Cornerstone Blog

(This article was drafted by Cornerstone Lima in response to a survey conducted in Peru in the third quarter of 2021. The concerns expressed by the South American business leaders broadly reflect the concerns of executives worldwide, so the survey and comments below by Diego Cubas, CEO of Cornerstone Lima, are relevant anywhere.) 

According to the recent survey “Human Talent Challenges Facing CEOs in 2022”, the main business concern of 55% of Peruvian business owners and executives continues to be the scarcity of local talent that fits the needs of their organization.

As a result, strategic positions within their companies are challenging to fill. While the COVID pandemic initially increased the number of professionals available in the market because many organizations had decided to downsize, companies began to recruit again once a “new normal” established itself. But their search focus had changed: now they were looking for talent with much more digital, innovative, agile, and resilient capabilities.

Today, companies take longer to find the ideal candidate with the necessary skills to achieve productivity and growth. And they are casting their recruiting nets farther. Diego Cubas, Cornerstone’s Chairman for Latin America, has observed this upswing in the “talent without borders” drive. “Recruiting a person who has the skills, fits the culture and has the passion for filling the role increasingly motivates progressive companies to scan the horizons.“

The survey highlighted two significant challenges that CEOs face when making their selections.

40% of CEOs said that finding a candidate who will fit into the firm’s organizational culture is a core concern. 27% also mentioned the need to find a hire with the potential to step up to a higher position.

Recruiters, understanding that these challenges are related, need to spot the ideal candidate’s potential as well as their ability to fill the current position. “In principle, companies must come to grips with the key talent needs in their organization. They should design strategies to identify professionals who possess the skills and knowledge needed now and who can be relied upon to handle what the future may bring,” observes Ignacio Mealla, director of Vistage Peru.

Diego Cubas notes that often the future can be near at hand when a senior hire is almost immediately given responsibilities in addition to the ones usually assigned to a position.   Administrators have to hope that the new employee can handle the added challenge.   But this casual expansion of mandate can result in severe problems for both the new executive and the organization. “As important as identifying talent, the recruitment and selection process must adhere to these four fundamental pillars: holistic understanding of the need, in-depth market research, exhaustive 360 ​​evaluation, and, in some cases, support for the executive through an executive onboarding process”, says Diego Cubas.

Review the management climate of the organization.

Selection is becoming a two-way street at senior levels (and even lower down the hierarchy).  More and more people are looking for workplaces with solid organizational cultures that align with their professional and personal values.  This is why the chemistry with a prospective new boss and the signals emanating from this possible new work environment will influence a candidate’s decision to continue or leave the selection process.

Continually reinforce training programs.

Training programs are vital for both seasoned workers and candidates entering the company. These training programs should respond to the real needs of the organization’s workforce. Building robust programs can be attractive to applicants considering working for an organization.

Click on the links below to learn more about Cornerstone Peru and Cornerstone International Group. Established in 1989, Cornerstone International Group is one of the world’s largest Executive Search groups. Currently, Cornerstone’s global reach extends to 60 offices and 40 countries.

https://cornerstone.com.pe/ (In Spanish) and https://www.cornerstone-group.com  (in English)

Companies that aren’t structurally and culturally inclusive can be harmful to the mental wellbeing of employees who have been hired as part of a diversity program. It often happens that these organizations end up in a zero-sum situation: as they increase their number of diverse employees, many in the original cohort leave.

The problem can be laid to companies not doing the real work of making inclusion a priority. In these situations, negative behavior – from microaggressions to full-on harassment – can frequently arise.

When this does occur, the diverse employee’s complaints are typically not taken seriously. In the aggregate, incidents like these can lead to a workplace that is toxic to diverse employees.

Promoting a culture of inclusion will help diverse candidates feel like they belong, that their ideas are valued, and that their contributions are welcome.

As a policy, increasing inclusion in the workplace will help create a culture of psychological safety. This in turn increases engagement and pays dividends in a more collaborative and innovative workforce.

Hear from Tamica on Inclusion before Diversity

During a conversation I had with a company director, he posed questions whose answers are still not clear: How can hybrid work be made effective? How should we reframe our relationships with employees now that their on-site presence will be limited? And finally, he asked about an age-old problem that will still crop up in this new corporate setting: How do I attract and retain talent?

As the conversation progressed, we managed to work our way towards tentative conclusions. In a hybrid work situation, we do risk losing some of the beneficial aspects of working “face to face”. Collaborating directly with colleagues – so useful in planning and developing innovative solutions – is an important advantage in reaching corporate goals. 

