Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Tag
The curious case of Gareth Southgate
Filed under: Zoe's Blog | Tags: Career, Career Tips, Management, Strategy, Tips & Advice, Top Job Hunt Tips
Comments (1) Whilst I’m not an avid football fan, as a recruiter I do enjoy watching the managerial merry go round (and sadly know more about who’s the manager at a particular club than I do about the game itself).
Watching this seasons hiring’s & firing’s however one in particular stood out: Gareth Southgate at Middlesbrough. Why? Two reasons:
- The timing seemed amiss. That is – I would have understood when on route to relegation, or indeed in the closed season having been relegated. However to do it after a third of a season with the team one point of the top of the table seemed a little strange.
- Off the pitch Southgate helped to bring some order to the financial chaos of a club in £85m debt by delivering £12m profit (from 3 ½ years of transfers) & a £7m saving on the wage bill last season (whilst painstakingly turning an ageing team into one with an average age of 22).
What can aspiring managers (regardless of industry) learn from the unfortunate Mr Southgate. A few things stand out:
- If you’re made responsible for something do what you can to control the key decisions: Given the importance of playing staff in football hiring and firing decisions would are critical. And yet Southgate clearly didn’t have 100% control of these areas during his time in charge, as evidenced by the sale of the clubs most important defender, Robert Huth (5 games into the season to make another down payment against the financial sins of the past) or by the his chairman’s decision to by Alfonso Alves for £12m.
- Build strategic alliances: The reason quoted for Southgate’s sacking in some circles was the fact he was not universally admired / loved by the teams fans. Whilst we’re not saying that a manager should seek universal admiration determining the key allies you need to be successful is critical. Whilst Southgate seemed to inherently understand this, hence the strong relationship he had with his chairman, he seem to discount some key stakeholders i.e. most notably the fans & the media. Indeed after the home defeat by Leicester some fans booed him, and whilst he didn’t like it, neither was he bothered by it.
- Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: Should the fans have been more aware of the restrictions Southgate was facing? Debatable. Should Southgate have been surprised by the news of his sacking? No. Should everyone & anyone associated with the club know the strategy for promotion (i.e. how they would achieve the goal of their season)? Definitely. As many a politician or CEO will testify the key to successful management, regardless of field, is communication. Perhaps Southgate’s greatest failing therefore was his inability to effectively communicate his vision, emotion, and desire to the key stakeholders of the organisation.
Clearly the primary goal of a football club is to win games. Unfortunately however whilst Borough did brilliantly off the pitch under Southgate’s management, as relegation from the premier league highlighted, on the pitch there simply weren’t enough wins. This is not to say that Southgate’s goal was not to win games, but rather that due to failings across the three points highlighted above Southgate was neither able to ensure enough victories in the short term nor buy sufficient time (off the key stake holders) to change this.
Time to go public?
Filed under: Zoe's Blog | Tags: Candidates, Career, Economic Downturn, Jobseekers, New Jobs, Public Sector, Redundancy, Salary, Strategy
Leave a Comment I must admit I wasn’t surprised to read this week that a growing number of highly paid workers are swapping stressful company jobs for careers in the more secure public sector amid fears of redundancy. The trend – an obvious reversal on the boom years – appears to be a direct result of uncertainty surrounding the recession.
To summarise the highlights of the Capturing Commercial Talent Survey commissioned by Hays (a Zookel client):
- 63% of public sector employers have noticed an increase in applications from the private sector.
- 50% of public sector organisations said they had skill shortages they needed to address in order to deliver high quality services.
- 80% of those said they would be best filled by a private sector worker.
- The NHS has noticed the most extreme change, with the number of applications for jobs having more than doubled since January from 40,000 to over 100,000 (with roughly the same number of vacancies).
- Some workers have been prepared to take pay cuts of up to 60% to guarantee themselves work through the next few years.
Whilst perceived job security remains the most important factor in employees decision to ‘jump the fence’, there were also a number of other benefits quoted including:
- The potential for shorter working hours.
- A greater work-life balance including part-time hours and the ability to work from home.
- Excellent benefits packages.
- The chance to make a positive difference to society.
Short term sacrifice for long term gain, work-life balance, or straight forward career change no matter the reason the questions remain: will the fence jumpers stay put or want back to the more glamorous jobs once the recession ends? and: whilst public sector employers are more than happy to take on those with private experience, will it work in reverse?
Food for though if nothing else. As always good luck on the job hunt!
Zoe & Team Zookel
Source for stats: Evening Standard Article
What can we learn from Glasto???
