… for what we can afford to pay.
… with the level of skills available in the workforce.
… with the energy and drive to get the job done.
… with the integrity to do this well when no-one’s watching.
There are a few things that can help with this problem:
- Find more money. Pay more for more highly skilled people;
- Widen your network – increase the odds of coming across someone with the skills and attributes you need;
- Build your organisation’s culture to foster the attributes you need: make sure you’re an example of what you value, talk about what you value, and reward the right things with praise, pay and promotions;
- Develop the things you’re looking for within your organisation by making training a core activity.
But none of these things – money, network, culture building or training- will help you at all if you’re not crystal clear about what it is that you need.
What atmosphere and behaviours do you want to cultivate in your office?
What processes do you need in place in order to be able to serve your customers or clients well?
What specific attributes and skills do you need the different members of your team to have to make these things possible?
Output -> Attribute or Skill -> Articulation and example -> Training or recruitment need -> a “wrapper” of processes that manages whole the process.
Whatever the specifics, three cardinal virtues are constant:
- Energy / enthusiasm / drive
- Empathy / consideration / kindness
- Openness to new ideas and ability to learn