On the other hand, remote work can also prove to be beneficial. Remote work can help generate new ways for colleagues to relate to one another. This new way of working can optimize the time spent on task and, in many cases, improve our quality of life.

Faced with this reality, it is essential to rethink and, in many cases, redesign the culture of an organization. Face-to-face time will be a limited asset and, therefore, must acquire a greater value within the company. How we give value to it is key, and this largely depends on corporate leadership.

This is part of the change in the dynamics of the employer-employee relationship; today understanding and improving the “workforce experience” has become a priority. 

What does it take to engage, motivate and build buy-in to the hybrid work situation? The company director said that he was still grappling with this new experience, but one thing was clear: executives and managers must make themselves available to their employees so that together they can iron out difficulties.  Also, being able to articulate clear purposes and establish solid lines of communication are evergreen priorities, even in this new work environment.

Executives have to be aware that talent, across the board, is demanding more flexibility in the time they commit to their jobs. Companies that do not listen and do not accommodate legitimate requests risk losing key members of the team. 

In 2021, McKinsey & Company made valuable contributions to the Jobs Reset Summit sponsored by the World Economic Forum.  All executives should read their brilliant “reset” summary, “Four Things Workers Want Implemented by Their Bosses Post-Pandemic”

It is definitely time to stop and reset. It is time that management and staff come together and reconfigure a new way of working.

The devil, of course, is in the details.  Resets are being worked out by companies on a trial-and-error basis, with each new arrangement dependent not only on the current culture but on the new environment a company hopes to implement, all this consistent with corporate objectives.  And shareholder expectations.

Onsite gatherings will still be a valuable aspect of our working lives. But let’s not succumb to nostalgia for the way things were done in the good old days. We’ve all endured face-to-face meetings where we left muttering, “What a waste of time. This meeting could have been done by email” – forgetting that email threads can also waste time.  

Similarly, we can expect bumps in the road to an innovative future. But “the great reset” described by the World Economic Forum challenges us to accept that innovation is the only path forward.   

We are at the beginning of a phase in which the way we (and goods) get around will drive enormous growth in the automotive industry. Autonomous driving immediately springs to everyone’s mind.  But the electrification of vehicles will have an enormous impact as well.  

Around 100 components familiar from the classic combustion engine are in line to be replaced by about 40 new components.  In the next ten years, EVs and autonomous vehicles are predicted to generate approximately $400 billion in sales per year.

The images of the classic automotive industry employee will recede into the past.  In many areas, specialists in software and EE (electrics/electronics) will predominate over classic mechanical engineering.  

However, we are already in the grip of too few skilled professionals for these changing requirements. The German automotive industry is faced with even greater challenges, ones not limited to this sector alone. As recruiters, we notice that many of our clients still refer to the failures of politics and see themselves in a victim role.

The immediate focus of the automotive industry should be addressed in−house. The industry has to tackle serious strategic issues regarding new products, manufacturing processes, and digitalization.  In addition, effective recruiting strategies have to be put in place.   

Product Strategies

How long will legacy products still be in demand? How dependent are current products on the technologies of yesteryear? What are a firm’s core competencies, its advantage over the competition? Which technologies can be vertically integrated into value creation processes to complement new products, components, or systems? Which new industries need new or legacy products in profitable batch sizes, and how can these needs be addressed?

Manufacturing Strategies

In the future, which locations will allow which products to be manufactured competitively? At which locations can product manufacturing processes be bundled to maximize efficiency (value streams, resources, setup times, tool availability, application expertise, logistical capabilities, etc.)?

Digitization Strategies

How can suppliers and customers be integrated into a simple “end−to−end” SCM software solution in order to map a smooth and quality−assured material flow and value creation process? How can new digital technologies available on the market be used in the future to develop and manufacture high−quality products faster and more effectively per employee? Only in this way will labor costs play a subordinate role in international competition.

***

These strategic issues are confronting not only the German automotive industry but other sectors of the nation’s economy as well.  The issues are, in fact, global.  So is the need for companies to deploy effective recruiting strategies.  

One month after Zuckerberg’s October 2021 announcement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled his company’s vision of the Metaverse at their Ignite Fall Conference – on video, naturally. 

Microsoft’s Metaverse will also be a place of creativity and fun, Nadella claims, but he focusses on the corporate potential of this digital world. “I can’t overstate how much of a breakthrough this is…It’s no longer just videoconferencing with colleagues, you can be with them in the same room.”  These immersive capabilities will be built into Microsoft’s applications like Microsoft Teams.  He announced a new layer to Teams called Mesh. “Mesh for Microsoft Teams will allow you to connect with presence and have a shared immersive experience directly in Teams.”

