Recruiting the right people is challenging at the best of times, and even more so during a business transformation. As leaders of transformation, we naturally start to look to the future and seek people who will meet the demands of the business we are building rather than business we are today.
That’s before we add the dynamic the uncertainty of the current political and economic climate brings (see our blog to explore how this can impact leadership communication and tone a bit more).
If your culture and definition of ‘great behaviour’ is changing for the good or just for the moment as you manage the shifts in market or political landscape your operate within how do you make sure you get the right people and help them stick in order to deliver great things for you?
Define your recruitment need by understanding where you are and where you want to get too.
Acknowledging that planned changes, or imposed uncertainty, lead to a shift in behaviours which put our culture into flux is important. As your culture shifts that experience will change, so understanding that transition so you can articulate it is important. To support great recruitment, we need to define those changes, but it’s a challenge to articulate what cultures are, or what they mean for the day-to-day experience people will have if they come to be part of your team.
Its sensible to find a way to do it, as it can really help you in making choices about whether different people will thrive now and in the future. Below we set out the 5 culture pillars used by the Employee Experience Project to help leaders codify and demystify their culture.
The EX Index can help you to measure your culture against these pillars, it’s a free tool that helps you think about where you culture currently is and what behavioural norms that drives in your people. This will help you identify what people need to fit in to now, but also consider what is needed to influence into the future. Through the 5 culture pillars you can also map where you are going and what that means for what hires need to adapt and add to moving forward.
So how should your recruitment process adapt when your culture is in flux?
- Have a process that isn’t overly automated and is agile enough to respond to changing culture.
- Be clear you are recruiting for culture add –rather than current culture fit.
- Accurate current context preview with an honest view on what it will take to get the business to where you want it to be. Also be clear in what broader support and action in place to make that happen.
- Be honest, meet expectations, listen to candidates, and understand your market.
- Have a clear Employee Value Proposition that is up to date with where your business is at.
- Remember recruitment is a two way process and despite talk of redundancies, candidates are still only moving if they are absolutely convinced about an opportunity.
In your selection process consider the use of a robust personality tool to look at colleagues’ values, drivers and comfort with change and ambiguity. It will help understand if they align on the things that are important to you as the business changes around them.
Once you have some in post keep the conversation on culture alignment and transformation alive. Keep checking with them on whether it feels like the journey your promised is on course and harness them as part of your transformation tribe.
It isn’t always easy to navigate times of change, but trust, honesty and inclusivity go a long way!