War on Talent

People are talking more and more about the war for talent, for a lot of obvious reasons, but I've been hearing that phrase war for talent for probably 20 years.

So people talk about it as if it's something new.

But it's not anything new. It may be more top of mind today, and it may be a tougher war. But we've always had and will always have a war for talent.

If you're focused on getting the best people, you know, Kip Tindell, who is the CEO and founder of The Container Store, has a philosophy that I talk to my clients about all the time, and I love it, it's called one equals three.

One equals three says one superstar performer equals the productivity of three mediocre performers. Now, I'd argue if you're talking about someone who's leading a team of other people, it's probably more like one equals five or one equals 10.

Because that person impacts so many more people. So if you believe that or believe that the numbers are anywhere close to that, then what would you do to make sure you're finding and developing A-players, you can effectively pay in a play or double the salary of a mediocre performer, and you're still getting greater return on investment. So what should you be paying them?

How much coaching and development should you be giving them?
How many people should you be interviewing to find the right person?

The most important investment you'll ever make is the investment in finding the right talent for your team.

So how do you source the right people? Putting a job post on LinkedIn or Zip-recruiter is not the way to find the best people.

The right solution is relationships.

You find the best people from other people you know, and trust who introduced them to you. So you find them by creating what's called a virtual bench, building relationships with A-players before you need them.

How many conversations have you had this month with people you know, and trust saying, Hey, who do you know that's an A player that I should hire?

Do you have an effective employee referral program?

If you're willing to pay a recruiter tens of 1000s of dollars, why should you be willing to pay your own people significant money to refer people that they know. A-players know other A-players?

Now, once you source people, do you have an effective interview and evaluation process? Once you hire someone, what is your onboarding process look like? What does your talent development process look like?

The best way to win the war for talent is to build an incredible talent development machine. So stop complaining about the shortage of good people and get out there and win the war for talent.

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