Upcoming Events
Lisa will be participating in these Fall Events:
AFSMI Atlanta Chapter
September 9, 2004, 8-9:30 am ET
"Does Offshore Outsourcing Guarantee Onshore Value?" Panel
Discussion Led by Lisa Nirell
To register, contact Debbie Phillips: dphillips@northhighland.com
or visit: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=13251584256
AFSMI Authors Corner and Product Signing
October 4, 2004, Dallas TX
For more information, contact AFSMI at (800) 333-9786, x12
or visit: http://www.afsmi.org/events
How Hedgehogs Hire
I have previously suggested that the only
three remaining "levers" we can use to accelerate growth
are our people, our innovations, and, to coin Jim Collins'
timeless term, our "hedgehog. " The more time I spend with
services CEOs, the more convinced I am that leaders with
strong hedgehogs have the most successful hiring models.
It becomes almost effortless to hire great
people when we're passionate about our work, we know what
my company can be best in the world at, and we're clear
how we fuel our economic engines.
Recent record-breaking job growth figures
(over 280,000 new jobs in May) mean that more firms are
competing for the same good talent. This causes additional
pressure on us to determine how we can minimize voluntary
attrition.
I interviewed CEO's of small to medium-sized
services companies to find out how they hire. They had to
meet two criteria: First, they had to report consistent
profitable growth for the last 3-5 years, and second, they
had to demonstrate a serious passion for attracting and
retaining good people.
Rod Walker, President and CEO of Knightsbridge
Technology, a consulting firm based in Chicago, meets
the criteria. According to Walker, "recruiting the best talent
is my number one priority. As we experience 41% CAGR, we've
been challenging ourselves to get premium people in the door
quickly while maintaining our culture." It's no wonder that
Knightsbridge has grown profitably for the last ten years
and boasted a 15% voluntary turnover rate, much lower than
today's services industry average of 25%.
I also spoke with Janet Amirault, President
and Managing Partner of Software
Consortium in Towson, MD. This firm provides strategic
IT consulting and delivery services to clients such as Black&
Decker, Sylvan Learning, and Marriott Corporation. They
have delivered 30% annual growth in the last 9 out of 10
years. Of the two good performers who resigned in the last
year, both became corporate clients. That's low attrition.
These leaders shared some common strategies:
1. Design the position first, then
start recruiting. Amirault suggests, "Document the key knowledge,
skills and behaviors that you need for every position." In
my experience, many services firms still rely on job descriptions
to attract good people and skip this critical step. Some positions
will always require certain credentials and education. What's
often missing are the key skills and behaviors you'll need
to rapidly align this person with your company's way of doing
business.
You'll also need to review your interview
questions. For example, if you want to ensure this person
has a commitment to lifelong learning (a behavior), how
would you know? Amirault recommends that you "Ask very specific
questions, such as 'what were the last two courses you enrolled
in while you worked at ABC Company?"
2. Implement multiple candidate data
collection methods. Consider personality profiling systems
(such as PDP and Myers-Briggs) and reference/background
checks (such as Kroll America). Most of these programs require
less than 30 minutes of your time and may cumulatively cost
less than $500. The investment is a fraction of the cost
of one bad hire, which ranges from $100K in IT to millions
for mortgage brokers.
3. If you choose to hire and promote
from within, beef up your systems and enabling technology.
According to John Walsh, President of Del Mar Database in
San Diego, "Growing your own can be a very effective strategy,
but it requires very good business processes and technology.
Internally promoted teams need better tools because of their
lack of experience." The Mortgage Bankers Association projects
a 47% IT capital budget increase in 2004-two thirds of which
is slated to streamline processes for loan origination professionals.
4. Increase your commitment to providing
regularly scheduled professional development. Knightsbridge
invests over $1M annually in training and pays special attention
to new hire and junior consultant development. That's nearly
3% of revenues. Our proprietary research reflects similar
investment levels among growing services concerns. Janet
Amirault of Software Consortium they have shifted a solid
percentage of their training budget from standard IT training
to leadership, communications, and sales disciplines.
You may not always know when it's time
to hire more people, nor whether your hiring plans are working.
Then again, ask CEO Rajiv Gural of Wholesale Lending Online,
a mortgage brokerage firm: When he asked his operations
manager whether it was time to hire a new operations support
person, she said, "don't worry-when it's time I will let
you know." She did, and the timing was perfect. That is
when he knew he not only had a system, but his team wholeheartedly
supported it.
These great examples tell us that if you
treat your hiring system like gold, and your hedgehog is
relatively strong, you just may 'outfox' your competitors.
--Lisa Nirell
http://www.energizegrowth.com/
