10 mistakes to avoid while hiring & building the winning team

We are in the VUCA world. That is volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The situation is constant and we cannot predict. This change is now the norm in certain industries and areas of the business world.

Covid has transformed the world and the way business needs to run. In the process of running a successful business, the most essential ingredient is to build a high performance team.  

Every decision can be taken but the most difficult decision is people's decision/ deciding on people and as we all know the people are the protagonists to make a successful endeavour.

Business is a team sport not a solo game. That's why building a team across all levels in business is essential. No doubt - for a scalable and profitable venture - Idea, Execution, Systems, Strategies and investment is required, but Human Capital or Human Resources, actually runs your business and the most important ingredients to build your business is to build your team.

Here are few secrets/learnings: -

1. Build a genuine Brand

Let the world know that you exist and share your value addition to your customer's life. Along with building your company’s website and web presence, business owners should know their employees are the best brand ambassadors. In today’s time, candidates often review a company's ratings before applying for a job. Right and valuable content on websites and social media, attracts right candidates and it will also increase your competitive advantage and promote the brand.

2. Keep Hiring Goals for each function (Never stop hiring).  

While planning your business goals, plan your hiring goal for each function of the business and achieve it with the help of internal or external Recruiters and these goals should be the measurable ones. Many of us are not aware of our hiring goals, it should be made at the beginning. Be consistent in hiring, as this is a key in building an effective team. Now Jobseekers have ample options, you can’t wait for them. Some will like your company, some may not. Some may match your expectation or vice versa. So don't stop recruitment, develop a talent pool & funnel to meet your hiring goals.

3. Flexibility is the Future 

Recruiting talent in this decade will be challenging for many companies. As the work demographic continues to shift and technology advances at lightning speed, traditional brick-and-mortar companies will be challenged to recruit and retain the best talent available.

Bill Gates mentioned, “The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area.”

Post covid, the last 2 years have transformed human habits. and to build a great team you need to jump into their shoes and think.

This is a decade of flexibility and adaptability is the key to sustain & rise in this change era.

You can't handle all generations of employees in the same old manners.  Keep employee friendly HR Policies, Employee demands flexibility of working days, working hours and work life balance, Saturday off, tax saving, benefits other than fixed salary like health insurance, etc.  In this gig economy and startup era- all kinds of solutions are available, which are workable for small businesses as well. 

When it comes to attracting talent, explore different models of working (Hybrid, WFO, WFH,WFA) , reinvent  the way of working with changing times. Few companies are working in a boundary less work model or work from anywhere.

 Keep your entry gateway lucrative to attract talent for your organization. 

4.  Culture of holistic wellbeing 

Culture is the soul of an organization and it speaks behind your back. Employees look for good human experiences at the workplace, which comes in form good work policies and empowering leaders.

Building a great culture is not an overnight thing, top leaders and HR teams have to constantly evolve and learn to create empowering experiences.

Workplace wellness is generating a lot of discussion these days. Nowadays companies are focusing on the physical, mental career, financial and spiritual wellbeing of teams. 

Every employee has unique needs and that requires unique support. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and as a result has different struggles and needs. High Performance is the result of Happiness the employees are experiencing. 

The first step is to define it and promote it internally. Happy employees are the best brand ambassador. Culture is what motivates and retains talented employees.

Clarity brings conviction. Clarity of roles & goals, performance milestones and reward and recognition, growth and development within the organization, will build good culture.

5. Good Talent will come at a cost

Hiring smart people is the single most important thing you can do to ensure your business’s success. I met a lot of entrepreneurs, who invested crores in their business but did want to spend paying their team adequate compensation. They want to save on hiring the right talent and result is as they start losing their teams to competition. It's like you bought an expensive Aircraft but are reluctant to pay fair compensation to hire a competent pilot - Imagine where the plane would take off. 

Attractive Compensation and benefits directly impact performance, which includes Fixed Pay, Variable, incentives, bonus and various rewards. Underpaid employees do not remain in the organization for long. These days’ employees look for good financial stability over any other benefit. “paying employees well shows them they are appreciated and valued”. Employees who are paid well, work harder and will increase productivity.

