The ECI Blog

A few days ago, some of the folks at ECI were invited by a client to attend an HR Department of the Year awards dinner.  We knew that our client and his wonderful team of Recruitment and Talent Management Staff was in the running for this prestigious award.  Annually, companies apply and compete in a variety of categories, such as Staffing, Compensation and Benefits, etc., for this award which is given by HR Executive magazine.

This was the first time we had heard about this award program, although now that we have been looking into it, we see that it has been in place for several years.  Our client is quite unique in the staffing arena, since he heads up the Talent Acquisition function within a recognized pharmaceutical company.  The things that he does differently are what I am nearly positive helped them to win the award.  Here’s my view on how they won.

1. His team is highly responsive and customer focused.  They work hard to deliver what their hiring managers need to enhance the quality of staff, while continually working to improve results.
2. He is a great manager.  He is able to look at the potential of his staff, to see their strengths and capitalize on their strengths, rather than worry about their weaknesses.  He provides good positive feedback, and plenty of it.
3. He has identified a number of vendors who buy into his philosophy and serve as an integral part of his team to deliver what he wants, how he wants it.  He sets high expectations for his vendors, but is very open with them and in turn, his vendors do backflips for him.  These vendors all work collaboratively together as well.   They have learned to know one another and regularly talk to one another.  They often have mutual clients, outside of our customer.
4. He is great at planting the seeds and tending them until they grow.  When he has an idea, he starts talking with people about it.  He engages them in the notion and eventually, through persistence, gets them to agree to following him where he leads.
5. People in his organization see him as a leader, one who produces positive results and one who leads, rather than a supporter.  This is an important differentiator.  HR is not viewed as the gatekeeper, nor does his team have the reputation for telling people what they cannot do.  Rather, he helps his internal customers see the benefits of doing things his way and what results they can achieve by working with him.
6. He has worked hard to brand his Talent Acquisition approach with clear thinking and strategy.  As such, he draws people from arenas where they are most likely to be a good match to his company.
7. He answers the phone himself.  He recently told us that if you don’t answer the phone and talk to people, you probably won’t know what’s going on in the marketplace or what the possibilities are.

We are very proud of his team and that our client won this award.  We’re enjoying it vicariously.