“More cold calling”
This was music to my ears. I think my heart may have even skipped a beat.
Employees want:
• To try harder, and to work harder.
“I can create industry research; I like it, it is interesting and I come from a higher education background”…”Research, statistics, analysis, critical thinking, IT, can prepare full blown studies”…”Harder to sell right now but would be willing to make market analysis for PR”…
I was pleased to hear this and think it could be very useful for the company. I made notes on everyone interested in doing this.
Employees want:
• To try and help the company in different way, at times.
“I am very strong in conducting sales, I am ready to train all in sales and to share my skills”…”Trainings, anything to help develop the company”…”I can help with training new staff as I was a professional trainer”…”I teach at University in management and HR, and I can teach Staffwell on this”…
This was also great to hear. This is a very easy suggestion to accommodate and it would be highly useful in the development of the team. I made notes on everyone interested in conducting training sessions for the team.
Employees want:
• To train others at what they are good at, and have expertise in; and
• To share their knowledge for the benefit of the company.
“Help the management to identify what the Directors and Consultants need, want to be the leader in my sectors but do not want to manage, I do not dream about the Commercial Director role, I want to be client-facing, I do like managing my sector team though and want to keep this in place”…
It is very satisfying to hear that some people love the exact role they are in. I also made a note that this person would like to assist management in their role and, as this would motivate him and he is a solid senior performer, we can create opportunities for him to do this.
Employees want:
• To be close to management;
• To help management; and
• Not always to have career aspirations in management.
“I love to manage and build teams, but not to sell, but I can develop sales, I would like to develop the Consultants team to do more and go after top level clients and candidates, to make the team more assertive, to cold call to top level people”…”I believe I have a lot to offer in a sales-oriented leadership role and I believe my career to date supports this, we have discussed this in the past”…”I am an experienced Consultant and would love team leader responsibilities, to train new people and to mentor them”…
Two of the people quoted above were our two top performing business development Directors. They were asking for more and I felt they deserved it. Promoting these two people is something that I took into very serious consideration. In the case of our Commercial Director, she had already stated she was overloaded and it was clear to me that she was.
Employees want:
• To occasionally move into managerial roles (TL: when they are ready, desire it, and deserve it).
“I have already taken on an additional sector, but would also like KAM, more client work, but not the sales part of it”…”KAM for some companies –to provide more services to the clients and to be a Director to some clients”…”KAM, BD should focus on sales only and I should focus on dealing with clients and solving clients issues and negotiating with clients and I will even create a proposal and present it to you on it –this will help bring more revenue from the clients we have”…
This issue had been brought up before. Some Consultants want to be assigned a Director role as well, without having to do sales and cold calling. This does not exactly work for me. There is a reason we deliberately separated the two roles: in order to create a system of checks and balances for the client that, in the process, provides, I believe, a superior client service.
Once a week, the Directors monitor progress made by the Consultants, and then provide an update to the client. At the same time, the Directors check if there are any issues that the client may have about internal matters or with our work.
Having just explained my views on a combined role, I did listen to the comments and took into consideration what was desired: primarily, that the Consultant’s team would like to introduce an official Key Account Manager role and title. This would create the most senior role within the team of Recruitment Consultants. While having some reservations, I decided that I needed to take this issue seriously, and to work with our management team to come up with a potential solution whereby we could continue to provide our customers with same, if not better, quality of service.
Employees want:
• To work more with clients;
• To help clients more; and
• To give clients better service.
“I always try to do the best, and try to provide the best service to clients and candidates”…
My reaction: wonderful.
Employees want:
• To give clients better service.
“Mentor”…”I can also be a coach or mentor for new staff”…
This was great to hear and I noted this person’s interest.
Employees want:
• To mentor staff in areas in which they have expertise.
“Helping other departments when people are on holiday”…
I thought this was a good response as well, and I noted this person’s interest in doing this.
This was a topic that I decided I needed to look into further, in terms of policies and other areas covered in our Operations Manual. This is because it is crucial to our business that clients receive a seamless approach when we render services to them, and that full coverage is always in place when our team members are absent, for example, on holiday or are ill.
Of course we do this now and have in the past, but it brought to my mind whether any of this had actually been formalized.
Employees want:
• To help the company, and other team members, by covering for them when they are on holiday or are ill.
“Speaking French to clients and candidates, but not comfortable as a full-time focus as it is a little rusty”…
The Consultant replying here is willing to help, which is good. However, in this particular case, I thought we had to take a pass, as I felt her confidence level and abilities were insufficient.
Employees want:
• To help the company by using their foreign language skills.
“Business development – doing more of it; Stas was a good example of a good recruiter and negotiator and attracted some of his own clients, he got to know all the candidates in his sector and I want to do this too; to become an expert Consultant and BD in my sector or other sectors, plus KAM and I want