If you don't think of your team’s financial wellbeing, they won't think of your business.

6. HR is a true business functions

Gone were the days when HR was considered just a support function, now they are playing a key role in driving the economy of the companies. Your HR team is your first marketing department who shows great career to jobseekers and pitches conviction of CEO. Attracting talent, interviewing based on scientific evaluation methods, hiring, on boarding, engaging, training, developing a team requires expertise.

Without a good HR department, it's impossible for any entrepreneur/Founder/CEO to consistently look after your team and fulfill their expectations. The biggest struggle of today’s time is to know what my employee is thinking and you need competent HR professionals to plan career progression and 360-degree wellbeing of your team.

7. Give the job to experts 

Recruitment is art & science and to perform this job you need experts with right skills- whether you develop a competent recruiter inside or outsource to a good HR consultant who can use the latest methodology, active pool of jobseekers and close your urgent positions.

Not every business has an HR department or someone who is familiar with HR related processes. It is better to find someone who can shoulder your HR responsibilities well. One of the best tips for hiring is to partner with a good HR outsourcing service. 

8. Don't look for perfection in team, build them 

If you are looking to hire a perfect team, sorry you won't get it. You won't find 100% ready-made talent for your business, you will have to build them.

During Interview look for 60-70% role fitment and rest attitude, character and trainability in resources. 

Everyone has Potential but every person is unique in their own way with different strengths. So to build a great team you should look for Capability, Commitment and Competency.

Competency can be enhanced through various coaching programs and help the team to develop the required skill set to achieve org goals.

9.  Building a great diverse team

A dynamic cricket team has a variety of talented seasoned players such as Virat Kohli and youngsters Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, etc. 

The diverse team not only performs better but works more cohesively. Look for a team who comes from diverse backgrounds, and have multiple ways of accomplishing tasks. Hire a team who are different in many ways. Mark a balance of beginners and experienced. Look for variety in gender, diverse geographical background, different communication style, etc. 

Optimum quality & quantity is a must.  Expecting everything from 1 or 2 resources will be injustice. Respect their uniqueness, focus on their strength and add a variety of talent to win the game.

10.  Company Vision and Product & Services

An enterprise with great vision and ever evolving product /services which matches the pace of the time, will attract employees faster.  A startup may start small but have plans to constantly grow and expand by infusing money, tech, new strategies, systems, people. With this kind of setup, the internal team will feel motivated to work and will be able to see their future with the organization.

If you are running a traditional business which is facing challenges from big giants or the scope of your product or services is diminishing, then it will be difficult to attract talent or your hired team may not stick for a longer period.   

Every candidate wants to work with a large organization and covid has made this possible. For a few industries, I never witnessed a time when power is in the hands of jobseekers and companies are applying to jobseekers to fill their open positions.

About the Author

Amit Sidana, an Entrepreneur by choice and the Founder of Corporate Stalwarts, a well-established recruiting and HR services company. 

The recruitment industry is always fascinating to him because it is one of the few sectors that allows you to meet and learn from new people, and give challenges to solve the problems.

A management graduate, fitness enthusiast and technology lover with 18 years of experience in HR/ Recruitment industry. He has been running an executive search firm for the past 14 years and instrumental in consulting  Pan India clients from FMCG, Healthcare, BFSI, Manufacturing, Fintech, Edutech, KPO, Automobiles, IT & ITES industries and many funded tech startups.

Approx 2 decades of experience in hiring, attracting, recruiting talent and team building - his enterprises have helped hundreds of companies in scaling their businesses by hiring &  building the right team.

We have added value to our countless clients by placing capable, committed and competent human resources for them, furthermore creating success stories of growth & advancement.

We have expertise in scouting talent for mid and large size companies for middle management to leadership team, CXO/C Suite hiring.

Our team is known for the speed, commitment and result oriented approach.

Corporate Stalwarts is not just a staffing firm, rather they contribute in supporting as growth partners for their clients by advising various strategies and policies for attracting, hiring, retaining the talent.

We believe in WIN-WIN-WIN business philosophy of building profitable & scalable business.

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