Archives for April 2019

Welcome back.

In the first part of When Do You Need An Executive Coach, we looked into a scary statistic from the HBR that suggests as many as 60% of newly hired executives fail in the first 18 months. Making it even more scary is that figure used to be accepted at 40%.

We also got a peek behind the curtain thanks to a 10-year study by Ron Carucci and Eric Hansen.  This concluded that nearly two-thirds of leaders entering into executive roles lack sufficient understanding of what is required of them.  They are underprepared for what they will face.

A clear-cut vote, you say, for the executive coach.  Indeed, but let’s just pause before we get there.

The remedial aspect of coaching is powerful, one of the most effective ways to correct a serious performance problem.  But why do we have the problem?

The blame for having an asset inserted into the rarified leadership environment – at significant cost – who is underprepared for presumably specific challenges has to be shared by the persons who put him or her there.

 

Recruiting methods vary

Which brings us to the different methodologies of recruitment.  The several hundred executive search specialists at Cornerstone International Group deliver Retained Executive Search.  It’s one of three primary hiring methods, along with Contingency and In-House, and likely the most successful when you get into leadership issues.

There are many convincing reasons why. If you need a refresher, start with our e-Book “Retained or Contingency”.  The point here is that a certain amount of cause for recruiting failure will come from how you went about filling the role.

But, and it’s a big but, despite even the extraordinary level of research, investigation and assessment inherent in the retained executive search process, you will not eliminate all risk.   But you can take large steps to lower any remaining risk with the strategic engagement of an executive coach.

Why strategic? Because the Carucci-Hansen study clearly identifies compatibility issues that you would probably not have anticipated, however thorough your “fit research”.  The study calls this a “lack of depth in competitive context.”

 

Gaps in competitive knowledge

Leadership tends to be insular.  A new leader has learned to deal with internal issues such as managing performance.   She is comfortable with that.  But she has obviously not had a chance to learn ahead of time strategic issues specific to her new organization such as competitor moves, customer trends and technology developments.

Her learning curve will be dramatically impacted by the quantity and quality of input she receives.  Nothing is going to exceed the benefit of a one-on-one executive coaching program to address these specific issues.

So the answer to when you should engage an executive coach?  Yesterday.

The nature of the going-in coaching deliverables makes finding the right coach an unusually difficult challenge.   This has led in recent years to the creation of a new coaching specialization known as Integration Coaching.

Ginger Duncan of Cornerstone Nashville is one of the leading voices behind Integration Coaching.  In our next post she explains why this is a far cry from onboarding.

 

Stockholm, SW. April 23, 2019 – International executive recruiter Cornerstone International Group continues to expand its footprint in Europe with the addition of a member office in the Ukraine.  Kyiv-based Business Active is the third executive search firm to join the EMEA region of the global network in the last six months.

With new members appointed recently also in Zurich and Brussels, Cornerstone International Group (CIG) now has 27 members in Europe

Cornerstone Ukraine is a family-owned firm founded and managed by Anna Nesterchuk and her husband Oleg Zhadan.  As Business Active, the company has provided high-level Executive Search services and C-suite recruitment on both local and international levels for more than 10 years.

“We are delighted to welcome Anna and Oleg to Cornerstone,” says EMEA Region Chair Goran Jansson. “It is an excellent fit and reinforces our service capabilities in Ukrainian and Russian as well as English.”

Cornerstone Ukraine’s clients come from a broad cross-section of industry, including agriculture, retail, consumer market, logistics and telecom with functional responsibilities for CEO, HR, marketing and sales.

Recent expansion within the EMEA include new member firms in Zurich and Brussels.  Christian Ulrich is the founder manager of Cornerstone Zurich and in Brussels, Peter Buytaert returned home from an extended period in Asia to take up executive search in Belgium.

Cornerstone International Group members offer executive search and leadership development services in 35 countries.   For information on services in Europe, visit the 2019 regional business outlooks and contact individual members for more information on business service.