Nadella provides proof of concept by bringing in two executives from Accenture, the global consulting and technology firm prototyping Microsoft’s ventures in the Metaverse. Jason Warnke and Ellyn Shook’s avatars are very enthusiastic about how Microsoft’s digital advances can facilitate a traditional HR process like onboarding.  

A Gamechanger for Onboarding

Shook explains that Accenture onboarding involves about 100,000 people a year. “Like many organizations, onboarding has been remote for the past 18 months, so bringing new hires into this immersive environment fosters immediate and deeper connections.  It transcends physical boundaries and helps individuals experience a culture in a very personal way.  Our new hires meet many more people and grow their professional network much faster.”    

Warnke says that Accenture is implementing Mesh’s capabilities through Teams by installing it on all the company’s computers; they have also recently deployed 60,000 VR headsets throughout the network. “The integration with Microsoft 365 makes everything feel familiar. But on top of that, spatial audio makes everything sound just like it really would in person.  I love seeing our colleagues collaborating and whiteboarding, and using this space for productivity.” 

Back to Nadella, he “just loves seeing how Accenture has been able to re-create the human connection you feel around water cooler-type conversations and even the design and whiteboarding sessions you would typically have in person…. The Metaverse is not just transforming how we see the world, it’s changing how all of us are actively participating in it.”

Like Meta’s, it’s easy to look at the Microsoft video with a jaundiced eye. Its avatars are stiff cartoon-like creatures, missing the bottom halves of their bodies.  But Nadella does offer an interesting vision of how technology can have a positive impact on two major trends of work: hybrid (post-pandemic, people want a say in when, where and how they work) and what LinkedIn’s Ryan Roslansky calls “the Great Reshuffle” (workers want to reconfigure the real meaning of their work and will search for the companies which can provide them with this meaning.) You can follow Nadella’s thoughts about the post-pandemic meaning of work in the links below.  

What will be the implications for recruiting and search in the post-pandemic, at least partly Metaverse world we’ll be entering, ready or not? 

Stay tuned.

Read our previous post on the Metaverse…

Facebook Becomes Meta – The Dawn of a New Era? 

Read More
CNET Highlights, “Watch Microsoft’s Satya Nadella’s vision for the Metaverse (with Teams)”

Harvard Business Review, “Microsoft’s CEO on the Metaverse and Flexible Work”

What exactly is the (or a) “Metaverse”? Why do enthusiasts claim it is the dawn of “Web 3.0”, that it will render flat-screen technologies such as Zoom obsolete? Why did we start hearing about the Metaverse tsunami less than six months ago?  

In October 2021 Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg startled the world by announcing that he was changing his company’s name to Meta.  He explained his decision by pointing out that in just a few years computer hardware and software technologies had evolved from desktop to web to phones, and from text to photos to video as internet capacity increased.  But this isn’t the end of the line, Zuckerberg notes.  “The next platform and medium will be even more immersive, an embodied experience where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it.” This new platform will allow you to do just about anything: “get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create – as well as entirely new categories that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today.”  Hence his company’s change of name, signaling that Facebook realized its social media empire was receding into the background, but Meta was positively embracing the new. Until now, cyberspace was actually a two-dimensional flatland; now – soon – we would live in the 3-D splendor of the real cyberspace.  

The rest of the hour+ video is devoted to illustrating how Meta envisions this somewhat-hazy future.  Boiling it down, to enter Zuckerberg’s immersible VR world we will have to put on headgear such as his company’s Oculus 2 Quest headset, linked to your Facebook (sorry, I mean Meta) account.   Meta is working hard to reduce the cumbersome headset to a device resembling today’s glasses.  

While we’re there we’ll need to create digital versions of ourselves as 3D “avatars”.  Some avatars can be highly realistic, useful for business or talking to your mother.  But we can also create fantastical avatars for gaming ventures.  Currently Zuckerberg’s avatars tend to be cartoon likenesses showing heads, arms and torsos only.  Nothing from the hips down. The glimpses he shows of avatars conducting business in the Metaverse are cringeworthy.

The reaction to the prophecies the former wunderkind presented was mixed. The financial services/investment bank Jeffries positively swooned: “could be the biggest disruption to human life ever seen.” Others were more guarded: its future technology incursions could make Meta even more invasive of individuals’ privacy than the old Facebook.  Besides, other corporations such the gamers Roblox and Fortnite had beaten Meta to the punch with their own versions of the Metaverse.  Niantic’s CEO John Hanke condemned Zuckerberg’s vision as a “dystopian nightmare”; technology should try to augment reality, not replace it with a couch-potato version. On February 3, Meta stocks fell by 26%, a major unfriending by investors.

