10 Tips for People Managers To Attract Good People into your Organisation

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In over 20 years working in the areas of people development and talent management, I have noticed several constant and reliable themes about the important role of managers which run true and consistent across industries, functions, sectors, geographies, culture, and fashionable trends. So, I would like to share these with you here.

To be honest: In today’s world, there is a sea of continuous and disruptive change and accelerated technological advances which managers face, it’s a place where there is a whole spectrum of information to surf, sift and activate from intranet through automation and robotics to a deluge of smart phone social media where the regular tide brings waves crashing on the shore. Yet despite all this management + leadership is still centered around people and finding ways to attract, retain and motivate our direct reports, teams, project groups and those equally important dotted line matrixed relationships.

As Peter Drucker famously said: “We manage with our left brain and we lead with our right brain “, and this holistic approach is vitally needed to bring out the best in our people, to engage them and include them in the ongoing process of operationalizing and optimizing the business vision and mission into successful outcomes for all key stakeholders.

For a manager to be a true People Manager requires the ability not only to have the technical skills to deliver the business targets but also the emotional intelligence, empathy and psychological engagement to take our people with us on our journey and to engender the delivery of successful outcomes by unleashing the full potential our people can willingly provide to enhance business productivity.

We as effective People managers can balance the “what to deliver” and the “how to deliver it” in continuous coaching and development of our teams. When we actively choose to do this, we call it committing to help attract, retain and motivate our people. It’s a positive charm offensive and here’s why and how to do it.

Why be a People Manager who is committed to help attract, retain and motivate their people?

The competitive business environment is tough: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) and not likely to get any easier. We are expected to do more with less and get results even quicker than before. The world of work is changing with top job performance highly dependent on a knowledge based workforce, flatter structures, less obvious career progression, even tougher targets to achieve with new ways of working in disruptive markets and fragmenting and ever evolving social environments. Never has it been more important to focus on motivating and retaining the people we have as well as attracting new people. We need to be agile and nimble to address the new psychological contract between employers and employees / associates/ partners/ regular and freelance workers. How to address this as a People Manager. Here I offer some advice based on many years of experience and research across global organizations benchmarking the best of the best of people management.

Let’s focus on how to ATTRACT your people.

People Manager Top Tips: Play your part in attracting the best talent.

1: Be a Talent Scout
You don’t have to have a current opening to be on the lookout for top talent. Build relationships with talent people both within and external to your organization. Really get to know people who might fit current or future requirement of your business. Use professional social media such as LinkedIn and conferences to build a network of contacts: people with talent and potential. Think of this as your future talent wave – dynamic – beyond the traditional talent pool.

2: Own the Hire
Do not delegate the important task of building your high-performance team. Ensure that you are partnering with your talent acquisition specialist to maximize results in attracting the best right fit talent for your organization. Provide quality time for the recruitment strategy meeting, set realistic timeframes, and make this a high priority objective and not add-on to your other activities. Think of recruiting as the start of the investment in your people.

3: A Clear Role Brief is Key
Recognize that a clear role brief and a well -planned and implemented selection assessment and interview process will enable an objective decision-making process based on facts, data and a review of real and tangible competencies, skills and behaviors displayed by the candidate.

4: Role Model a Good People Manager
A key people manager principle is for you to role model a good manager at your company: smart, with a sense of humor, good judgment, energetic and showing genuine care for people. Treat job applicants with respect and impress them with the reliability and efficiency of your company selection process. Always speak positively and honestly about your company –when you are in work and socially as this will garner a network of good referrals and a high ratio of offers accepted.

5: Interviews Work Both Ways
Always remember that the interview is a two-way process and build this into the interview schedule. Consider interactions from the candidate’s perspective. Ensure time is allotted to understand the candidate’s career aspirations and development needs. Look for the Unique Selling Points in your vacancy. Recognize the benefits of inclusion and diversity, and be aware that personal values aligning with company values and personal development are the two most compelling offers we can make especially to the millennium generations x, y, and z.

6: Assess Skills & Competencies Above Other Factors
Get trained in competency based interviewing (CBI) and assessment selection methodology as evidence shows that correctly applied this approach has the highest predictive validity in measuring likely future performance.

7: Closing the Deal
Close the offer deal with style -verbal offer before e- offer. It’s the best way to engage with your candidate, encouraging a first dialogue for offer acceptance.

8: Maximize the Onboarding Experience
Recognize that the onboarding process starts from the moment the candidate accepts your offer. At that point, they are highly energized to learn about your company as much as they can. Ensure you leverage this enthusiasm by staying in touch with them through their notice period as they get ready to join you. The engagement and relationship building starts then, well before day one.

9: The First 90 Days
Utilize the full onboarding process from day one –the first 90 days, are critical not just the first week. Plan to be ready for their arrival on day one. Ensure that they are introduced to the team and provided with meaningful work clearly aligned to the individual’s role as well as departmental/company objectives and goals. Do be present: listen, help, coach and provide buddy support to your precious new hire.

10: Review and Adjust
Stay close to your new hire and be sure to check employee satisfaction on a regular basis via informal one to ones to establish whether the job is in line with their expectations, and calibrate, adjust with and manage expectations realistically. Look to build on unexpected strengths as well as addressing on-going development needs.

This article has been written by PushFar Advisory Board member Simon Brown. Simon runs his own consulting business, specializing in Talent Management, Performance Management, Coaching, Mentoring and Business and HR transformation. He has worked on a wide range of projects with people managers in several companies including: Dairy Crest, GlaxoSmithKline, Duracell Batteries, The Coca-Cola Company, NCR Corporation, Premier Farnell, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Becton Dickinson, and GKN Automotive. Simon has been guest speaker at several HR conferences across Europe and has published over 30 business articles. He is an Advisory Board Member of PushFar the career platform for mentoring, and an active mentor. Simon is also a judge at the Awards International UK Employee Experience Awards, and a co-leader of the Organisational Change Practice at MCR Consulting.