 

When can you use an executive coach?

The sooner the better.

No, I’m not being flip.   There is a growing belief that the earlier an executive coach is inserted into the equation, the greater the value to both the executive and the company that hired him or her.

The underlying stats have been there for a long time.

It has been widely accepted in executive search that the failure rate can be as high as 40% in the first 18 months of the hire.   Now that seems low.  A study in the Harvard Business Review suggests the figure could be as high as 50%-60.

The HBR figure comes from one of the seemingly few studies that have wondered why.  The publication “Rising to Power” is subtitled “The journey of exceptional executives.” There are four sections, but the clue to the alarming failure rate is right there in the first four lines of the synopsis:

“Nearly two-thirds of all leaders entering into executive roles lack sufficient understanding of what is required of them and are underprepared for what they will face”

This is the opening conclusion by authors Ron Carucci and Eric Hansen after performing a 10-year, longitudinal study of organizations and their leaders.  They found that many of the issues faced by newly minted executives are a result of rising to leadership roles earlier than ever, despite a lack of experience and after minimal— if any—formal development.

They describe the initial shock and disorientation executives feel when entering their new roles at the top of the hierarchy as “altitude sickness”.  It takes time to acclimatize to the new perspective and responsibilities their job requires.

If you accept this – and it does make a lot of sense – it is immediately clear that the problem lies on both sides.  The newly hired executive, however skilled, lacks at the outset the required depth of knowledge in managing and executing a specific, competitive strategy.  In most cases, the organization has done little or nothing to prepare an on-ramp that will acclimatize the new exec at an appropriate rate.

And if you consider the vast range of issues and organizational rabbit warrens, there is unlikely to be a one-size solution.  So, let me ask the question again: when do you need an executive coach?

We’ll look at this up close in the next post.

 

(Following are excerpts from an interview with Chairman and CEO Simon Wan by People Matters magazine of India)

PM:  Is there a process that a global recruiter like Cornerstone uses to hire a new executive

SW: Over the years we have developed a tried and true process.  The process is not unique.  But our experience in the field makes us unique.

There are five steps.  They are Define – Research – Recruit – Select – Hire.  The process is universal and it is how you carry out each stage that builds a successful engagement.  Our researchers and trainers adopt this process wherever they are geographically and the strong business backgrounds of our members help us in determining accurately whether a candidate is fit for a firm.

We use questions that help us in finding what inspires the candidate, her/his level of motivation, and if that fits the requirement of the firm.  The competencies you are seeking have changed a lot in the last 30 years and so has the means of identifying them, but the basic process of discovery has not.

 

PM: What are some of the methodologies that have changed for a global recruiter

SW: Methodology has evolved over the years.  There was a time when our own databases were built on personal knowledge and awareness of who could do what.  Today, finding the right candidate leans heavily on external reference, such as social media and data analysis to determine whether a person is fit for the company

This still puts us in demand because the intelligent interpretation of external data is the critical issue and brings back into play the experience and wisdom of knowledgeable people.  Companies no longer just hire based on a person’s experience.  They want to understand the compatibility of the person and the firm.

 

PM: How do you find the right talent when building a leadership team

SW: The model we follow at Cornerstone is standard in that it starts with looking at what competencies the companies require and then interviewing the candidate based on our analysis of their internal capabilities. Apart from assessing the skills we also understand how this person would fit into the company.

But then we go a step further and interview the hiring manager.  Why? Because when a person leaves a company, he/she leaves usually because of the leader not because of the company. Getting to know the existing leaders right from the beginning is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the potential fit.

This also gives us the required information about the reasons why someone chooses to leave a particular organization. This is of great importance in executive level recruiting and in hiring managers who should be a part of the firm for several years.

 

PM: When you talk about Cornerstone and global recruiting, how is your consultant strategy different from Asia to Europe?

SW: To us the process and the steps are similar, but the consultants and their requirements are different. For example, they have Artificial Intelligence tools in the United States, but the requirements are not yet as demanding as they are among technological industries in China and India.

