Talent acquisition is a daily effort in most businesses these days. Finding and identifying the best available talent to bring into your business requires a lot of energy, time, and brain power. We take lots of time at the front end of the acquisition process of running ads, interviewing etc. only to hurry up the process at the most critical juncture of a relationship – the initial days of the engagement.
Onboarding – the key to a successful business engagementRead More »
You wake up in the morning and something is stirring in your being. You can’t quite figure out what is going on, but you know something is afoot. You push it off to the side, get ready and out the door you head to your office or client meeting. As the day wears on you sense that something is amiss. You just can’t put your finger on it. You dismiss it again multiple times during the day. That evening as you think you are going to sleep, you simply keep tossing and turning. Your mind keeps thinking about stuff. You just can’t seem to come to a place of rest.
The customary non holiday of April Fool’s Day is tomorrow. This is the day that over time people have used as an opportunity to prank a fellow colleague with a harmless gag in order to bring some fun and enjoyment to the relationship. Our society and business world has fallen away from having fun. With all the dynamics of the past 24 months dealing with pivots, changes and fears we lost sight of having fun.
A couple weeks back the Guidepost reflected on the talent challenges in the marketplace. The focus of that post was on not dismissing or hiding behind the issue and get out and be creative to attract and retain best talent. With the ever-changing marketplace of people, places and opportunities, leaders must be able to flex to get the talent they need to be productive.
Recently there was a broadcast of an interview with a successful pro athlete which touched on various aspects of their life. Like many successful people, they had moments of great accolades and achievement and other times of abysmal failures. Like many other people who have realized some level of success, the person acknowledged that they did learn from both the successes and failures. The one statement which they talked a bit about was the focus, motivation and what would keep them on track so they could fight the fight even in losses to grow to the next level. That element was the juxtaposition of having discipline be the driving force rather than having to deal with the regret of not having executed to the highest level they possibly can perform at.
It is the big topic of owners of businesses of all size – where have all the people gone? Looking for, finding, hiring and having staff be part of the organization’s success is a daily objective in most organizations. Businesses have the need but there is an absence of talent/people to participate in the work. That being a given in the present marketplace, it should not be a green light to use it as an excuse for performing the commitments of the organization to its customers, clients, employees, and vendors.
Over the past 24 months businesses have pivoted and caused lots of changes in the way they needed to do business. Lots of changes in a short period of time conducted under stressful dynamics can cause things to work for a short time but could be detrimental over the long haul. When the process changes are done in the middle of chaos the little things don’t seem to make a big difference. People are just happy they moved from one way of working to the next. The products went out the door and customers were taken care of. The process worked!
If there is one thing the pandemic has had a universal impact on in business, it is the demand for staffing. Yes, there are supply chain issues and raw materials issues and any number of challenges which have forced business to pivot and go in different directions. Underlying all of these are people.
The last 24 months have taken their toll on everyone. As business leaders we have had to make various adjustments to our businesses, clients, employees, vendors and all the other regulatory factors which have impacted the day-to-day operations of the business. During this same time, I have witnessed the levels of stress go up multiple levels on these business owners. As they were and, in some cases, still are in save the ship mode, they have disregarded their own personal health for the sake of the business’s health.
Last week we explored the area of reviewing financial reports to see the results and needed areas of focus to build and sustain a scalable company. Hopefully you took that to heart and as today is the 10th of the month you have reviewed your financial reports at least with yourself and or your leadership team.