Tag: executive

Why Diversity & Inclusion Matters In Organisational Culture
transearch.com.au
Posted

Often seen as a problem for boards, a Human Resources issue, or a concern for hiring managers to address during the recruitment process, Diversity and Inclusion should really be discussed alongside organisational culture.

How diversity is reflected in an organisation and how it responds to inclusion is in its genes, and that its everyone’s responsibility. For however well intentioned, any D&I objectives cannot be achieved unless they are driven by the business as a whole – from senior leaders and executives, through to middle managers and at grass roots. This is the only way to land an organisation that fosters a workplace culture where diversity and inclusion are valued, cultural safety is promoted and the ways in which intersectionality affects our workforce is recognised.

Read "Why Diversity & Inclusion Matters In Organisational Culture" leadership insights

Diversity In The Biotech C-Suite Q&A
fiercebiotech.com
Posted

"If you're paying attention even a little bit to the diversity of the biotech C-suite, it's easy to see that there are few women or visible minorities at the top. But just how bad is the situation?"

The following is a Q&A with Fierce Biotech and Darren Raycroft, partner and managing director at executive search firm The Bedford Consulting Group.

Read "Diversity In The Biotech C-Suite Q&A" leadership insights

Everybody Wins When Managing Candidate Expectations
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Human nature is restless. How many times have you questioned a recent purchase or even suffered from so-called buyers remorse? This is a natural occurrence and it more often than not happens to you in a professional capacity, for example: you join a company as a new addition to the executive team, but at the same time continue to consider offers from other companies.

Research has shown that very few new joiners are completely confident in their choice. It is such an important decision that many continue to study the market, hoping to confirm or deny the correctness of the decision made. It might be that they are confident in their choice and find the new company completely suitable, but they find that executive search consultants and companies are still approaching them. This is particularly the case if they were not a passive candidate, but were actively looking for a new challenge.

It is also true that the more interesting the opportunity the greater the likelihood that executives might be tempted to at least attend an exploratory conversation. The latter scenario is not unusual in itself, but when an executive continues to remain unconvinced that their new position is suited to them we have to consider how we could have addressed this situation before they actually joined.

There is also the possibility however that some candidates choose a position with the knowledge that it is unsuited to them. The last possibility is that after joining a candidate realises that the company culture just does not suit them or that the reality of the role is not how it was described.

Whatever the candidate's motivation might be, the cost of unsuitable hires is quite substantial; not to mention damaging for the executive in question.

In light of the above, the role of the Talent Manager and the executive search consultant, remains important in the hiring process. It is their responsibility to accurately manage the candidate's expectations and to determine their motivation at the interview phases. Once the candidate is onboard however a keen interest in their adjustment should be a priority - this could take the form of a formal induction programme, but it could also be a coach that familiarises the candidate with the ins and outs of the company.

As TRANSEARCH consultants we take pride in our commitment to the integration of the candidate and keep in regular contact with both parties for at least the first six months of employment. As a third party we are often able to act as mentors and external HR-experts, listening to claims and fears of candidates while understanding the needs and requirements of the client.

To discuss our wide-ranging approach to leadership acquisition and management assessment find a TRANSEARCH consultant by expertise, region and country.

3 Ways To Improve Focus
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For someone in a leadership role, focus is dynamic. It's recognising that even a small act can cast a long shadow. For those with a strategic mandate, focus has to address both the here and now and look to the horizon. It is about initiating action, but also ensuring that the way forward supports the culture the organisation needs to create. Focus, for the business leader, thus, becomes a way to think and act that is: 1) rooted in wisdom; 2) shaped by purpose; and 3) immersed in a paradox.

3 ways to improve focus:

  1. Set goals and review those goals as your first action of the day.
  2. Measure the important stuff - organisation culture (today and tomorrow), team effectiveness, why your best people stay.
  3. Ask for feedback regularly; especially from the customer.

For someone in a leadership role, focus is dynamic. It's recognising that even a small act can cast a long shadow. For those with a strategic mandate, focus has to address both the here and now and look to the horizon. Discover 10 ways to improve focus in "Focus and the Power of Paradox".

Focus: The Power Of Paradox
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Combine learning-based experience, leadership reach, the ability to "think slow" and practical intelligence and you have a pretty good understanding of what "wisdom" looks like in today's business environment.