The difference in the nature of markets plays a key role and makes the experience of consulting different.  This is why we established two headquarters for the organization – one in China and one in the USA. As a result, we have seen significant growth, especially in China and India.

 

PM: While hiring talent for different companies of different markets, what are the methodologies you have observed and used to adapt to the needs of the market?

SW: As we value integrity, experience and set priorities of an individual in hiring, it may not be a perfect match with the principles of the hiring manager.  Depending upon where in the world we are working, the manager may have in mind a different set of attributes he would want from the selected candidate.

These leads to two outcomes.  First, to find a person who fits the profile of these managers, coaching the selected candidates is essential. Second, once the talent map is provided to these managers, it is our role to match the expectations of the managers to the talent map.  We do that by going outside the industry because the industry background does not affect the leadership level of an individual.

 

PM: What are the key features that characterize an effective leader?

SW: When it comes to finding the perfect leader, integrity plays a big role.  Warren Buffet, one of the world’s most successful businessmen has said “You should look for three things in a person – Intelligence, Energy and Integrity.  And if they don’t have the last, don’t bother with the first two.”

Integrity means be yourself and don’t fake anything.  An effective leader should be able to uphold the company’s values and display them to the employees who must understand the company is not just for making money. In markets like Asia, the leaders coach their employees on the values and objectives as the firm grows from a moderate one to a large corporation

Values becomes crucial in engaging the millennial workforce as most members of this generation seek a higher purpose from their work.

Full interview report is available at https://www.peoplemattersglobal.com/article/hiring/todays-organizations-are-not-just-looking-at-employee-retention-but-value-addition-too-simon-wan-21186

 

Historically, recruiting has been primarily dependent upon the instincts of the employer. Whether he or she felt a particular candidate was fit for a given position was based primarily on the resume, indicating the candidate’s previous experience, qualifications, and job history.

Today, it is widely accepted that organizations which base decisions on data consistently outperform organizations that don’t. Decisions that are based on data are usually more consistent, less risky, and often lead to more desirable outcomes.

A study conducted by the MIT Sloan School of Management indicated that companies that are mostly data-driven had four percent higher productivity rates and six percent higher profits

So why hasn’t this principle become widely accepted in the recruiting process?

The data your organization needs to make more informed decisions already exists. Businesses collect a ton of data on their past and present employees, along with their successes within the company. The trick is bringing it all together and finding the right analytical tools to transform the data into useful insights.

Predictive analytics, a technology backed by machine learning, allows organizations to use their own data, as well as data from outside and third-party sources, in their decision-making process. Recruiting professionals can now use the power of this data to make predictions about candidates and drive efficiencies throughout the entire talent-acquisition process.

What is Predictive Analytics?

Predictive analytics is a type of data analysis that uses data to find patterns and generates models to predict future performance. Predictive analytics can’t tell you exactly what will happen, but it shows what is likely to happen based on past trends. It’s as close as organizations can get to predicting the future.

What if you had access to forward-looking insight on your current workforce that could help you take early action to find top talent that also fits the needs of your organization? As Aditya Narayan Mishra from CIEL HR Services states:

“Organizations have a huge amount of data about their employees: their personal details, education, family background and so on. They also have data about employees’ performance and behaviors. Hence, they can correlate all these three dimensions to determine the typical profile of an employee who is likely to be successful with them. That’s the power of predictive analytics!”

Tech-savvy HR tools, like human capital management systems, have begun to incorporate predictive analytics into their offerings, enabling HR teams to utilize this data-fueled tactic in their talent recruiting strategies. Experts estimate that predictive analytics will be adopted among a majority of firms across the globe for hiring and managing of job applicants. According to the Deloitte Human Capital Trends report, 38 percent of companies use AI, and 62 percent expect to do so by the end of this year.

For employers, this results in decreased time to hire and increased quality of hire. For candidates, it builds a better hiring experience, leaving a positive impression that will factor into their offer acceptance decision.