Filed under: Zoe's Blog | Tags: Candidates, Career, Glastonbury, Job Offers, Jobseekers, Self Promotion, Strategy, Top Job Hunt Tips
Comments (1) There is something unique about Glastonbury; it has an aura and reputation unlike any of the other festivals on offer over the summer period. Whilst music fans scramble to get tickets, bands are also busy trying to make sure they are on the lineup for Britain’s most famous live music event.
And when a group of the guys here made the trek to Glasto this year it made me think – are the comparisons between a band getting on the lineup & a candidate getting an interview for a new gig (pardon the pun). Here’s what I’ve come up with:
| Bands Getting on the line up | Candidates getting an interview |
| Must first decide whether Glastonbury is the right Festival for them, i.e. given the festival genre, their experience and their fans will it be a good fit. | Must first decide whether a Company is the right one for them, i.e. given the company culture, their experience and their career goals will it be a good fit. |
| Must fight for the attention of the promoters. | Must vie for the attention of employers’. |
| Realise that getting booked is just the start of the hard work! | Realise that getting an interview is just the start of the hard work! |
| Need to prepare – before stepping on stage Bands need to prepare an entertaining set, select the right songs to play, and practice, practice, practice to make sure they’re ready to perform. | Need to prepare – before stepping into the interview Candidates need to prepare their career story, think about the questions they have, and practice, practice, practice to make sure they’re ready to answer the tough questions. |
| Should understand that playing at a festival they’re effectively competing for audience with the other bands that are also playing. Delivering a polished performance on stage is therefore the bare minimum. | Should understand that when interviewing they’re effectively competing with other candidates that are also being interviewed. Delivering a polished performance in the interview is therefore the bare minimum. |
| Festivals provide bands with the perfect opportunity to promote their music, get noticed and kick start their careers. | Interviews provide candidates with the perfect opportunity to promote their skills/ experience, get noticed and kick start their careers. |
So, who knew being in a band and the job hunt were so similar?
I guess there’s just enough space left for the blatant plug – if you’re looking for a way to stand out from the crowd and drive your career forward, log on to Zookel. Think of it as the Glastonbury of job sites – the best place to get noticed!
Zoe & Team Zookel
More Lessons from the downturn!
Filed under: Paul's Blog | Tags: Candidates, Companies, Economic Downturn, Jobseekers, Psychometric profiling, Redundancy, Self Promotion, Strategy
Leave a Comment I’ve increasingly been reading about (or more like seeking out) innovative strategies both individuals and companies are coming up with to deal with the economic downturn.
Having previously asked the question what can we learn from Graham Edwards. I thought it would be good to look at it from the other side and consider what we can learn from the strategy of Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre.
The background story in a nutshell:
- Facing the need to find $20 mil in budget savings Levy was being forced to consider layoffs.
- Levy examined the details of how the Hospital worked – especially how the often-overlooked frontline employees did their jobs. He was impressed by what he saw, and wanted to both protect the lowest wage earners and recognize their commitment.
- When Levy gathered his 6000+ employees together to discuss the options rather than making mass redundancies, he offered a creative solution: “I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I’d like to get your reaction to it,” Levy told the assembly. “I’d like to do what we can do to protect the lower-wage earners — the transporters, the housekeepers, the food-service people…If we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice. It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits.”
- The consensus was that the workers didn’t want anyone to get laid off and were willing to give up pay and benefits to make sure no one did.
- As a result of the combined commitment of the management and staff the number of necessary redundancies has reduced dramatically, from over 600 to about 150, and this will be achieved at the same time as providing earnings protection to the 900 lowest wage workers.
The three lessons I take from this brilliant initiative are:
- Creativity is not an option it’s a requirement. Just as candidates need to be increasingly creative when presenting themselves (using videos and psychometrics etc) and networking for new jobs, so do Employers when determining how to deal with the downturn.
- Honesty & Transparency is the best policy. We’ve consistently endorsed honesty in terms of candidates CV’s & interview answers. Equally as employers (putting aside the times when you can’t legally share all you’d like to) we believe that the only way to gain trust and respect is to treat employees with honesty & transparency.
- Mindset & Attitude are key. Could Levy have achieved this without having a team that reflects the mindset & attitude he wants within the organisation? Unlikely. Equally would you as an employee or job seeker be willing to make a similar sacrifice if you didn’t share the same mindset & attitude as your colleagues? Also unlikely*.
See other lessons? Let us know by leaving a comment. And as always good luck with the job hunt, and please feel free to drop us a note if we can help.
Paul & Team Zookel
*Granted we’re biased as one of the reasons we built psychometrics into the core of Zookel is to allow candidates to understand their career motivations and the type of company they’d be successful working for.
