Team building for Cameron and Clegg?

So we have a coalition government. Could this be stated simply as a result of the nation as a whole not being sufficiently persuaded by one party’s values for there to be a clear winner? Or is this too simplistic and are there much more complex and diverse reasons?

Whatever the reasons, we are now in a position where 2 parties with differing values and motivations have to come together and form a working government. Now those 2 parties are themselves made up of a large number of individuals, all of which have their own values and motivations. I suspect it’ll be a hard task to manage all of those expectations as well as managing the country!

However, this is what businesses across the globe have to do on a daily basis with varying degrees of success; the politicians being the employees and the country being the clients!

Can business leaders teach the government a thing or two? How well do you manage the expectations of both your clients and your employees; the most important stakeholders in your business? How much do you know about the values and motivations of both? How do you ensure that those with differing drivers can still work together towards a common strategy and outcome?

According to a study by OPP workplace psychologists, almost a third of employees have never experienced any kind of team-building, despite the average UK worker being part of four separate teams.(reported by HR Magazine). Even more interesting, according to the report, is that only 11% of people would rather have a day off work than engage in a team building exercise!

Properly planned and delivered team building and coaching can have dramatic effects on the motivation and productivity of a team. It is second to none in understanding and respecting individual values and motivations and pulling these together to create a highly efficient team, all of whom are pulling towards a common and agreed goal and strategy. An incredibly powerful team is created in this way as every person in it knows “what’s in it for them”. At the end of the day, human nature makes us pursue our own interests; be honest, how often have you approached a task half heartedly or not at all because you don’t know “what’s in it for you”?

So will we see David Cameron and Nick Clegg heading off for a bit of team building or will your business be ahead of them on that too?

Michaela Hardwick of Beyond Expectation is a Business and Personal Performance Coach who works with businesses of all shapes and sizes nationally delivering 1-2-1 and team coaching in packages tailored to suit each different client. She believes that team building should create long term solutions to the business whilst engaging the teams in an entertaining and memorable way. For more details, go to www.beyond-expectation.co.uk or call on 0121 288 6002.

What a year so far!

At e-recruitment buddy we’ve had such a good year to date that we thought we’d honour it with a brief blog post. Kicked off the year by running 2 campaigns for a key law firm in the South West – very different roles, one accounts based and the other someone to join their business development team as a Bid/Proposals Manager. We are very happy to report that both positions were filled through candidates attracted utilising our Vacancy Management service, a low-cost highly effective fixed fee recruitment model.

We then had a call from a client that I have personally worked with since 2002. They hadn’t yet dabbled in the ‘fixed fee recruitment’ model, so they decided they would trial it to recruit an Office Administrator. This was a great success – in fact they employed 2 people from the campaign – an Office Administrator and a Receptionist. As you can imagine for such a low fee (c£550-650), the cost-per head of new employee is minimal. The company in question have since run another 2 fixed fee recruitment campaigns with us and have asked us to put a proposal together for a ‘rolling recruitment’ contract. I am delighted with this, as having worked with them since 2002 it is good to be fluid in your approach to their recruitment needs and to have such a solid working relationship. In fact I have just looked back at a testimonial from them (in 2004) …. "As you know (and as is evident from our repeat business) we have been very impressed by the service you have given us over the last year. We have provided you with some diverse and specialised challenges from a recruitment point of view and you have risen to them with great enthusiasm, resourcefulness and professionalism. We have been extremely happy with the results of your searches for us and the friendly, yet unobtrusive way that you communicate with us during the process. As a company we would always come to you first with any recruitment requirements, knowing we are assured of a high quality, honest and professional service at all times."…. Interestingly I don’t believe their opinion has changed and looking back at the people I placed there originally, many are still employed – one is in fact now the MD!!

Also over the last few months we’ve had a handful of completely new clients and an existing one that hasn’t had a need since last November who came back just 2 weeks ago seeking a Junior Website Tester – someone from the campaign started this week and they are also looking at 2 of the other applicants for potential roles. Now that’s what I call value for money!

If you are a business looking for help to relieve the burden of the extra administration now involved in the recruitment process, then we at e-recruitment buddy would be delighted to hear from you.