It is easy to understand that hiring practices need to be aligned with your business growth strategy. Executing on your growth strategy requires a clear vision of your business operations today, how you would like them to be tomorrow, and how they will need to be when you have reached your next business growth goal. Your hiring practices need to take this longer-term view into account to attract and retain the people you need. Of course, the type of businesses and strategies vary widely. However, there are several key things to consider in aligning your hiring practices and growth strategy.
Alignment Of Roles And Responsibilities With Growth Strategy
Hiring and training people is expensive. To get a return on that investment, you need people to stay with your company for a long time and to make contributions to the organization far exceeding the costs involved. One way to help ensure this is to clearly define their roles and responsibilities, including the metrics for good and great performance. Another important factor is to consider how a person in that role can grow over time as you achieve your business growth goals. This is important for two reasons:
First, all employees like to get periodic pay increases or incentive payments, and the value they create needs to increase to support the additional pay. Second, many people also enjoy the sense of accomplishment that accompanies advancing in the organization. Therefore, potential career paths within the organization need to be part of your growth strategy.
Hiring For “Fit” May Not Be What You Think It Is
If you think hiring for organizational “fit” means hiring people who are a lot like the owner or yourself, you are mistaken. Clearly there is a need for shared values, such as honesty, taking pride in doing things well, a commitment to success, etc. There is definitely NOT a need for shared personality traits, personal interests, backgrounds, etc. In fact, hiring in this way can be detrimental to the organization because having a variety of viewpoints and experiences provides valuable insights that can both spur growth and prevent errors. Diversity truly is an asset, especially in our ever more connected world.
The “fit” you do want to hire for is fit for the role. Various personality types are best suited to different roles. Accountants tend to be different from marketing people, who tend to be different from sales people, etc. If you are hiring for an accounting role, you are looking for someone who enjoys working with numbers and spreadsheets and has exceptional attention to detail. Drilling down further, and you may realize the organization can be best served if your accounts receivable person and accounts payable person have slightly different characteristics. Hire for alignment of values and fit for the current role, with an eye towards fit for the likely career paths that will emerge as the organization grows.
Alignment Of Compensation And Business Growth Strategy
Compensation can be a challenging topic because there are so many psychological factors involved. Unfortunately, many people intertwine their net worth and self-worth, making it an emotional topic. Therefore, a great deal of sensitivity and care should go into any compensation discussion. From a corporate standpoint, the more objective and transparent the compensation framework, the better for the organization. The range of the base salary for a particular position should be aligned with the value the role brings to the organization. Where a person falls within the range should be a factor of their relevant background and experience. When a person desires to earn beyond the range of a role, they need to expand their value to the organization by acquiring new skills or taking on additional responsibility. In my opinion, there should also be a significant variable component to the compensation package in every role. The bonus or performance incentive plan should be as directly tied to delivering profitable growth for the company as possible. The metrics should be clear, and as directly in control of the employee as practical. However, the size of all such awards should be impacted by the success of the entire organization to help protect the bottom line and to drive team spirit (everyone earns more if we all do well).
If you are clear about how your hiring practices are aligned with your business growth strategy, you can accelerate the achievement of your goals.
