FROM NOVEMBER’S 2014’s RECRUITER MAGAZINE

The three individual accolades at the Investing in Talent Awards are proof positive that great companies are led by great people. Colin Cottell met up with the winners after the event

Recruiter’s inaugural Investing in Talent Awards 2014 recognised the vital role that individuals at all levels in the recruitment industry make to the success of their organisations through inspiring others around them, by building a workplace environment in which everyone can thrive and making a difference to the reputation of the industry.

Most Inspiring Leader: Guy Hayward, CEO, Goodman Masson

Guy Hayward, chief executive of finance recruiter Goodman Masson, won the award for Most Inspiring Leader. According to the judges, Hayward “stands out as a leader who is visionary, strategic and seeking to differentiate his business as a place where people want to work and give of their best”.

Hayward was recognised for championing employee engagement internally and externally, and for his commitment to treat the firm’s employees better than any other business in the UK. “There is no doubt in my view that there is a correlation between high levels of employee engagement, retention and therefore business performance. And so you have to ask yourself, ‘how does one create employee engagement?’,” Hayward tells Recruiter after picking up the Award. Among myriad ideas and initiatives, driven from conception to reality by Hayward, was the unusual step of registering The Experience ® — his approach to employee engagement — as a trademark.  

By his own admission, many of Hayward’s ideas are “quirky”, though he prefers the word “unconventional”. And not all go unchallenged. The idea of closing the office at 3.30pm on Fridays prompted the “biggest discussion” along the lines of “hang on a minute”, he says. However, 18 months on, Hayward can look back on this as an example of how he was able to take the company with him — his hunch that there would be no loss in productivity or performance confirmed by rigorous business performance metrics before and after.

When asked what constitutes leadership, Hayward highlights the importance of openness. “In our industry, the more open you can be, the more trusting your staff are of you, and the more they will do for you,” he says. Not for him “the obvious answers” of working hard, which is a given, and leading by example. “Those are a bit dated,” he says. 

Openness and honesty are also qualities he looks for in his management team. “By being open and honest about their performance you can identify the good things they have done and the skills gaps they have, and then the person improves,” he explains. “If the boss can help their career, that is real leadership,” he adds. 

Comments from Goodman Masson staff, taken from Hayward’s Award entry, are testimony that his passion for their development and well-being is recognised inside the company. “Guy is unique in how he operates, his vision to treat his people better than any other business in the UK inspires me,” is a typical comment. There is certainly a paternalistic aspect to how his staff see him. Or as Hayward himself summarises it: “It is not just ‘let’s make some money’, it’s actually ‘Guy will look after you’.” 

The judges noted Hayward’s role in demonstrating the link between treating staff well, employee engagement and business performance, beyond the confines of the recruitment industry, including through speaking and lecturing.  

If inspiring leadership is about having a dream, and spreading it far and wide for all to hear, no one can accuse Hayward of falling short in that regard. “I would love everybody to wake up every morning and think ‘My god, I am going to work, how good is that going to be’. I do think the industry has a role to play in that,” he says. 

Most Inspiring Newcomer: Adam Knight, consultant, TXM Recruit

After just two years at global engineering recruitment firm TXM Recruit, Adam Knight is already a role model within the company, according to the judges, who praised his willingness to help colleagues to achieve their targets, even those outside his immediate team. They also praised his commitment to going the extra mile for clients and candidates, and colleagues. 

In a highly competitive category, Knight’s achievement is even more remarkable given that after his first day he almost gave up the job in despair at his inability to work his new computer. It was only thanks to the efforts of his wife,who persuaded him to complete his first week, that he stayed. He has never looked back, and two years on, it is not simply the fact that he is on target to deliver £380k net fee income this year that marks him out and inspires his colleagues.  

One of his ideas, to shadow successful candidates in order to understand what they do, has been adopted by colleagues in other parts of the company. “I don’t think it is just how much we bill, you need to be putting back into the business as well,” he says. Knight himself has taken that to heart, sitting new recruits down on their first day, and explaining what he has achieved and how he has done it. “Not in a big-headed way,” he hastens to add. He says he tells new recruits ‘I don’t want you to be a mirror image of me, this is what I believe, take what you want out of it’.

Knight puts his success down to his ferocious work ethic. “I do a good shift,” he says modestly of his regular 13-hour days. He also mentions his willingness to learn and improve himself. And he is happy to accept that he epitomises the company name T (The), X (Extra), M (Mile). But perhaps it is his stock phrase “if I can do it anybody can” that best sums him up and the effect he has on those around him.

Most Inspiring Team Leader/Manager: Tom O’Loughlin, Switzerland manager, Nicoll Curtin Technology

Since Tom O’Loughlin, Nicoll Curtin Technology’s Switzerland manager, took over the Zurich-based team just over a year ago, the office has moved from a £200k loss in 2013 to a £210k profit in the first six months of 2014. However, as the judges note, it is not just the financial transformation of the Swiss business but the way that O’Loughlin has inspired others to deliver it that marks him out as an inspiring team leader. The judges highlighted his “great leadership presence”, his focus on people development and on collaborative working.

Speaking to Recruiter, O’Loughlin described his approach to turning around the Swiss business. “The most important thing I did was to strip back to the fundamental things we needed to do in the business,” he says. After that came the vision of where the company wanted to get to, and a plan. “We make sure that everybody knows the plan, and are bought into it, and that they move along within the plan as well,” he says.

The hallmark of O’Loughlin’s leadership style is that it is consultative and open. “The best way to get people bought into tough decisions is to get them involved in the decision-making process in the first place,” he says. And staff are much more likely to buy into the vision if they are given reasons for decisions that affect them. 

Leadership is also about knowing each of your people as individuals. “Rather than ‘I am going to lead the team in this way, and everybody needs to be on board with that’, it is more ‘how will so-and-so react if I do that’, and ‘how can I do that in a different way’,” he says.  

The judges remarked on how O’Loughlin showed a willingness to trust his staff and to let go. “We try to give people at whatever stage the autonomy to run their own day, their own week and their own strategy in the way they go forward, albeit under guidance.” This is something he says he himself has benefited from in his stellar rise in the company, and that now through his leadership he is passing on to others.

• Want to comment on this story? The Comment box is at the bottom of the page. Sorry for the glitch but just scroll right down and share your opinions!