Why is it so hard to find the right talent?

I have heard business owners say the following:

“I am delighted by the range of bright, young talent out there! We feel really lucky to work with such a great team.”

And also,

“People don’t have a good work ethic anymore. I can’t believe how hard it is to find or hold onto employees who care at all.”

Both of these can be true; depending on your perspective you make them true.

Last month I wrote to you about values-based businesses and how lived values guide leaders to create companies people love.

I’d like to point out the other indicator of a great, lovable company: its employees!

Your team is more than just a group of people to manage and assign jobs to, they are the very soul and living fabric of your company, and they represent the very best of who you are.

Does that sound fanciful? If not, great. You already get it. See you next month!

But if you are skeptical, thinking, “Denise, I just need someone to take some tasks off my plate so I can work more efficiently, and they get a salary. Is that so complicated?”

I won’t argue that; in fact, the best (maybe only) way to become wildly successful is to get competent people on board who allow you to exist in your space, doing what you do best: being an entrepreneurial force, driving the company forward.

I promise you, though; you will not get there merely through selecting, then managing, a team. Management begets more management, and that is not your goal, is it, to be in a perpetual state of management? People are neither projects nor labor-saving devices. They have values, feelings, dreams and lives of their own.

Many companies manage when they could soar to great heights by leading. So what makes a spectacular leader? Here is a quote from James McGregor Burns:

“Leaders embrace values; values grip leaders. The stronger the value systems, the more strongly leaders can be empowered and the more they can empower followers.”

Are you empowering your employees? Have you shared the company’s (and your personal) values and vision for the future? Do they have a shared sense of purpose?

Great leaders inspire and motivate others, and they put faith in the people they choose to have around them. They trust them, because they trust their own ability to choose excellent and brilliant people.

If you actively seek employees who are aligned with your lived values, then many other aspects of their working experience will fall in line with, or exceed, the expectations and goals of your company, automatically. They will be eager to learn from you, and to give their best every day.

Excellent employees sense whether a company is hiring based on what it needs in the moment or what it offers as an opportunity for greatness. One approach will drain the company’s energy; the other will create more.

Regardless of whether you have 1 or 1000 employees, being a values-based leader will make the difference between your company merely operating and truly thriving.