to hire, the makeup of the talent pool has changed significantly since before the recession.


A New Generation

Through the recession, the Baby Boomer generation continued its reign as the largest generation represented in the workforce, but many left the workforce in the years immediately following it.

baby boomer talent decline

In the first quarter of 2015, the Millennial Generation became the largest percentage of workers in the U.S. labor force (Pew Research Center).

workforce generations talent

That’s important because that reality essentially flips the labor market on its head within the span of a decade. Think about it.

Today, in a recovered economy–which really only took hold in early 2014–sales are up, companies are growing, and hiring is increasing. Instead of adding one or two Millennials to the payroll, they’re adding several. Suddenly, this new generation of workers accounts for a larger percent of the organization’s workforce. By 2020, the Millennial Generation will represent nearly 50% of all workers in the U.S. (SHRM).

Now the unique needs, values, and skills of these new workers must be fully considered. Their impact on an organization’s culture must be considered. To ignore them is to lose them, and to lose them is to incur the costs of rehiring.

Times they are a changin’. Talent has become and will remain the #1 critical resource for businesses in this decade. And for organizations to succeed, I believe leadership style and culture must adapt to address it.

Read Part 2: New Day, New Talent, New Culture

ExactHire provides hiring and employee onboarding solutions to assist organizations in attracting, hiring, and retaining talent. To learn more about how you can leverage our SaaS solutions to optimize your talent management efforts, contact us today!

Feature Image Credit: Oklahoma Pumpjack by Jonathan C. Wheeler (contact)

Onboarding Employee Love

New hires should love your organization. You offer a flexible work arrangement, matching 401k, generous PTO, and health insurance–among other benefits. Salaries at your organization are above average for position, region, and industry. You’ve given your new hires everything they need to love you…right?

Wrong. One of the biggest–and first–mistakes an organization makes with a new hire is assuming that acceptance of the job offer equals love of the organization. It does not.

The hiring process barely gets an organization and new hire past the “first date”. Sure, they both find each other attractive in important ways, and so they’ve agreed to continue dating, but love? Not just yet.

Acceptance of Job Offer equals love onboarding leads to love

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Talented employees who love their employer…will brag about their employer. Employers who are bragged about…will be envied. Employers who are envied…will attract more top talent.

Love is everything. But organizations often fail to cultivate this love until it’s too late. In order to gain employee love, employer’s must invest time and resources in the employee onboarding phase. This is when employees will decide whether the organization is a keeper or just another fish in the sea.

Only Fools Rush In

Many organizations will direct all resources toward finding and hiring the best, but then relegate employee onboarding to a mishmash of emails, paper stacks, and afterthoughts. They rush through onboarding because they assume employee love has already been gained. Fools!

Rushing employee onboarding is like splurging on a romantic 5-star restaurant for the first date, and then following it up with McDonald’s…no, actually, it’s like knocking on the date’s door, and then throwing a handful of McDonald’s coupons in the air and walking away. “Hurry up the car is running.”

Cultivating employee love takes time and consistent effort. An organization should never assume that one action or the mere passage of time will result in that love. To gain and keep employee love, an organization must consistently show love. And that starts with employee onboarding.

A Culture of Love

A unique, compelling employer brand is usually one reason why a candidate accepts a job offer. And an organization with an effective recruitment strategy likely invests time in promoting this. But everyone seeks to make great first impressions, and everyone dresses up for the first date.

It is during the onboarding phase that new hires learn whether or not an organization can deliver on what its employer brand promised. Did they promise a friendly work environment? Transparency? Open-door policy? A work-hard-play-hard philosophy? Well, then, the organization better deliver. And it needs to deliver early and often.

According to SHRM, half of all hourly workers will leave a new position within the first 120 days. That leaves precious little time for an organization to back up its employer brand and cultivate employee love. To succeed, it cannot rely on gimmicks, giveaways, or once-a-year public displays of affection. On a daily basis, it must manage an employer brand defined and driven by an authentic and exceptional culture of love.

Cultivating Employee Love With Technology

An organization with a culture of love is a wonderful thing. But that love can go to waste if a new hire does not return the love or is not feeling the love. Technology can be invaluable in ensuring that:

  1. an organization hires an employee capable of love;
  2. an organization succeeds in showing love to new employees.

It’s in the best interest of every employer to hire individuals who can love them because re-hiring is costly. The Center for American Progress (CAP) puts the cost of replacing an employee at around 20% of that employee’s annual salary. That’s why organizations invest in hiring technology to efficiently find the “perfect match” for the position and the organization.

A similar investment in onboarding technology helps organizations show love and efficiently move new hires from “first date crush” to “longterm love”. Quite simply, onboarding technology makes an organization look good and a new hire feel good. It does this by automating time-consuming tasks and drastically reducing–or even eliminating–those groan-inspiring stacks of paper.

The Game of Love

Love can be cruel. Your organization can do all the right things in hiring and onboarding new employees: present yourself honestly, patiently seek the right match, make the first move, plan the perfect first date, and commit to a relationship…

But damn if that new hire doesn’t leave you for some fun, young start-up with a fake brand!
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But at least you’ll know that you did it all in the name of love.

 

ExactHire provides HR technology to help employers hire, onboard, and retain top talent for their organizations. To learn how our solutions can help you get the employee love that you want, contact us today!

Feature Image Credit: Love Colour by Thor(contact)

My Work Team Rocks – And Why It Matters To You

Canoe Trip | Boat on ShoreRecently I took a week’s worth of holiday time. It was used to recharge my mental health and reestablish bonds with my loved ones, as most holidays are. Our plans called for a canoe camping trip in the Ozarks. No internet. No phones. No radio. No electricity. Just us and the outdoors and any other people (or animals) we might happen to encounter along the way.

It’s common to hear people lament how stressed they will be about work when preparing to leave for a vacation; or, how swamped they’ll be when returning. Others may even ask, “Are you going to be able to enjoy your time away and not be concerned with being unable to ‘check-in on things’?”

My own answer to that question: Not at all. My work team rocks my world!

Teamwork at ExactHire

ExactHire has a solid, successful plan in place for shifting work when someone on the team goes on vacation. The team believes in the philosophy that a recharged team member makes a successful team member. We shift the workload while someone is out of the office and for a few days upon their return. Because this is an important part of our company culture, vacationing employees return from their breaks refreshed and ready to produce attentive, quality work.

Yes, it may take us an extra hour to respond to requests while someone is out of the office; or, the special projects we work on behind the scenes might get put on hold. However, we have prioritized and planned in advance, making the entire team aware of expectations. At a minimum, some combination of two people on the team are trained on how to do every task our staff executes. This is how we keep things running seamlessly while someone on our team is on holiday.

This type of team environment rocks! As a client or a potential client of ExactHire this should be important to you. We want you to know you will always be in good hands, and there will never be a moment when you are left without because someone is on vacation.

If you’re ready to begin work with the ExactHire team, visit our resources section to explore our hiring software solutions or contact us today. Or, check out some fun ways to improve culture and bring your own team closer together.