Why excellent hiring should be the foundation of your people strategy

Economy and business can be affected greatly like the climate for our nature.

What’s in the soil under a tree? What elements are essential for us to grow a healthy tall tree?

• Business results are like the plants above ground, visible and recognized. But only with the right kind of soil can the roots go deep, gain nutrition, sustain growth.
• The soil under business strategy is complex. Among the foundation layer we find talent acquisition and retention, organization development, workforce planning, development & rewards systems, market intelligence. All 5 of them are tied to a comprehensive people strategy.

Just as we trim leaves and take care of the plant, we nurture the soil so that our seed investment goes a long way.

So what are managers currently doing for the foundation of their trees? What can we prepare for our hiring process? We run the following list of 8 preparation steps:

• Thorough research of the candidate’s career history;
• Same set of questions to ask all candidates;
• 5 adjectives to describe the key personal qualities needed;
• Specifics about this role, interface & impact on organisation;
• Defined interview steps & selection process;
• Promotion points for job & company;
• Market intelligence in the relevant country and industry;
• A comfortable emotional and physical space for the discussion.

Our managing partner Noriko Takagi recently discussed the hiring and people strategy at a workshop with Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, at the invitation of Dr. Nuno da Camara.  Participants from its International MBA for Executives program reflected on what we each do already instinctively or out of habit, and what we can change to achieve a thorough hiring process. To realise an excellent hiring requires above mentioned points and then you have touched all 5 aspects related to people strategy.

Here we’re challenged to imagine: what can we achieve together as a team? What if we are growing a forest, or a garden for our community? Every plant may react differently to the soil and climate, but to identify the foundation you want for your forest can start from excellent hiring.