Focus, Focus, Focus

Anyone who has done any training with me will recognize our title today: focus, focus, focus. Usually we're talking about something legal or technical but today let's talk about staying creative and open when we have staffing shortages. How is your focus? Where is it? There are times, like now, when it looks like we have no options. I believe that we always have options.

Unless you are hiring for a position that requires a very specific education and skill set, such as aircraft maintenance engineer, pilot, or brain surgeon, you want the right person with the right skills and education. If we're working in another industry that does not require such a specific skill set, then a lot of skill sets can be learned and we can use transferable skills or education to move somebody into another area. We all know that already. Why are we so resistant to it?

When I'm with my law firm or corporate clients, I hear a lot of: “Nobody wants to work anymore”. In my opinion, that is not true. I speak to people every single day who do want to work. I think the caveat is that really, they may potentially not be qualified to work in our industries. So it's not that we have a whole bunch of people who are lazy; it’s really that we’re meeting candidates who don’t possess the education or aptitude to work with us – yet.

I always ask my clients if they are open-minded? Are they creative thinkers? Are they prepared to be creative when recruiting and hiring? They always – ALWAYS – say yes, so I start to discuss further options with them.

Are they looking at apprenticeship programs or work placement programs? Are they open to on-the-job training? Are they open to using, for example, a continuing legal education component? Are they open to management training? Are there transferable skills or education that we can work with? Can this person be a valuable asset in the firm?

My clients will respond with yes, yes, yes we're creative and open. Let's find someone who wants to learn and work. And then I bring a candidate forward. I can see they this candidate checks all those boxes. They perhaps do not have exactly the right skill set, but we can see there are transferable skills or some other form of relevant education.

And then we hit the wall of resistance.

There are always a lot of different excuses: too much of an investment, too much training required, overqualified, they’ll want too much money, they might be bored, they will take too long to train. That’s when I realize that my clients, who swore to me that they were open and creative, are clearly closed.

When you have a closed focus, of course, there are no options and nothing's going to work. We are in full on resistance. I know we all want exactly what we want. Unfortunately, in the current staffing market in many industries sometimes you can't have that. And I have to be the meany and say: “You can’t have that. Let’s get creative.”

If I can get my clients to open their focus, even a tiny bit, so we move to a narrow focus or a convergent focus, it’s a start. We start with the kind of focus you get when you're concentrating, when you're focused on one thing. It happens automatically when we're under stress. We get a very narrow focus. It's not closed, it's narrow. Oftentimes when I see people with a really narrow focus, when we're talking in terms of staffing, they can get really hung up on a particular detail or one specific issue. It’s frequently a negative experience with a past employee.

A narrow or convergent focus can actually be quite beneficial in helping me address a client’s specific concerns. Then we work on open or divergent focus, where we might not be able to see greater possibility, but we know it’s there. It opens them up to creative solutions and way more options.

So let's see if we can do the same thing right now. Let's make this mean something with an exercise.

Step 1: Who is your perfect best case candidate?

All your wishes come true here. What skill sets are you looking for? Education, experience, aptitudes and attitudes.

Step 2: Assess your own people and processes.

Are there people on your team who want to move positions, receive a promotion, or take on more responsibility? Can system management tools be utilized? How creative are you about retaining your current valuable employees? Have you actually asked your people what they need?

I have a client who had a number of staff members leave and they have changed so many facets of their environment to avoid burnout that it made all the difference. I got the feedback directly from the staff: the new and existing staff are truly happy and want to stay.

Step 3: Focus. Focus. Focus.

Is your focus closed and you're certain there are no options?

Is your focus narrow and there is one option but there are caveats in place and all we can see are the potential pitfalls. Maybe it will work.

Is your focus open to greater possibility? Are you seeing solutions that you didn't see before? Let's think outside the box.

What are you willing to do as a leader to make things work? If you're not willing to open up to wider possibility, are you the problem? Just so you know the answer is: Yes.

I'd really like to know what your creativity has led to so please leave a comment and share your experience.

Thank you.

Ramona