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That the quality of management determines
the success of an organisation is a truism. But in the
modern world, the realisation and assessment of management
quality has become a critical challenge for Chief Executive
Officers (CEOs) and Boards of Directors who are responsible
for getting it right. What does attracting, retaining
and developing executive talent involve and what tools
are there to help an organisation maximise its potential
in this critical area?
Although much will depend upon the organisation’s
own vision, reputation and potential, nevertheless consulting
services – such as retained executive search –
are available to maximise an organisation’s possibility
of success in the talent marketplace. Working effectively
with executive search consultants can contribute to
a comprehensive talent management strategy even though
the real commitment to the strategy must come from the
top of the organisation.
Some leading CEOs consider that they spend as much
as 50% of their time on key personnel issues: assessing
and counselling the C-level suite of officers, identifying
and evaluating fast-track internal talent, ensuring
that a compelling recruitment proposition exists for
outside hires, developing a positive culture that rewards
achievement and raises the performance level of the
organisation.
Many of these challenges will depend for their success
upon the leadership qualities of the CEO – it
is he or she who holds the success of the organisation.
But they will not achieve success unless they work through
other key executives – and it is the quality and
motivation of those executives that is crucial.
With luck, foresight and good management, excellent
executives can be grown from within an organisation.
But there is too much change, too many variables at
work in the market and within an organisation, to assume
that all will go according to plan and that outside
hires at senior levels will never be needed. There are
some who would even maintain that, however good your
own organisation is at growing from within, a healthy
and perhaps liberal injection of outside talent is crucial
if the organisation is not to become self satisfied
and moribund.
So, how can executive search consultants help? What
is it that they can bring to the table that is unlikely
to be achieved by an organisation on its own? And how
should an organisation work with a search firm to realise
the hoped-for benefits of an external hire, given the
risks and costs involved in the process?
Working with executive search
firms
Although in essence straightforward and based upon common
sense, there are many pitfalls that can snare the inexperienced
when working with executive search consultants. Because
one is contracting an external adviser, it is crucial
that they should be properly briefed. Just as one entrusts
one’s health to a doctor, it is very important
to reveal all so that the doctor can both diagnose and
help solve the problem. Top-level search consultants
only work on a retained consulting basis for this very
reason. They need to know as much as they can about
the client’s problem, the culture, history and
structure of the organisation and its objectives, successes
and failures so that they can understand the parameters
of the search assignment and effectively communicate
these in the marketplace.
It also allows them to counsel the client on the description
of the position in question, its priorities and the
ideal profile of person to fill the job. Assessing what
kind of person will work best with the existing management
team may turn out to be more important than their technical
knowledge. Thus compiling the brief can entail considerable
baring of the organisational soul, strategies for the
future, critiques of other senior executives and other
very confidential information. The client must have
confidence in the search consultant and be assured of
the highest integrity and confidentiality when the consultant
is handling the assignment. Such assurances are covered
by the consulting retainer agreement and indeed by the
search profession’s own code of conduct and professional
practice guidelines.
The upside and downside of senior management recruiting
are so great that real care and sophistication must
be employed to try to get it right. The costs, dislocation,
stress and overall harm to the organisation can be substantial
if a top management appointee fails. Equally, a great
match with the client’s needs can produce stellar
results, sometimes, at the most senior levels, directly
reflected in a public company’s share price.
But why not go it alone? Why employ a search firm
at all? Why not call Bill and Patricia to see who they
know or might recommend? Or throw the challenge to the
search committee of the Board and see who they come
up with? Perhaps the answer is obvious, but many organisations
do go it alone and then resort to the search firm when
their own efforts have failed. The reality is that senior
executive search is not about knowing a few good people.
Of course, a great candidate may be known to the Board
and may have been cultivated over the years and may
be just the person to fill the CEO’s shoes when
he or she retires.
Nothing wrong with that, but it rarely works out that
way. There are so many variables that can play a part
in whether an executive is the right fit, whether they
will make the move, whether the compensation package
will turn out to be right, that if it is a one horse
race then there is no backup if the horse falls. And
the position in question may be so important that, if
the candidate doesn’t work out, then the organisation
may be in desperate straits without a back up.
The job of the search firm is to make sure that none
of that happens – it is to commit to the client
that their problem will be solved and to professionally
handle the process so that all the variables are carefully
considered, that everyone involved in the process is
properly informed and that there are no surprises, and
no breaches of confidence. This requires great communication
skills, high professionalism, rigorous research, due
diligence, perseverance and good judgment.
Once the search firm is fully briefed and into the
assignment, it’s important to give them breathing
room but always be available to them, and to insist
on regular feedback on progress, commentary from potential
candidates, and perception of your organisation in the
market. No use trying to attract an A player if you
are a B performing company with a C image and a below-average
compensation package. The consultant should have already
begun to manage your expectations, but be realistic
when the consultant tells you that something in the
specification has got to change based upon their market
research.
Make sure that you work as a partner with the search
firm. Having signed the retainer agreement the consultant
should be treated like a colleague and trusted adviser.
Share information, get back to them quickly when they
call – be open to discussing the challenges of
the search. Do not treat the search consultant as the
vendor of a commodity. People are not commodities and
retained search consultants are not body brokers. The
project you have entrusted them with is critical to
the success of your organisation.
And don’t compete with the search firm by seeing
candidates behind their backs or hiding internal candidates
so that the firm does not know of all the options that
you are considering. It is petty and unproductive to
race against the search firm so that you can terminate
the assignment early and thus save fees.
It is also unprofessional to accept unsolicited resumes
from contingency recruiters who may be trying to “lob
in” a candidate because they have heard about
the search. Stay true to the retainer agreement and
the search consultant will commit to working with you
without unnecessary complications. Executive search
is not easy and complete success can never be guaranteed.
However, the retainer is normally charged on an instalment
basis so that the client can monitor progress and, if
the candidate fails or resigns within an agreed period
of time, then the search firm can be expected to continue
to assist the client.
Talent management is arguably one of the most crucial
and high-impact variables in the challenges faced by
Boards of Directors and Chief Executives. It is a challenge
that should not be fudged – executive search consulting
exists to help you ensure that doesn’t happen.
For more information, visit: www.aesc.org
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