“You can have the best strategy in the world, but if you don’t have the hearts and minds of the people who work with you, none of it comes to life.”

An empowered workforce is what takes organizations from good to great. The secret behind building an energized workforce is selection of the right candidates and an invigorating business environment. Give people an environment designed to produce great results and amazing talent will flock to work there.
Selecting the right people is a critical leadership lever that drives growth. Employee selection is the ultimate pay-me-now or pay-me-later leadership proposition. Do it effectively now and reap the benefits of a high-performing team later. Or do it fast and cheap now, and pay the price later of increased turnover, underperforming teams, a diluted culture and drain on managerial time later!
As a time-trusted veteran in the industry, Anil Raikundlia, MD, Maple C&S shares that ‘Sadly, an incredible amount of time, effort and money is spent daily on efforts to correct ‘teams’ that are not setup well or able to function effectively at all. Hence valuable time is wasted on getting the ‘right fit’ and not on core goals and tasks.’
Finding people who fit your organization is a complex task. It pertains to selecting those people who resonate with you on values, vision and mission, those who are competent to work in the jobs and roles you have available now (or ones you may create in the future), those who want to work within the scope of their highest potential and those who have the ability to learn quickly.
Ways to optimise your selection and recruitment process
According to Anil, being able to find people who fit, starts with retooling your recruiting and hiring process. ‘In my years of experience, I have found it beneficial to draw on empirical data from past organization performance, strategic direction and core business processes, and then distinctly outline what a successful performer should look like for your company.’
This approach coupled with behavioural interviewing, can help you sift through candidates to find a perfect match.
Behavioural interviewing is the format of getting people to tell you stories about their work history and how they behaved in a variety of situations. Instead of the traditional approach (“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”), the behavioural approach illuminates abilities and experiences that give you a holistic picture of how an individual works (“Tell me a story about how you succeeded on a given project”).
While traditional cues help like eye contact, posture, facial expressions and gestures, consider going a step further with intonation, pacing of speech, energy level, self-confidence. Gauge your feelings post interview – Enthused, tired, impressed? Perhaps those who work with the candidate will feel the same way.
Development opportunities are the new brass ring for workers.
Developing your staff is a no-brainer. If people are the most important asset of an organization, the more they know and the better their skills are, the better their output will be.
It is noticed that employees today, do insist on sharing in the success they help create for their companies while they’re employed there, such as equity ownership, a stimulating work environment, availability of “hot” projects and skill-enhancement opportunities. Thus, helping them keep one foot in the future and one in the present by knowledge sharing, learning opportunities, lateral growth or other development opportunities is beneficial to the organization and employee equally.
Maple C&S works with companies who want to enact strategies to attract, hire and retain top talent and works with individuals who want to proactively manage their career to get more. Yes, they both have different perspectives, but they both want extraordinary results and that’s in everyone’s best interest.