An industry colleague who I admire and respect for his intelligence and eloquence recently shared this article. It captures some of the most salient points about how to be a motivating and inspiring manager. Bottom line is trust your team members to handle what you ask of them, and just know that you will get back the level of quality that you initially provide.
Despite the COVID-related layoffs plaguing the U.S., some of you may have witnessed what’s happening on the other end of the spectrum: companies are hiring! Our firm just completed 4 searches since January – two CEO searches, one CHRO and one for a brand experience leader – all for companies that are in high growth stages.
Prior to the chaos of COVID-19, our clients would typically say: "This new hire must be based in our headquarters city, 5 days a week”, as a condition for their hiring. This requirement has changed overnight. Now, with virtual leadership being the new normal, the knowledge and foresight for how to guide this new way of operating is critical.
Making the Match - in Record Time TKJ Executive Search
I’ve been involved in the CPG Business my whole career, and during the course of that time, I’ve done several searches using most of the major search firms. I was presented with a situation recently that was really unique. Unique in that it was in the middle of COVID, in early April, and we had a unique proposition that we needed a CEO for. It was an early stage business that had been launched overseas and we were bringing it to the US. We needed a CEO who had major company experience, who had small early stage experience, and who had worked with private equity. That’s a tough, tough challenge to find. I was interested in Tammy and her firm because in her talk with me she indicated that was her specialty so we agreed to have her do the search, and I couldn’t have been more impressed with the process. In the course of six weeks, Tammy and her team found 30 candidates that were outstanding, five of whom I spent Zoom time with interviewing. We found one that unanimously, from Tammy, from myself, from our board we believed was the best candidate. We zoomed him and hired him, and he started, never having met any of us in person—only by zoom. Since that time he has turned out to be a fabulous leader for our business. I can’t say enough about the process that Tammy and her team did; took us through, performed and delivered on. Any situation you have whether its traditional or unique, especially if its unique, I would recommend Tammy and her team in a second. That could not have delivered any better than they did.
Making the Match - Tammy Jersey for TKJ Executive Search
Time matters. We deliver outcomes for our clients faster than they’ve ever gotten from other providers. We also take a really intuitive approach and they appreciate that because they don’t get that from other people. So we get underneath what they are looking for, we get underneath what a candidate is all about. We’re known for being really effective problem solvers. There’s that cliché of thinking outside the box. We do it regularly. So if a client says here is what we are looking for, we will ask a lot of questions and then what we deliver is what they said they are looking for and also other possibilities—and usually they are delighted by them. And then finally we care. I make it very personal with everything that we do. Our clients have remarked on the fact that we have an amazing energy that continues throughout the search even after the payments are done. We follow up with the placement. We make sure they are doing well and they’re happy. We follow up with the client and make sure they are happy. We make sure the match is working. At the end, people know we are in it for the long—haul with them.
The most productive coaches provide strategies for their clients to excel, by smartly leveraging their soft skills, without the need for the coach's ongoing guidance. Engaging the boss as a trusted partner can often ensure this continued success, as long as there is enough trust between client and boss. Ben’s article captures the importance of a boss’ partnership in his article. Well said Ben!
I came across some research done by Columbia Business School on the challenges that CEOs face in building and maintaining their company’s cultures. The challenges they identified capture the essence of the work I do with management teams to assess and help them improve their company cultures. Evidently, culture DOES have a direct impact on company value.
When making a hire, the best way to attract a fantastic candidate is to show them that you care about their goals and interests and that these are just as important as what you, the Company, want and need. It’s up to you to help them see why this could be a perfect match. When the selling happens on both sides, the fit becomes obvious and the hire will last longer. Hiring is a two-way street.
How TKJ Executive Search Ensures Success
I think Tammy is the best recruiter around. I am never, ever disappointed and I think it’s because of Tammy’s process. It’s so different then what the big recruiting firms use and also what some of the smaller firms use. It stems from how much Tammy cares about people. Within the first couple of weeks she will get at least three or four candidates to interview. At the end of interviewing those three or four people, you sit with Tammy and you tell her why you think this person may work and why this person wouldn’t work. Three or four weeks from then you get at least another five or six people that match all the types of people you told Tammy you wanted to get. Perfect fit culturally, perfect chemistry fit, and even better skills than the first couple that you saw. And she will sit there and she will analyze the skills and challenges and the strengths that each one of those people have and work through those with you to see which would be best for the job. The other thing that Tammy does which I’ve never had another recruiter do is she stays with the candidate for the first six months. As everybody knows, the first 90 days are always the hardest in a job -- she makes sure the person doesn’t fail.
The TKJ Executive Search Difference
Tammy has a different way of marketing a job than most recruiters who basically are filling out a template. Tammy creates a template that’s unique to your company. And now that I have used Tammy in multiple organizations I can testify to how powerful that is. She understands the value proposition of employment in your company and translates that into the spec. She will express how much she cares about the outcome by asking provocative questions that go beyond the particular role we need to fill. Tammy also will want to understand not just the role she is searching for but how that role might change over time. So she really pushes me to be forward-looking in her work as a search partner. And given her coaching background the other thing that I’d say is that Tammy brings that to bear on the work she does with us on the search side. She can do the assessment, she can do the search, it’s integrated, and she puts herself in my shoes. She knows that often times the hire is a reflection of the leader and that’s unique to me. That is a very different level of engagement.
— Alexandra Aleskovsky, President & CEO
— Lori Massad, SVP Human Resources and Chief Talent Officer, Alliance Bernstein
— Ellen Shedlarz, Former SVP HR Ziff Brothers Investments and Former Chief Operations Officer, Global Talent Management Group, Morgan Stanley
— Sarah Cox, Manager, Talent Management, L.L. Bean
— Kerry Hatch, Former COO, Global Client Services, Axciom
— Michael Bruno, former CHRO Muscular Dystrophy Association, IAC and Rodale
— Kevin Doran, Senior HR and Communications Leader, PQ Corporation
— Susan Grimbilas, Partner and Managing Director, Head Of HR And Operations for North America, The Boston Consulting Group
— Jennifer Stier, COO, Highfields Capital Management
— Hy Pomerance, Chief Talent Officer, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
