During the past few weeks in April, we have looked at some aspects of business ownership. How we listen and hear. Are we growing from being managers of things to leading people? Do we invest appropriately in training and development for our team members so they can contribute at their highest levels?
As business leaders, you are responsible for setting the tone and positive vibration in your business’s culture. Part of your culture is the overall environment you create and bring team members into. As a leader who invests in your culture and your people, you need to attract the best talent. Part of that attraction factor is whether you are hiring people who trade time for dollars or are seeking a career-minded approach to employment.
In today’s highly transient society, it is not uncommon for employees to move about an industry, region, or globally. Sometimes, it may be in the same organization, but typically, it will be in a variety of companies, industries, and locations. If that is the case, then how is having a career mindset defined? In the past, it might have been considered a career mindset if they had stayed in the same organization for their entire career or at least long stretches of time.
Today, with employment movement occurring as regularly as every 2 to 4 years, if you are lucky enough to have an employee for that term of time, then what are you looking for in their capabilities to contribute while they are in your employment? Are you looking only at skills? Are you looking at how well they can develop new skills? Are you looking at if they have the capability to transfer their skills and capabilities to others? Do they care about the business while they are working in it? Are you open to investing in developing them for their sake and gaining current benefits while they are working with you?
Business leaders who hire for the transfer of time for dollars typically have regular challenges with turnover, employee attitudes, customer service issues, etc. The team members have no vested interest in the business’s success or outcomes. It is strictly a time-for-money situation. These situations cause a business to have to overstock people in the event some call out, don’t show up, or just simply quit without notice. Rather than have to manage the revolving door of time for money constantly, business owners can take a more supportive role in providing talent the opportunity to grow in career mindset while contributing to the business’s success.
The talent in the marketplace today was not brought up the same way as the current business leadership. There are too many factors to go into here, but if we continue to try to run the business the same way, then we are simply telling the talent to kindly look for another job somewhere else. The resources today need leaders who want to help them grow. They did not get it growing up. They did not get it in academia. They are not getting it from their peers. They want it and are turning to the business world to have someone invest in them.
This is not a panacea. Not all the talent in the marketplace is looking for this, but there is plenty that are. If, as a leader, you can tap into this group and offer something more than a transfer of time for money, then you could have an endless supply of career-minded talent wanting to join your organization. We are seeing this happen in some of our clients who have embraced the career development mindset.
Interested in taking your business to a new level of contribution to the future development of talent in the marketplace? Give JKL Associates a call at MI (313)527-7945 or FL (407) 984-7246.
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