There are a lot of articles and resources dedicated to helping businesses think differently and adjust post Covid-19. Changing your strategy and business model is inevitable for many businesses, BUT the question as to whether you rebound and survive will all come down to how well you execute on the game plan you put in place. And when it comes to execution, the key determinant of success is the capability of the people on your team.

People aren’t the only solution of course, you still need a robust operating and accountability system in place (see our recent blog on Navigating your business through the COVID-19 pandemic), but A-Grade talent will drive and maximise the outputs of your execution model better than average talent. Statistically it’s impossible for everyone to be ‘above average’ (despite what many performance reviews seem to suggest!), so now is a great time to ask yourself if you have the right people on the bus to deal with your new reality?

In his current Harvard Business Review article ‘Now is an Unprecedented Opportunity to Hire Great Talent’, Claudio Fernandez Araoz points out that the best companies heed their own learnings from previous crisis events and focus on investing on the right talent to pull through downturns in better shape. And the reality is that the availability of talent right now is approaching never seen before levels.

An analysis of over 4,700 companies across the last three recession showed 9% were able to come out much better positioned than when they entered because of their progressive mindset and focus.  Importantly, the critical difference lay in resizing and reshaping their talent (as opposed to simply downsizing) meaning successful firms continued making important investment decisions during these downturns.  As we know, making the right executive hire at the right time can make a massive difference – in fact it’s been shown that A Grade talent can be up to 400% more productive than average talent.

Most of you won’t have high level executive Talent and Search teams in-house like Fortune 100 companies, but that’s where you can leverage consultants to help you ‘upgrade’ your talent at an opportune time

To read the HBR article, click here.

To ensure you have the right talent to drive performance in your business, give us a call to discuss further or alternatively, book a meeting with an advisor here.

 

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