As we’ve mentioned in a previous article, business agility can create a culture that increases retention and morale. While business agility can do this, it requires that leadership puts their people first. Here are three practices to help you focus on your people.
Assess your hiring process
The hiring process is the first experience a new team member will have with your business. A hiring process that seemingly never ends or where the process isn’t clear gives the applicant a bad impression. While long hiring processes can help organizations get to know an applicant before working with them, you risk the candidate going elsewhere.
A faster hiring process that makes it clear what you are looking for shows the applicant that you’re organized and that you respect them as a person. For the employee, a faster hiring process will remove the fear of whether they can support themselves and their families.
Once you’ve agreed to hire somebody, also consider the onboarding experience and the impact that will have. Initial impressions matter!
Tell the truth
When looking for new hires, companies tend to use buzzwords to catch the attention of potential applicants. If you’re going to offer autonomous roles, opportunities to learn, and the chance to become an expert at their trade, these things must actually happen.
If you don’t follow through with what you offer, you could sour the perception of you and your business. Breaking promises made during the hiring process doesn’t just disappoint your new employee; they might even leave, putting you back at square one.
Lead by example
To be an effective leader, it is important to lead by example. Your actions should be aligned with your words. Additionally, people are more likely to respect and admire a leader who is willing to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Ultimately, leading by example is the best way to inspire others to emulate your behavior and work towards common goals.
In an agile organization, there needs to be a strong connection between leadership and team members. Leaders that take an active role in helping their teams solve problems can do so by modeling the behaviours they expect to see. As this article says, 50% of employees who don’t feel valued by their boss plan to look for another job in the next year.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these ideas sparked some thoughts on how you can approach supporting people right from the beginning of their relationship with your organization. If you would like to learn more, listen to our Definitely, Maybe Agile podcast here.