But the consensus is that we are indeed embarking on a new version of the internet, online destinations where (places like workspaces excepted) we pay with “non-fungible tokens” (NFTs) based on blockchain technologies. This future is only in its infancy, hobbled with regulatory issues and questions of interoperability, but it will reach maturity in a few years. Already, CNBC reports, “Siemens and Hyundai have used virtual worlds for hiring and people management.” 

It’s worth keeping tabs on this serious implication for recruiting and working.     

FURTHER READING
CNBC, “Looking for a job? You might get hired via the metaverse, experts say”
Zuckerberg’s Vision of the Metaverse (YouTube)
John Hanke’s Objections to Zuck’s Dystopian Nightmare:  

As an executive coach I have long been interested in positive psychology, the scientific study of how humans can optimize their potential.  

I had studied evidence-based coaching at Fielding Graduate University, where their program was informed by the works of such positive-psychology scholars as Martin Seligman, Mihaly Czikszentmhalyi, Ed Diener, Tal Ben-Sahar, Brenda Frederickson, and others. 

By now a practicing coach, a few years ago I explored more deeply the strengths-based movement (also influenced by positive psychology) by training with The Marcus Buckingham Company (an ADP company). Now my coaching practice is firmly rooted in the strengths-based approach, a movement based on the latest research. I am proud to have been invited to become a member of the faculty of The Marcus Buckingham Company.

Here in brief are the principles of the strengths-based movement:

We help people recognize the abilities they already have and help them build on their uniqueness. Leadership starts with understanding oneself. Research tells us that those who engage with their strengths every day for a portion of the day will thrive. Not only individual but team engagement will increase. 

All of us have aspects of our performance that may require attention so that our leadership potential can be fulfilled. An effective method is to tap into and leverage strengths we already possess. In other words, we need to draw upon our latent resources to establish our agency. Knowing the kind of work that energizes you can be a source of resilience, an important asset in the VUCA world we live in.

Employees – those that companies wish to retain and promote – are interested in learning how to grow their careers. I believe that this worthy aspiration calls for a partnership approach between organizations, their leaders and individuals striving to get ahead. An effective way to initiate such partnerships: initiate conversations so that individuals can uncover and focus on their career aspirations. Facilitate these conversations so that they become more aware of their strengths and how these strengths can be actualized.   

During this trying COVID epidemic Marcus Buckingham is offering the StandOut^® Strengths Assessment free of charge. The Assessment can be obtained through www.marcusbuckingham.com

You can contact me for additional information on strengths-based coaching.

[Editor:  The instability in the world’s labour market has affected all levels. The new year is expected to see a significant increase in the re-positioning of executives and senior managers, by choice or otherwise. At Cornerstone Ukraine, Anna Nesterchuk and her team have developed a niche expertise in individual coaching and career consultation for executives.  She shares some of their findings here.]

A significant feature of a job search for executives is the period of search and negotiations. As a rule, this is a long process, always including several stages of interviews.  If it is an international company with headquarters in another country, it can be even longer. The process can take from several months to a year and more.

Accordingly, if an executive understands that the current contract is coming to an end, it is better to start preparing for new opportunities in advance. That would include being visible to the companies and projects you are interested in. 

How would you do that?  Let’s walk through the main methods:

• Constantly work on your own brand. Establish an active social position: participate in conferences as a speaker, in webinars, social projects and activities. It is important to do this regularly. You become visible, and Executive Search companies find you faster and start working with you.
• Networking. It is important not only to be visible but to create connections.  Attend conferences and   seminars, be member of specialized associations. Meet with the leaders of interesting projects.
• Take care of your professional reputation. It must be impeccable.
• Build relationships with recruiting companies. You can make a list of leading Executive Search companies and send your CV. Meet, write to them directly, declare yourself and your intentions.
• Reach out to leaders of those organizations that are interesting to you as potential employers. This way you can get into the competition for a job that the market may not yet know about.
• Monitor the entry of new players into the market of your country
• Have a good profile on LinkedIn and develop it. The profile must be well presented, but it is important also to be active in expanding your network of contacts. Good posts and interesting comments will always bring the right attention to your profile.
• Have a polished CV close at hand. Don’t overload the resume but give the following information: what industries did/do you work in, how large a company, your role and area of responsibility, how many subordinates, what tasks did you resolve.   Education is mandatory as is presenting important competencies such as knowledge of languages, specific advanced knowledge and experience.
• Use specialized resources for top managers to host your profile. A good example is the global career service BlueSteps operated by the Association of Executive Search and Development Consultants (AESC).

