Organizational growth is not enough to get our corporate organisation out of the crisis

Every corporate, public, or non-governmental organization spend a large amount of their time looking for growth. Growth by itself is not healthy if it is not sustainable; the pre-crisis era witnessed an unexpected growth in several markets, but only organizations that thought their sustainable growth wisely and did not rely on external factors and luck to impact the bottom line, are the ones that are still on an upward trend even during the toughest times.

When observing those organizations closely, we notice that they all share three similar principles:

Hire Great people: Often when companies hire someone, they replace another position, fill a gap, or create a new position to follow the company’s growth or serve the corporate strategy; all of those is done in a rush or sense of urgency. However hiring people should not be based on urgency for the following reason: Whenever hiring is linked to urgency, the position will be filled with the best candidate; best out of what? You guessed right best out of those who applied or those who were headhunted. The case should be different; we should map out our corporate strategy and decide on the key people needed for the coming 3 to 5 years and start looking for those people. We will know exactly what profiles we are looking for and should only hire the people that have more than a 90% match to that profile. At the end of the day we want to have people with responsibilities not people with mere jobs.

Turn the systems into a culture: To start with, any organization that is aiming for sustainable growth should create a set of systems, in a way that responsibilities are distributed and agreed upon with the Human Capital Talents. Those responsibilities should not be owned by certain persons, but by a team of people, in a way that the organization does not become dependent on people but systems. One common characteristic of leaders, is that they groom other leaders; take the example of Texas Instruments (TI) CEO Jerry Junkins who died from a heart attack while on a business trip to Europe. Junkins was known to be the person that reshaped TI and brought unexpected growth to the company. As Junkins was a great leader he made sure to groom people around him and Tom Engibous who was the head of the semiconductor unit became CEO and continued the growth path. Note if Junkins was a solo player, his whole organization would have suffered of his absence.

Once we create the systems and make sure that those are our greatness systems, we have to turn them into a culture, by adding an accountability factor to each responsibility, making the whole organization live that culture.

Never stop asking questions: The secret of great CEOs or heads of organizations is that they always seek to learn, asking questions and not taking things for granted. On the other hand companies that were once growing and started declining rapidly are companies that became arrogant and took things for granted. By asking questions, the leadership team should have a set goal of either increasing innovation, or reviewing the organizational Critical Success Factors.

Camil El Khoury

Keeping careers alive in the recession

Here is the full article of the extract that was published in the Abu Dhabi newspaper "The National"

Looking for a job can become a tiring process, and one of the most frustrating events in a person’s life. The longer it takes to find a job, the more pressure we are exposed to, and the wider our negative loop becomes. Luckily we don’t necessarily have to enter a negative loop if we try to think differently and abandon the traditional job search mindset. Below are some observations that I have learned from my clients, both on the employers and candidates side, that will help you steer away from the conventional job hunt process.

Do What you Love: There is no point of looking for a job merely for the sake of having a job; people who do this mistake end up miserable, waking up every day to the same routine. When looking for your next job try to find out what is your mission in life, what makes you happy, what fulfills your mind, soul and spirit.

Become an expert in your field: All it takes is some dedication to your subject and a bit of extra work and you can become an expert. Employers want to hire people that will bring value to their organizations. Start by getting top books on your subject area (lists found on amazon.com), research it on the internet, and start blogging and tweeting about it, in no time you will become a thought after person in that area.

Find a mentor: Why to reinvent the wheel. A lot of people in key positions, struggled like you to find a job, and struggled again to reach the positions they reached today. Find a mentor who will help you with the shortcuts and ease up the path to your next vision. Make sure you share the same values with your mentor and build a long term relationship with that person even after you get the job.

Use a different approach: Can you imagine how many resumes employers get each day? If your resume is just like the rest, chances that you will be called for an interview are very low. Something different, that stands out will increase your chances dramatically. Just the other day I have received an email with a resume that stood out from what I usually get, and although there wasn’t an opening for a position that the candidate was looking for, I have decided to interview them and made an offer. What I have envisioned as an employer was an added value, just by seeing something different.

Leverage the power of networking: If your potential employer is not coming after you, it is time for you to go after them; in sales, networking is the process of being in the right place in the right time. Yes you can control that by attending events, conferences, iftars or just investigate where your potential employer hangs out and try to have lunch in the same place. With the help of visualization and a strong determination you will find the courage to introduce yourself at the right moment. You will be amazed how powerful this technique is. Another networking tool is to ask people around you about their connections; there is always someone you know, who would be happy to give you referrals that will get you where you want to get.

Remember “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

The author, Camil El Khoury is the Chief Vision Officer of Ideas Group, an organisation that helps clients improve their performance using experiential learning techniques. www.ideagrp.com