Here are three ways predictive analytics can benefit your talent acquisition strategy:

1. Improve the talent quality

Using predictive analytics helps recruiters link employer behavior, activities, traits, and performance to desired business outcomes. Many organizations that utilize a predictive model customize their strategy by using attribute and performance data collected from the company’s top performers. From this, they can create a profile that represents an “ideal match.”

When candidates first enter the recruiting process, they create their own profile through assessments that create a psychological or emotional profile, score leadership and collaboration skills, and/or determine a degree of fit within the company culture. Predictive analytics can then compare the two to determine a best-fit candidate.

2. Create a more efficient recruitment funnel

In addition to improving the quality of hires, predictive analytics can be used to improve efficiencies in the recruitment funnel. The recruitment funnel is all of the steps between when a candidate applies for a position and when the candidate is hired. Predictive analytics can analyze resumes and applications to help sift through a large pool of candidates, or as Sarah Brennan, owner of Accelir, an HR technology consulting firm, calls it, “candidate shortlisting.” She says:

“This technology will take a look at your applicants and narrow down or prioritize them based on your past candidates that have made it onto your shortlist. It utilizes your previous decisions to determine a more favorable outcome in future decisions.”

3. Facilitate a better candidate experience

According to Talent Board’s Candidate Experience Research Report, many recruiters are still failing to provide a friendly and straightforward candidate experience. Candidates included in the report cited some of their largest reasons for withdrawing themselves from a recruiting process as: the process took too long, job description difference at interview, company culture not a fit, and poor communication with the hiring manager.

Using predictive analytics can help identify stages of the recruitment funnel that can be streamlined to improve the candidate experience. Determining how many applicants are at each stage of the recruiting pipeline and how long each stage is taking helps discover where applicants are stagnating in the recruiting pipeline.

Keeping things moving prevents good candidates from exiting the recruiting funnel prematurely and can leave a good impression with your top choice.

 

 

The struggle for gender equity in business – especially for women leaders – makes progress in little steps.  A year ago, a McKinsey survey revealed that among the G20 countries, the world’s most advanced, only three have women in at least 30% of corporate board or executive committee positions.

Last month, Odgers Berndtson zeroed in closer to look at commercial leadership roles in the technology sector with more gratifying results: in 2018, women on average earned higher salaries in tech than men.

The Odgers Berndtson survey is interesting because it was made by analyzing 1,000 global executive placements in recent years.  This brings attention to the role played by the recruiting industry.

The merits of diversity in business now being unequivocal, it can be argued that a management consultancy has an obligation to recommend women for leadership positions.

That’s an argument that resonates at Heidrick & Struggles, one of the largest global recruiting firms, which has pledged that 50% of its candidates for Board positions would be women.

It also resonates here at Cornerstone International Group where our 56 global offices include acclaimed international leaders in gender diversity.

One of them is Alejandra Aranda, founder of Humanitas Executive Search, Cornerstone’s member in Santiago, Chile.  Two years ago, she was approached by the Gender Parity Initiative of the World Economic Forum to take part in a Code of Good Practice.  She went one step further and persuaded all eight of her top competitors in Chile to sign a 10-point Code of Good Practice on Gender Diversity Management for executive search firms.

Just recently, the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity of Chile convened the most prominent headhunters to increase the number of female Board Directors and chose Aranda as spokesperson.

“Appointing more women leaders is a global trend because it works,” she says. “They bring a different viewpoint and add value.

“According to the Interamerican Development Bank, companies with at least one woman on their executive committee had a return on equity 44% higher and operating profitability 47% higher than those with exclusively male committees.”

With stats like that, you have to wonder why gender equity has to come in these little steps.  Maybe some people still don’t get it?  Nah, guys wouldn’t be that dumb.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

You can also read about how Elena Terol of Cornerstone Madrid presented four female candidates for a position on the Board of a global telecom company. The CEO was so impressed he appointed one to the Board and hired the other three.