Purpose underscores why the business does what it does. Purpose on its own, however, amounts to a "why" without the "how". The framework (behavioural container) that defines the how is the organisation's values.

As the world gets faster, more complex and less stable, focus purposefully prompts the power of paradox:

  • Embracing the context becomes at least as important as understanding the "content" of the problem/issue.
  • Leadership agility necessitates that focus have an immediate, medium and strategic face.
  • An assessment of "Is this issue truly important?" has to be flexed against both the underlying assumptions and the mindset demanded.

Insights from "Focus and the Power of Paradox".

Leaders Are Legacy Leavers
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The seeds of greatness are sown in how the leader in question deals with the unexpected, with crisis, with personal disappointment. Many, bruised by failure, dial back on their own personal goals and look for a position away from the heat of the kitchen. Others, stripped of self-confidence, recalibrate their personal value proposition and, as likely as not, look for an "advisory role". A precious few - those with character, those with tenacity, those drawing from a deep well of resilience - see setback as merely one more brick in the road to success.

Few of us are going to literally change the world. On the other hand, not too many of us want to be quickly forgotten. Sadly, the accepted definition of success is somewhat shallow. It tends to focus on the 3Ps: power, position and personal wealth. Ultimately, success isn't about what you have; it's about what you create. It's not about how big your garden is; it's about what you plant there.

Not all leaders are cut from the same cloth: start-up, growth, running a mature business and turnaround demand very different skills. At successive stages of personal maturity different motivational agendas also tend to put in an appearance: "to make a career", "to make money", "to make my family proud", "to make a business" and "to make a difference". Important and rewarding as the latter is, the very best leaders are compelled to do even more. They are on a quest. They are driven to "make a legacy". Legacy leavers believe that they are on a mission.

Pressure from the capital markets makes success in the short term an imperative. An executive who fails to make money won't be around long enough to leave a legacy. To succeed is to dance to the tune played by the capital markets. Legacy leavers understand that but they still do more. They rarely follow the accepted path. They find a better way. They ignore the cynics and the naysayers. They turn a deaf ear to the critics, especially those who themselves have not ventured into the arena. They part company with the timid and those of a tepid disposition. They blaze their own trail. Does that mean they do it on their own? Not at all! They draw like-minds to the cause. Legacy leavers chart their own path.

Insights from "Leaders Leave a Legacy".

FOCUS and the Power of Paradox
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For someone in a leadership role, 'focus' is dynamic. It's recognising that even a small act can cast a long shadow. For those with a strategic mandate, focus has to address both the here and now and look to the horizon. It is about initiating action, but also ensuring that the way forward supports the culture the organisation needs to create. Focus, for the business leader, thus, becomes a way to think and act.

Download "FOCUS and the Power of Paradox" today.

Psychedelic Medicine: The First Five Executive Roles To Hire For
home.bedfordgroup.com
Posted

Whether you're starting a venture from the ground up or pivoting to something new, the quality of the people driving that momentum will define its success. In an area as new and nuanced as Psychedelic Medicine, getting to the right leadership team needs to be a priority.

The right talent in the exciting and competitive space of Psychedelic Medicine will mark the difference between those ventures that struggle to survive and those that thrive.

Read "Psychedelic Medicine: The First Five Executive Roles To Hire For" leadership insights

Leadership Skills Of A Sustainable Leader
linkedin.com
Posted

Leadership is evolving to tackle the complex challenge of implementing an environmental and societal transition from a "People / Profit" model to a "Planet / People / Profit" model.

A recent study by TRANSEARCH International Paris, based on interviewee testimony and the analysis of "leadership competencies" from TRANSEARCH International's proprietary tool, reveals the core leadership skills of a Sustainable Leader.

Read "Leadership Skills Of A Sustainable Leader" leadership insights

Leadership: Moving Beyond The Crisis
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"Leadership: Moving Beyond The Crisis" is a complementary book series, specifically aimed at enhancing how leaders respond to times of crisis.

The books cover concepts such as how to come out of this crisis stronger, culture, leadership agility and learning, what makes great teams. Also included are essential skills to enable us to start having conversations about moving forward while taking appropriate actions.

