Pirate talk: January 2016
FROM JANUARY 2016'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE
Imagine 30-plus recruitment chief executives, managing directors and founders, penning away in pure silence as if it were a school exam.The cause? We had asked our recruitment leaders lunching at the Recruitment Directors Lunch Club [RDLC] three simple questions: What do you do? How do you do it? And why do you do it?
The cloud of ‘Am I really that different?’ descended quite quickly. These questions are rarely asked. Entrepreneurs and business leaders often push so hard to improve and grow their enterprises they sometimes lose sight of ‘Why’ they started on their journey.
We have collated the answers we received. But remember: yours may, and probably will, be different — it won’t be a skill, a credential or a result. It is an emotive attachment that drives you every day.
What? Recruitment, monitor, direct, build, grow, drive strategy, target, lead from the front, meet, negotiate, sell, finance, build knowledge, build relationships, build brand, stabilise, investigate.
How? Engage, incentivise, KPIs [key performance indicators], metrics, attract, retain market, promulgate, differentiate, niche, selective, training, specialise, USP [unique selling point], build rapport, affinities and connect.
Why? Challenge traditional methods, transcend present offerings, autonomy, personal control, to inspire others, passionate about recruitment. A belief I can do it better, prove the doubters wrong, because I can, to be the best I can be, to make a difference, to show my plans and drive are bigger than me, access personal choice, freedom, purpose.
We were keen to find connectives within the questions. Within the ‘What’ and the ‘How’ this was fairly simple. So why do businesses have such varying results in delivery, growth, scale, brand and profitability?
Could it be the ‘Why’? When it came to the ‘Why’, every leader in the room felt they didn’t have a ‘job’, as jobs infer an occupation or paid employment — and not a passionate entrepreneur or leader who knew ‘Why’ they were doing what they do. The entire group agreed: if you love ‘What’ you do and ‘How’ you do it, because you understand ‘Why’ you’re doing it, you’ll never work a day in your life again. Having a passion that is more than a hobby is about as good as it gets.
We found that ‘Passion and Purpose’, not ‘Production and Profit’, drove our group. It was also the passion and the purpose attached to their ‘Why’ that attracted such strong teams and recruiters to work for them and not just for money. The leaders’ ‘Why’ becomes the ‘Why’ of their teams and recruiters as they become believers in the vision of the business and its driver.
Understanding ‘Why’ helps a team to overcome obstacles, as each obstacle in their way just becomes an instruction on a new way in which to achieve your goal.
It is a truly powerful exercise and one that has also helped to grow, as well as save, many businesses. Having a ‘Why’ gives the ‘Passion and Purpose’ required for initiating, bettering, improving and growing an enterprise. History tells us that many small armies have won big battles and decisive wars because they believed in their leader and they knew ‘Why’ they were fighting.
As RDLC founders, we have subscribed to this behaviour throughout our careers to initiate, originate, accelerate, and to take businesses on the precipice and turn them into cohesive high-growth enterprises.
It is such a clarifying exercise. Pure concentration becomes so rewarding as you find your ‘Why’; it is an almost cathartic experience and one to be embraced.
RDLC Top tip Why not take an hour or so out of your day or weekend to find your ‘Why’? You may never have to work another day again. As Ralph Waldo Emerson described knowing your ‘Why’: ‘Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’.
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