5. Getting ahead of the curve
Often you will be entering the market at short notice, usually because your chief executive, chair or trustee has stood down earlier than expected. This kind of ‘distressed purchase’ is challenging and can increase the risk of making decisions which can negatively affect the outcome of your search. To mitigate this risk it might be worth considering an interim arrangement for a CEO or a chair, to ensure continuity, and also create some breathing space, so you can consider what you really need for your organisation’s next steps.
Thankfully, at other times you will have a little more time to plan, especially if you have already done some thinking about succession plans. Knowing the tenure of your board, for example, or ensuring the skills of that group are regularly audited are important pieces of good governance housekeeping, while acting as soon as the chief executive has resigned and getting out to market for their replacement during their notice period (thereby cutting down on an interregnum period and increasing the chances of a handover) is sensible.
Ideally, you will already have a good sense of what you need in advance of going to market. If not, getting your stakeholders together to test this is an important early step. So too is agreeing the project timeline. Appointment processes are always stressful and will add to the already full to do list of any leader, executive or non-executive. The instinct will be to dust off whatever you have with regards to a role description and person specification, draft an advert, put something out on social media, and get going. Get it done as fast as possible. Prioritising speed and efficiency over quality, though, seldom leads to the best results. Allowing time for a proper recruitment campaign – usually something in the order of 12 to 14 weeks and broken down into different stages – is advisable.
Whether you are carrying out the recruitment yourself or using a trusted professional partner, it is worth remembering that you are dealing with people, and that people need time for important decisions, and frequently change their mind. Having flexibility in the process, allowing space for discussions between you (or your executive search partner) and any interested parties, delivering a positive candidate experience are all vital. If doing this for yourselves, have you allowed for the administrative burden of receiving, reviewing, and responding to applications? Have you considered how you will deliver feedback? Do you have someone to arrange the diaries for interview? Have you got everyone else on board? Most importantly, whether you do this on your own or with help, have you thought very carefully about creating a process which is genuinely inclusive?
Diversity and intentional inclusion
Creating an inclusive recruitment process is something you should aim to deliver every time. By itself it doesn’t create an inclusive culture but properly carried out it should deliver a more diverse, more representative field of candidates. A process should be the instrument, not the end game. Creating such a process is not easy. It requires a lot of thought and hard work. It requires the gap between what is said and what is done to be narrowed and eliminated. It’s an active decision. You can’t just want the process. You have to want the result. In other words, you have to be deliberate and purposeful in looking to attract a wider, more diverse group of people.
Being inclusive is an active decision. A way of being. It’s shuffling up to allow space for others, sharing your place, sharing your power. It’s bringing other voices into the discussion. It’s about actively listening to opinions and experiences other than your own. About being open – genuinely open – to changing your mind. Recognising you might need to do things differently. Being challenged. Getting uncomfortable. Not all of this is going to feel easy, comfortable or (at certain points) worth the extra effort. To get the best results, though, you have to be intentional. The real, deep, honest thinking must happen up front.
