Talent Theft: The New Edge In Business

It's not hard to make the case that the very best people in the industry, if they're not working for you right now, are working for someone else.

It's the same reason that "Now Hiring" or "Help Wanted" signs or ads should NEVER be a part of your recruiting strategy. The people who respond to these ads and signs respond because they are available. There's a reason they are available.

What you want is to steal away your competitors' best people - and there are two very good reasons for that:

1. When you want to hire high performers, you will need to let go of your low-performers to make room. That means that if the low-performers want to continue working in the industry, they will likely end up working for your competitors.
2. When news gets out that the highest-performers in the industry work for you, customers will gravitate to you. Also, once it becomes known that all of your former low-performers are working for your competitors, who would want to do business with them? Bottom-line: if you want to steal your competitors' customers, steal your competitors' best people.

Recruiting is finding the best talent in the industry and then going out, making them an offer and enticing them to come work for you. But here's the caveat: if your organization is known for being underhanded, dishonest and lacking values or ethics, no great performer will ever come to you. You will attract only the talent that couldn't find work elsewhere and those whose morals might be in line with yours.

Instead of viewing recruiting as stealing, start thinking of it in the same way you would run a successful sports team. You hire the best players you can. But that means you have first got to figure out where they are. So that means no more Help Wanted signs. They look amateurish and what high-performer, with incredible success, would be tempted to respond to a window sign or newspaper want ad?

If you want to attract the winners, you have to start managing like a winner. Create that Culture of Excellence first and great talent will be easy to attract. But, if you want to hold onto your mediocre talent because you don't want to hurt good people, then you had better create a strategy that takes them from mediocre performer to high-performer. Invest in them and they will invest in you. Manage.
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Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

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