Find the Right Moves:Two Paths to the Same Goal

Over the last 18 months individuals have revaluated what they want from work, both in terms of the job role and the environment that they are in. This period of reflection is predicted to result in what is being dubbed ‘The Great Resignation’ or what OE Cam is calling the ‘Big Shuffle’ whereby individuals change jobs and/or organisations en masse. This prediction is supported by Microsoft’s global survey which suggests that 41% of the global workforce are considering leaving their employer this year (2).

Organisations have also had to rethink their direction, their strategic vision and how they are going to get there. An unsettled workforce along with a potential shift in strategic direction and new ‘hybrid’ ways of working means that many organisations are faced with re-evaluating the attributes they need for the future.

In this article we explore what those attributes might look like and the two paths organisations can take to finding them.

Predicting the Attributes for the Future

Historically many organisations have focussed on leadership competencies (knowledge, skills and behaviours to deliver outcomes) in the selection, development and promotion of leaders. However, increasingly we are working with organisations on leadership attributes. Whilst competencies prepare leaders for certainties, attributes underpin leadership that is required for uncertainties and it’s this capability which is going to be fundamental going forwards.

Let’s take Max for example, a leader who had historically been high performing. He was seen as exceptional at planning, organising and making logical decisions. However, Max struggled badly during lockdown because he lacked certain leadership attributes. With unprecedented levels of business (and personal) uncertainty during the first lockdown in April 2020, Max became increasingly frustrated with not knowing how to find solutions.

Max wanted to quickly work things out and apply known approaches, however, there were numerous unknowns and no memory bank or template to refer to. An example leadership attribute he was weak on, and contributed to his drop in performance, was low levels of curiosity. Max was used to asking questions he either knew the answer to or questions in order to diagnose. He was not curious enough to ask different questions, where the answers may be uncomfortable, spring up new questions or lead him into unknown territory. Hence, he made decisions quickly without asking the right questions, which would have led to better decisions, and alternative ways of achieving outcomes.

A second inter-related and compounding barrier to Max’s drop in performance was not being willing to show vulnerability. Quite simply, he had always wanted to look in control, display high levels of confidence and speak with certainties. These were all barriers to involving team members, other colleagues and looking externally.

‘Constructive Authenticity’ is when individuals moderate their authentic self at work to align with their role and organisational culture. Given the changes brought about by home working, we have seen that the attribute ‘Constructive Authenticity’ is becoming increasingly important to many organisations. Employees have become much more humanised over lockdown, and they need to believe that they can connect with their leaders. Work is no longer left at the office, we have an insight into people’s homes, their personal lives and their preferences based on their backdrop during video calls, who may interrupt them and the hours they are responding to a full inbox. To motivate and engage employees, constructively authentic leaders are showing more of their true selves in order to bring their best self to work and connect with their teams. Keeping this personal touch will be critical given that the office walls have now been broken down…

Another leadership attribute that will be crucial is the ability to think both short-term, and at the same time develop more innovative longer-term strategies. At OE Cam we call this ‘being Ambi-dextrous’. This attribute within leadership will be especially important for organisations that have relied primarily on ‘tried and tested’ methods in the past. The world is changing rapidly and the ability to balance the potential incoherence that comes from ‘letting one thousand flowers bloom’ and the potential rigidity that comes from ‘sticking to the knitting’ will help the organisation spot emerging issues or trends and stay afloat as well as flourish in the future.

Promoting From Within, Or Recruiting Externally

To hire or not to hire; that is the question…

Whether you have decided that you need individuals with specific attributes in particular roles, or if it is just a case of increasing your workforce, there is a choice to be made as to whether to hire new people or develop your existing employees into the roles.

There are pros and cons to hiring new people and the negative results could be amplified over the coming year as many organisations seek to recruit larger volumes at speed, either to fill gaps left by departing employees, or to fill new roles in line with a new business strategy.

Whether an organisation is promoting internally or hiring externally, the use of psychometrics is an effective way to identify where the gaps are and whether a candidate has the potential to fill those gaps, as well as fit in with the organisational culture. Indeed, there are new psychometric tools that are being developed that can help quickly evaluate skills gaps within a group of employees that can either assist in recruiting new individuals (who would fill said gaps) or developing personalised training programmes for a group to fill those attributes within teams. If looking at recruitment, at OE Cam we recommend using our ‘ERCONIC’ interview in addition to the psychometric tests as this is particularly powerful for assessing leadership attributes.

Promoting and developing internal candidates has numerous advantages including being more cost effective, increasing employee loyalty and hiring those with a proven track record of performance. If there are attributes needed for promotion that an individual does not yet have, then the use of development programmes, such as OE Cam’s Agile Mindset development programme, could help the individuals progress into a more senior role.

Regardless of whether you choose to hire externally, or develop existing employees’ skillsets, it is important to be aware of what your competitors are doing.

The Importance of Market Forces

With the imminent ‘Big Shuffle’ and so many organisations looking to recruit at the same time, it’s a candidate market and employers need to ensure that they are standing out to attract and retain the best.

Things like hybrid working policies, benefits and opportunities beyond the salary will become increasingly important. In other words, the ‘what’ organisations can offer potential candidates they are hoping to attract or keep existing employees from looking elsewhere. Our colleague Julie Brophy’s article looks at the psychological contract in more depth.

The attraction stage is far more than just posting a job advert. Candidates will form a view as to whether they can work for a particular organisation based on any previous experience with the company, their reputation in the market as well as the language in the job advert itself. This becomes increasingly important for specialist roles where there are fewer qualified applicants who have the necessary skill set.

Similar to the rules of attraction, retention is more than a salary and our colleague Mariam Mirza talks about how to revitalise your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Investing in developing employees for promotion shows individuals that their employer believes in them, values their contribution, recognises their worth and is confident to put resources behind them.