A successful job search for executives, and for you to appear favorably in searches by others, it is necessary to have your own clear strategy for moving ahead.

It is also always desirable to have your own career coach, with whom you can discuss any issues about your professional opportunities.

For more information on preparing for your next move, contact the author at anna-nesterchuk@cornerstone-group.com 

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

So how would you digest LinkedIn?  Right, one prospect at a time.  Pretty simple stuff.  But something many – perhaps even most – LinkedIn users ignore or never knew.

First, let’s look at the elephant.

• LinkedIn now has 756 million members in 200 countries and regions
• It made a profit of $8 billion last year, an increase of 19%
• Over 100 million work applications are sent out every month
• Over 57 million companies and 120,000 institutions have LinkedIn accounts
• At any given time, there are 14 million open jobs listed

That is frankly awesome for a concept with just one simple mission: to put like-minded professionals in touch with each other.  LinkedIn has become one gigantic, massively powerful, specialist device– for connecting with colleagues as well as advisors, building individual brands, generating passion from potential consumers and customers, finding employers or hiring supervisors.

But there is a catch.  A searchable pool of 756 million people, nearly all skilled, is a year-round Christmas gift for anyone seeking contacts or promoting an idea.  An amazing database makes it easy to locate a specific type of person with specific interests and in a specific part of the world.  So, hey! Let’s reach out to a whole bunch of them.

Back up. The many people who still utilize LinkedIn as a method for “cold-calling”, mass-mailing a cool sales pitch or deal, are totally in the wrong place. Most individuals on LinkedIn absolutely despise being pitched to.

LinkedIn clocks “interactions” and it counts over 1 billion every month. So, if you are looking for a person fitting a specific profile, there’s a good chance a few hundred other people are too and said person is now fed up with being pestered about something of little or no interest.

Conclusion: cold calls never warm up.

LinkedIn’s impact is expanding and it’s vitally important to get it right with regards to how you involve others. A burned bridge on LinkedIn is usually one that can not be rebuilt very easily. You have one possibility to make an effective and favorable impression.

“I directly obtain roughly 50 cold pitches weekly on LinkedIn,” says Kathy Caprino, an occupation and leadership trainer. “Only 1 in 500 is anywhere near to being something I want. Usually, I shouldn’t have been in the target list in the first place, due to the fact that I’m not a fit.

When my interest is piqued, it’s when the person went to the effort to create something special and appealing, and tailored to me directly. They revealed to me clearly exactly how they might move the needle for me and also my organization.”

Here is Caprino’s short list of how to make yourself welcome on LinkedIn:

• Don’t make the mistake of sending out an out-of-the-blue request to someone you do not understand, requesting an introduction or favor. Being attached at the very first degree on LinkedIn does not suggest you have a real relationship, yet. 
• Don’t push the “Attach” switch without following up instantly with a customized note
• When you’re making your very first outreach and sending an invite to link, do not simply click the “Connect” switch and leave it at that. Promptly, send out a longer note sharing information on exactly how you found out this person, why their work is of interest and supply some compelling factors for wishing to follow them.
• Make your message regarding them, not all about you.

“On the whole,” says Caprino, “the key takeaway is to remember to do the work and put in the effort to locate an authentic means to be of service, to develop a true link, and be gracious and handy.

“Don’t contact strangers with your vacant hand outstretched, expecting something that’s of benefit to you when nothing has been offered.”

For an eye-opening review of LinkedIn’s weird and wonderful components, take a look at 

Mind-Blowing LinkedIn Statistics and Facts (2021)

ATLANTA, Ga. Tuesday, Dec 7, 2021 – Cornerstone International Group, a global executive search organization, today announced changes in its leadership team.

“These appointments significantly strengthen our global network,” says President Larry Shoemaker. “Edwin steps into a role previously filled on a temporary basis by Simon Wan, our Chairman and Diego is an ideal choice to continue the successful leadership established by Alejandra.

“Allan brings a wealth of experience to our member development team with a focus on the southern hemisphere.”

Cornerstone International Group has over 30 years of experience as a global provider of talent solutions with a focus on executive search. It has members in 57 offices strategically located in the key business regions of 40 countries.  For information on the organization and its services, please visit the Cornerstone Group global website.

INFORMATION

Tami Fitzpatrick
Executive Administrator
tami-fitzpatrick@cornerstone-group.com