Recruiting the best and brightest talent to your team has always been a challenge. To make matters worse, the recruiting game is constantly evolving. The dawn of the Internet fundamentally changed recruiting and workforce management, and social media and mobile technology are adding opportunities — and challenges — for companies competing for top talent.
The convergence of such technology calls for fresh policy and ways of thinking about recruiting and retaining employees. Many companies focus on one technology or another, but few take a holistic look and determine what skills and processes they need to manage all of these changes.
These game changers can’t be passed down the management chain; they require the attention of the highest leaders in your organization. Here are the three biggest game changers and what leaders can do to effectively manage them.
- Social media, human resources technology and beyond. Everyone’s talking about social media and how they’re revolutionizing customer and employee engagement and recruiting.
Trina, a leader in an IT department, asks during a staff meeting for a status update on a high-visibility project. There is a brief silence. Then Michael speaks up. “It’s behind schedule. I’m concerned that we’re not going to meet the beta test projections. What do you think?
Trina gives this some thought and counters with, “There’s got to be a way to get back on schedule. Let’s double-down and get it done. You’re a talented group; I have confidence you’ll find a way!” Trina then smiles encouragingly and says, “So, Michael, will your team hit that beta test mark?” “I’ll try,” replies Michael, very uncertain that the deadline will be met.
Trina thinks she’s providing encouragement and stretching her team. What’s she really doing is signaling to Michael that it’s not OK to push back. By offering an overly optimistic assessment of the situation Trina has backed Michael into a corner: saying “no” isn’t an option and saying “yes” violates Michael’s integrity. (read more…)
Leaders have to become increasingly more skilled at having difficult conversations with others as they take on more responsibility. Greater numbers of people might be relying on them to lead, which often entails tricky situations and tough discussions. The most approachable leaders become a hub for conversations with their staff, their peers, their manager and other stakeholders.
Yet many leaders don’t have the heart for tough conversations; are you one? If so, you might learn the mechanics of stepping into the dialog but neglect all things that can go on in your head about what will take place.
- You might overthink the situation and get nervous about it. Dress rehearsals are fine for thinking through what you will say, but they aren’t the actual event. Just as an actor, as you think about what you will say, you might get nervous about remembering your lines. When the actual “performance” happens, you can go blank or let your emotions overwhelm you.
SmartBrief is partnering with Big Think to create a weekly video spotlight in SmartBrief on Leadership called “VIP Corner: Video Insights Powered by Big Think.” This week, we’re featuring author George Dyson.
Alan Turing’s computer proved to be a tremendous challenge to translate into engineering terms for a functional, memory-capable device. But contrary to what we might expect, the rapid answers to this problem weren’t found at the big, famous and funded laboratories of the post-World War II era, says George Dyson, author of “Turing’s Cathedral.”
Those labs produced great innovations and inventions, and there’s been the argument recently that we need to return to the Bell Labs era. Dyson points out, though, that sometimes creativity and problem-solving cannot be managed merely by constructing a certain setting. Small groups without backing can do great things when left to their own devices.
“The lesson to take from that, in my view, is, you know, let these small, imaginative groups of people do what they want,” Dyson says. (read more…)
SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 170,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How do you feel about our next generation of leaders?
- They’re going to be better leaders than we’ve ever been: 24.25%
- They’ll be as good as we are: 39.34%
- They’ll be worse leaders than we are: 36.36%
We’ve got some work to do. A leader’s job is to create more leaders. The notion that 36% of you are worried that the next generation of leaders will be worse than we are is problematic. That’s a big number and a scary result. If you answered the question that way, remember you’re charged with turning those folks into better leaders than we’ve ever been. Coach them, train them, and develop them. The generation after them will be glad you did. (read more…)
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