Speaking recently to a group of HR peers in the very successful Cambridge Silicon Fen, it is clear to say many companies state holding on to top talent is crucial if they are to succeed as a business. However, there is an emerging juxtaposition in this world renowned Cambridge Tech Sector, which has at the same time this market be so successful and conversely an increasing threat to crippling it.
We live in a world of real-time information: an ability to connect anywhere, anytime & with anyone, with instantaneous gratification, very clever technologies which are accessible to mass populations, and an endless supply of choice in every area we could dream up. Utopia you could say? However, is it any wonder that we are constantly failing to attract the attention of not only our valuable existing/ potential clients but also the more important internal clients, the people who work in and build our businesses for us.
- Redefining the old VUCA world - Vision, Understanding, Clarity, Agility
The last 15 years of digitalised growth now mean the odds are stacked against us as leaders. We have the huge task of motivating a workforce that perhaps doesn’t want to be motivated. Why listen to us when there are another 6 billion voices out there that could have much more interesting things to say and that are more related to what they want to hear. Shannon Banks, previously of Microsoft, states that 84% of people say they cannot go a day without using their phone and there are approximately 10 devices per household now. This along with the fact that 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last 2 years and there are over 1 billion websites on the internet - is it possible to actually have a real connection with your employees & clients in an environment that creates constant instability, misinterpretation & comparison? - Are we only seeing the negatives of innovation?
Like all inventions, steam engine, automobiles, planes, manufacturing, printing press, telephone, computers and the world wide web; you could list advantages for and disadvantages against. But one could also point out that all the inventions listed above would have had, on the whole, a positive impact on our lives and habits. But it is the latter invention that has had more of a pervasive impact because of it’s instant accessibility to the rest of the world, coupled with portable devices that can mould themselves cleverly to our daily routines. What once was a device for making phone calls is now “our sadistic best friend” and one in which we can not only run a business from, thanks to the vision of Steve Jobs, but unfortunately the not so productive habits of social media, gaming, and endless chat, dating and network applications which all too quickly become a natural “click through” behaviour. - Do we really crave that much validation?
As we are all too aware, the reason phones have become so addictive is linked to a basic human need to be validated. We are social beings and traditionally have thrived in tribes and groups, where we are around “likeminded” individuals who have similar values, traditions and activities to ourselves. You only have to go into a room full of people you don’t know to experience this phenomenon. We crave familiarity, and once you have spent time getting to know someone or a group, we make a very quick bond and then cling to them like a comfort blanket. Social anthropology aside, what this means for business and management is that the phone whilst having many amazing applications, if left to “it’s own devices” (:-)), can feed off our desires to be wanted, loved and adored and very quickly becomes a game of answering the copious amounts of dings, buzzes and alerts to instantaneously gratify our insecurities.
So if this is the case, how do we gain back everyone’s attention?
As advocated by Shannon Banks, it is down to us as leaders to cultivate stronger relationships by creating ourselves as “Social Leaders” in this era of mass social media and connectivity. We do this by focusing on and practicing the following 6 top characteristics when managing people:
- Transparency - leads to more accountability
- Curiosity - leads to more collaboration
- Presence - leads to more flexibility
- Inclusivity - leads to more resourcefulness
- Giving- leads to more inspirational leadership
- Authenticity - leads to more courageous leaders
HOLDING ON TO TALENT THEN - PLEASE PROCEED WITH CARE ! !
The above “top tips” are just that, they are tips. If you are really wanting to hold on to your best talent you will have to seriously understand that your managers thoughts lead to their choices, lead to their behaviour, lead to their actions and lead in a lot of circumstances to the dis-engagement of very talented, willing individuals. By 35 years of age 95% of our day is already mapped out before we have started it and that includes certain neural pathways that react to certain people, and other neural pathways that react differently to another group of people. Therefore, putting a manager on a 1-day leadership course will not “transform” their ability to start embodying the “top-6 characteristics” above.
Once as a C-Suite team you understand how we are wired, you can begin to re-wire the circuitry of managers who hold in their hands what is the very future success or failure of your business.
Rachael Orchard, Behavioural Shifter, is owner of MyPocketCoach, creator of "Human Leaders Workshop - re-wiring for success", author of the PASSION Toolset and event host to the Cambridge Entrepreneur ThinkTank events (see Eventbrite). For more details on how to book your Workshop with Rachael please email [email protected] or visit www.mypocketcoach.co.uk for more details.