Download "Leadership: Moving Beyond The Crisis" »

Read on for more information about the book series:

Or, Download Now

Coming Down the Mountain

Part One, Coming Down the Mountain, looks at how to come out of this crisis stronger:

  • The Three Stages of Crisis
  • Letting Go of Our Past
  • Following a Script From a Different Century
  • The New Normal
  • Coming Down the Mountain
  • Why Culture Matters
  • Next Steps
  • Appendix one: 3 X 3: Crisis, Culture and Change
  • Mindset Assessment: Will You come Out of This Crisis Stronger?

The Culture Conversation

Recognising, as we move forward, how important organisation culture is, Part Two outlines the Culture Conversation:

  • The Culture Carriers
  • Look, Listen, Learn
  • The Building Blocks
  • Culture Is A System
  • Is the Organisation Managing Its Culture?
  • What Makes the Business Special?
  • One Culture or Many?
  • Measurement
  • Strategy Versus Culture
  • A Team of Teams
  • Without Leadership You Ain't Got Much
  • The Orxestra Change Model
  • Culture Assessment

Leadership, Learning and Agility: The Way Of The Dolphin

Part Three explores the need for leadership agility and what that implies: Leadership Agility and Learning - The Way of the Dolphin:

  • Agility is a Way to Think
  • Bass and the Shark
  • Agility and Speed of Learning
  • The Way of the Dolphin
  • Conclusion
  • Assessment: How Good a Coach Are You?

Great Organisations Are Built Around Great Teams

Drawing on the reality that tomorrow's organisation will be a team of teams, Part Four examines what it means to be an outstanding team - Great Organisations Are Built Around Great Teams:

  • Who We Were is Who We Are
  • It's All About Culture
  • Organisational Lessons from Nature
  • The Organisation of Tomorrow
  • Building a Great Team
  • Team Assessment

When the Trees Get Bigger and the Forest Gets Deeper - It's Time To Sharpen Your Saw

Part Five moves beyond leadership as a philosophy and drills down into essential skills - When the Trees Get Bigger and the Forest Gets Deeper, It's Time to Sharpen Your Saw:

  • Are You The Leader They Need?
  • Assessing Your Organisation's Leadership Balance
  • If Ever There Was a Time to Listen - It’s Now
  • The Listening Tree
  • To Lead Is To Care
  • 50 Ways To Say You Care - In a Covid World
  • If You Are Not Living Your Own Story, You Are Living Someone Else's
  • Resilience Assessment

Download your complementary copy of "Leadership: Moving Beyond The Crisis" from TRANSEARCH Downloads.

Do You Hire/Promote With "Tomorrow's" Culture In Mind?
Posted

The world of work is changing. And the very definition of "a job" is, perhaps, changing most of all. Structures, processes and tools honed over the last hundred years are starting to fail. Hierarchy and a command and control mindset are out of step with the need for agility. Strategy is an unreliable compass.

A decade from now the workforce will look very different. In that, literally, many of the jobs that companies will seek to fill a decade from now don't currently exist. Even our investment in training and development is open to question.

Into this maelstrom rides talent management. The metaphorical quarterback of talent management … who and how we hire.

Simply replacing a leader who leaves is to reinforce the status quo. External consulting support drawing largely on an expensive address, a nice suit, great marketing and a thick rolodex belongs in the past. A reliance on selection that ignores culture is to build a house on sand. And an executive who lacks mastery in the interview puts the business at risk every time they make a hiring decision.

Little is more important to tomorrow's culture than who the organisation hires and promotes. Go astray and there is no easy fix. Most leaders arrive at work to a full diary. The day-to-day and the immediate have a habit of overwhelming a long-term view. And yet, unless we create tomorrow today, the future will, inevitably, be little more than a replay of what has been. Count on it!

It's easy to find the "best" candidate. But, getting culture on the right track means identifying the "right" candidate. Not every now and then … but every time. Talent acquisition is about managing risk. Risk, in turn, is about fit. There are six critical elements of fit:

  1. Attraction
  2. Culture
  3. Performance
  4. Role-specific, leadership competencies
  5. Team fit
  6. Integration

All six elements of fit are essential but as disruption, uncertainty and new technology impact how business does business … culture is destined to become evermore important.

Culture Imperative: Who you hire determines what's possible. Hiring that has a "replacement bias" is to become more of what you have always been. In determining fit, measurement matters. Especially when it comes to culture and team. Money might attract talent but if you want to keep high performers give them a job that they love.

Insights from "The 7 Questions Every CEO Should Ask About Culture".

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