The Advisor’s Corner

Building Your Own Dream Team, Part 4: Mentor (Make available buddy/mentoring programs)

February 16, 2015/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom Doescher

Over the years, I have observed that team members do better if they have a “sponsor.” By that, I mean someone senior to the team member who takes a special interest in the younger (or newer) person and their career.

So, why not adopt that as a standard practice? Assign someone senior to each new hire, to mentor and look out for them. Check out our October 13, 2014, post.

A buddy or mentor is someone safe; someone a new hire can go to and comfortably ask sensitive or even embarrassing questions. Senior team members can give their mentees tips, and talk about their own career. Our experience is that most buddies/mentors like the role.

If you decide to start a mentoring program, make sure you provide training to the mentors. Some people are naturals, but don’t assume everyone will know what to do.

p.s. My longtime mentor, Ken Kunkel, is still advising me.

Building Your Own Dream Team, Part 3: The Benefits of Co-ops (Offer internships, co-ops and apprenticeships to attract great talent.)

February 2, 2015/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom Doescher

I believe a best practice includes offering internships, co-ops, apprenticeships or other enticements. This provides you and the prospective team member with a chance to kick the tires. According to a survey by the National Association of Colleges & Employers, 40 percent of respondents’ new hires came from internships or co-op programs. I would encourage you to follow a structured approach — students today have lots of options, and you want to ensure that their time with you is a quality experience. Often, they can become your best recruiters when they return to the classroom.

Sometimes companies complain that they spend all kinds of time and money training someone, and then that person goes to work for a competitor. I have a colorful answer to this concern, but my polite answer is: “They’re yours to lose. If you take care of them and give them a good experience, they won’t leave.” In my next post, I’ll recommend a system that will almost guarantee the students you want to work for you will stay.

I’m aware of a $400 million professional service firm that had two managing partners who began working at the firm as summer interns, where they were proofreaders. Fortunately, their supervisor was wise enough to observe their potential and made a special point of introducing them to the right partners. As they say, the rest is history.

As many of you know, apprenticeships for shop floor team members, which were very common years ago, are rare — so you can really distinguish your company in this way and attract the best students.

Do you have a pipeline for new hires, such as internships, co-ops or apprenticeships? I believe there is no downside to these practices!

Building Your Own Dream Team, Part 2: Finding a Good Fit (Establish a rigorous process to assure the candidate is a good fit.)

January 19, 2015/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom Doescher

Years ago, I received some sage advice from a guy who hired a lot of great people. One day, he said to me, “If someone is smart enough, they can probably perform well in most jobs. The trick is to find the perfect fit for the company and for the candidate.” Below are some methods to use when you want to increase the likelihood that your candidates are, indeed, great fits for your company.

Be able to clearly articulate the vision/mission/dream of the company. For example, I joined a small local firm because I didn’t want to travel excessively. If the vision of the company had been to serve clients throughout the world, I wouldn’t have been a good fit.
Make sure you have a good job description.
Engage a fellow company executive who can help you determine what you’re really looking for.
Define what success will look like as concretely and clearly as you can, and share these ideas with the candidates.
As you interview candidates, be open-minded and reflective. Maybe you’ll find an outstanding person you can use somewhere else, if not in the job you’re looking to fill at the moment. This happened to me once, and I almost missed it. We hired a great person to solve another problem we had, rather than what I went into the interview looking for. Remember: The team with the best players usually wins.
Consider using personnel assessments.
Think about enlisting retained search consultants when you want to fill senior executive positions. They’re usually able to find talent that you cannot. Plus, they’re very objective and focused on achieving a good fit for the company and candidate.

If you do it right, the process is a lot of work. But on the other hand, what is the cost of bad hiring decisions and their impact on your customers/clients and your team? As the old television commercial said, “You can pay me now, or pay me later.”

Building Your Own Dream Team, Part 4: Mentor (Make available buddy/mentoring programs)

Building Your Own Dream Team, Part 3: The Benefits of Co-ops (Offer internships, co-ops and apprenticeships to attract great talent.)

Building Your Own Dream Team, Part 2: Finding a Good Fit (Establish a rigorous process to assure the candidate is a good fit.)

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