It’s the people stupid!

I focused last weeks blog entry on the recruitment process and promised to follow-up this week on what happens after someone accepts our offer to join.

I’m completely biased as I believe that I now work for one of the best businesses on the planet. I’m not suggesting its perfect as that would be awfully boring. Instead it is an incredibly exciting place to spend my time and somewhere bursting with opportunities.

I guess it’s true to say that our track record and enthusiasm creates a good gravitational pull for talented people and most who interview with us are keen to become part of the business and journey. Having said that it is still a big decision to invest your time and entrust your career to our company. That’s why we like people to feel entirely comfortable before making that commitment.

A number of things contribute to people making a decision to both join us and then stay around:

• Exciting work
• Career development
• Reputation
• People
• Financial reward
• Work-life balance

Focusing on just one or two of these areas is a bit like trying to drive a car without using the steering wheel, brake, accelerator, gears and clutch. You don’t tend to get very far!

Most companies claim the most important bit of their business is its people. In reality many fail to understand that People doing exceptional work create exceptional companies!

A few years ago a highly respected global business withdrew all bonus schemes and salary increases as part of an initiative to reduce costs. Not surprisingly it had a major impact on morale and staff attrition rates. The good news didn't stop there either, it soon became public knowledge that the executives taking this action had been rewarded with promotions and an all expenses trip to Florida!

There are situations where we all need to pull together to get past a few challenges. It may mean working late, sacrificing a weekend to help out a client or accepting difficult market conditions. If you are going to ask your people to take a hit then be prepared to lead from the front. This can be as simple as getting some pizza delivered in at the weekend or taking a bit of financial pain along with your people. When the conditions change it is also important to reward those most affected first.

From time to time things don’t go to plan and its here that the truly great companies will differentiate from the herd. Do your people feel utterly comfortable to put their hand up and admit responsibility for a problem, and if need be ask for help to make good? I remember working in a bank many years ago when a small misunderstanding brought a system down. The senior manager went stomping round the floor demanding to know who was responsible. Not surprisingly no hands immediately shot up and it took a long time to fix the problem!

We recently had a problem getting a client plugged into their network. Not actually our fault but we always make it clear that we are their single ‘throat to choke’ hence there is no-one to hide behind. Only a very small number of people were affected in this case but it was very visible and embarrassing. The whole thing was also made worse in that one of our newest people just happened to be in charge of this project. Instead of burying our heads in our hands and pointing fingers we pulled together a short term solution while we fixed the network. The client was kept well briefed throughout and by way of apology we arranged lunch for the two people in the office the following week.

Some companies hammer into their people the need to bring them solutions not just problems. The key is to do this continually regardless of circumstances. The only way to build this behaviour is by being as passionate about your people as you are about your clients!

If we make sure that our people are treated well, get good salaries, a great work-life balance and loads of support, both day by day and in terms of career development. If we then focus on client satisfaction above all else and stand alongside them through thick and thin guess what happens?

Next Blog.....
A topic particularly close to my heart is mobile working. There is such a rapid pace of innovation here and it is starting to have a tremendous impact on our working lives.