Here’s the good news – The economic recovery has started. After years of speculation and stops and starts the economy is actually improving. Consumers are spending, sales are up, manufacturing is growing and finally companies are hiring. And while is certainly isn’t happening fast enough for everyone’s taste or as robustly as we all might long for, there are good signs on the horizon that the recovery is real.
As Executive Search consultants, we are privy to some inside information from our clients both large and small and can tell you that the vast majority are ramping up their efforts company wide – marketing business development, IT, R&D, all of it. The best companies are moving full force forward.
So why the scary blog post title? Because we’re also seeing a troubling and potentially dangerous development with some of the new client companies we’ve been engaging and some of the chatter we’ve been hearing. It’s a major red flag we’ve encountered in some of the conversations both on and offline that we’ve been listening to, and it’s a major concern because of the interconnectivity of the global economy.
So here it is. The Number One Way to halt (and possibly reverse) your company’s recovery:
GO BACK TO THE WAY YOU WERE DOING THINGS WHEN THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE TOOK PLACE
While that may seem a bit obvious, we’re still seeing some signs that a few companies are falling back into the same traps that got them in trouble in the first place, especially in regards to executive level talent acquisition. (Recruiter humor: Repeating the same fruitless action over and over again and expecting a different result is called A) Insanity or B) Our Company’s Executive recruitment strategy). Having entry level recruiters matching up resume keywords from your job postings will bring you exactly the same result as before. And while “social recruiting” seems like the latest buzzword, for too many employers, that means posting generic job descriptions on Linked In and Facebook as opposed to Monster and Career Builder. Those tools may work well for mid-level or individual contributor roles, but the best executive level talent isn’t looking at job postings anywhere. They’re not looking at anything but the analytics reports of their successful companies taking a decidedly upward turn.
The concept of returning to the same old tactics that didn’t work that well in the first place betrays the very concept that lies at the heart t of the new recovery: innovation. Too often people think of innovation strictly in terms of new technology. But in truth, innovation is a mindset. Here’s an example…
We have a national client who came to us for a critical leadership position here in the San Francisco market. This client was recently rated number one in their field by the leading industry trade magazine which cited their commitment to innovation and openness. For this leadership role, they asked us to look outside of their core business community and towards talent from companies that have similar and related aesthetic sensibilities and skills but most importantly towards talent with an innovation mindset. Their open minded approach to looking for talent enabled us to provide them with several top tier candidates, each of whom brought different skillsets and experiences to bear but who all shared the client’s forward thinking approach to innovation. As a result they are not only close to a decision on their new regional leadership talent but they saw the value of the other talent we presented and are now planning on creating positions for them as part of a firm wide Innovation initiative.
Our client’s foresight into seeing the value of innovation is what made them Number One in their space. Their continued commitment to innovation is likely to keep them at the top (and well ahead of their competitors) for years to come.
If you do not innovate, if you do not challenge your team and your company to look at problems in new ways and find new solutions, you are in danger of being left behind.