I love May, partly because it is my birthday month and partly because of the gorgeous tree blossom and the bluebells. I used to live near the Ashridge Estate in Hertfordshire where there are seas of bluebells. It is quite a breathtaking picture and perfume. The spring is wonderful and as we are also bathed in sunshine it is extra special this year.
April has been a rollercoaster ride for the world. Whether you are a Roman Catholic or believe in nothing at all, Pope Francis’ words about building bridges not walls must resonate. Let us hope that the new pope with a community of some 1.4 billion people worldwide is another wise peacemaker.
So apart from world peace what have I been thinking about? Alliances and partnerships. For me an alliance is something you form where two organisations or people forge a working relationship with a common goal. Partnerships are altogether closer; marriage being a good example. Both are very much on my mind.
I cannot understand why some businesses are blind to alliances. It makes sense to me that a catering company makes an alliance with an undertaker or an IFA with a will writer or a wedding venue with a florist but so often people do not think like that. I would also take it further – and this is why I do not like lock-out networking groups much – get to know your competition so that you can always refer on if you are too busy to take a client. Alliances with the competition, even doing white label work can be a good business model. If you are frightened of them taking your clients, then your agreement with them needs to be formalised clearly. If your work is not as good as theirs then improve it. Think carefully about which would be the most effective alliances for you as they take time to build and then nurture.
At the moment, like any board of directors, the cardinals must be engaged in discussing what they want from the next pope and forming intellectual alliances and lobby groups to produce the candidates they want to see considered. Their field of choice is limited to themselves. There are 252 cardinals but only 135 of them are under 80 and so eligible to be the pope or entitled to vote for the pope. They do not know each other well. This is the talking and exploring stage for them. Maybe as they ally with like thinkers they are even creating strategies to achieve their objectives. Then they will be locked in until they select the person from amongst themselves. Whist the man selected will have a huge task to pursue they have a limited field of candidates and no worries about whether they have the salary range right!
Like those cardinals in Rome I am involved heavily in recruitment at the moment. I heard a lovely analogy the other day. Hiring is like buying a new house. You start out with a wish list and then find out what is on the market and what you can actually afford.
I find myself with other charity trustees looking at the situation in which we want to form a partnership with a new CEO which must be close and have the potential to draw the best from all parties. We have worked hard on both the job description and the person spec. Now we are interviewing to find the new partner.
Last week I finally got to see the play of War Horse. Yes, I had read the book and watched the film but kept missing the show. Of course, it is the version in which you see the giant horse puppets. The horses’ heads are brought to life externally but the bodies and legs are manipulated internally by two puppeteers. These are amazing partnerships as they have to move as one and act at the same time. Sometimes they even have a rider. However they do have a script!
In our recruitment we want the person who joins us to partner with so many constituencies: the charity beneficiaries, the staff, the volunteers and the trustees but their script is the strategy. How they deliver it is quite another matter; they will have freedom to devise the pathways to achieve it. If we get it right this will be a very close partnership. In the Vatican it will be a close partnership between pope and the College of Cardinals but based on a common belief and shared values. In War Horse they have a script. We have a charity with forty plus years of history now moving in very different world both in terms of the beneficiaries we serve but also because of the way in which charities work. You would be amazed by how many skilled managers operate in the third sector. They are caring, committed and talented individuals but they are different. Having plumbed the usual knowledge, skills and attitudes as we all do when we fill any job, we also have to ensure their values align with ours. But, you say, you have to do this in any recruitment situation. Yes you do, but the partnership might not be required to be quite so close. It also has to be completely equal. We are a charity based on medical need. It is hugely sad that some people have bodies which are afflicted by disease but this does not mean that those they partner with should pity them or over emote. This partnership requires huge respect, acceptance and synchronised goals.
It is a work in progress and by this time next month we should have our new CEO and the Roman Catholics should have a new pope, Both chosen with great care and carrying the hopes of many on their shoulders as they go forward.
So have you recruited recently? Have you had to contend with a wish list that is long and then dealing with the compromise that Kirsty and Phil are always talking about in Location. Location. Location.? Is your recruitment more alliance or more partnership? If it is partnership are you clear about the values you want the person to share? Can you communicate them? Can you interview in such a way that you find out if the person has them?
No new person in any organisation is the messiah. They will always be a compromise but are you compromising on the right elements.
If you want help with any of this then please reach out to me. Let me be your sounding board. Let’s talk. We can find ways of developing your skills; of using that amazing asset you have: you. I love speaking with people, off the meter, to help them explore possibilities and whether/how to take them forward. I hope you will be one of them.
And do go and see those amazing partnerships in War Horse.