Getting The Talent That Your Company Needs.
-- Douglas Castle, CEO, TNNWC Group, LLC
There is no denying it. People are searching for careers, security, opportunity and appreciation.
As to security in the most traditional sense, most traditional career-path, ladder-climbing adherents are feeling queasy, disillusioned and displaced -- they have grown accustomed to receiving a guaranteed salary without direct performance requirements -- they are like de-clawed cats in the jungle. They would love large corporate salaries, perhaps with (dare they ask?!), written employment contracts. Part Two of the security actually translates to any mixture of the following special "extras" in terms of potential compensation:
1. A share of gross or net revenues from a product or a service that will be of great quality, supported with advertising, branding and buzzing, and which will be well-received by marketplace (i.e., which will sell in high volume);
2. A share of profit, if profit is generously-defined and the cost of delivering the product or service is minimal and the departmental overhead is very, very low (i.e., efficient);
3. A stake in ownership. If the company is private (closely-held, a GICBC, or largely owned by management and employees), there may be a flow-through of profits directly to each stakeholder in proportion to his or her share of equity. If the company is public, the hope is that the price per share will be nice and high when the stakeholder is ready sell all or part of it (i.e., a capital gain), and (optimally) that the shares, units or interests may even pay dividends over time, to provide some passive income to supplement his or her direct earnings.
Of course there are other issues, such as healthcare insurance, a good working environment, and the likes.
Your new, undercapitalized but promising company needs these talented, capable individuals, but you cannot afford to offer them cash compensation. What do you have? You have the sole prospect of offering Part Two incentives and security.
Translated: You will have to persuade very gifted people (many of them have recently lost jobs due to the miserable economy, and some of them have been out and alone for awhile and have begun establishing consulting or contracting practices to cobble together an income, which can be difficult).
Your Mission: You must be able to demonstrate to these great people (only available because of these troubled times) that they would do far better if they partnered with your organization, than if they continued to to fly solo. You must be very convincing. Every single one of these people is hurting, although very few will admit it. If you are to get them to commit their efforts (in an "unconventional employment" scenario), you must show them that you are equally committed to helping them succeed in building rewarding, profitable careers. You must accept the notion of partnership. Your must get these prize persons to also accept the notion of partnership in a typically paycheck-papered, non-entrepreneurial world.
Your Tools: A powerful business plan; personal belief in the plan; charisma is presenting the plan; a knowledge of what your quarry truly needs, so that you can address those needs and help to solve the problem and ease the pain; imagination; creativity; flexibility; a willingness to listen; and, of course, your generosity.
Don't even think about being greedy, and don't be a desperate beggar looking for a "favor" either. You must be prepared to discount (sell off or give away today) some of your future revenues, profits and/or ownership to some of the right people. Yes...(sigh)...this means carving up "the pie."
Think About This: Would you rather own a smaller percentage slice of a much larger pie, or would you rather own 100% of the legendary "pie in the sky?" [No answer is required. The question is rhetorical. The answer is supposed to be glaringly obvious. If you chose the "pie in sky" option for yourself, you are selfish, control-obsessed, greedy and should be prepared to fail miserably -- this is a hint.]
Final Analysis and Comment: You must pay to receive. If you do not have a war chest of capital to pay for people's talents, you must offer them a piece of your company's future that they can call their own.
The less capital that you have available, the more intelligent and creative you must become to be successful. But fear not! Intelligence and creativity (with the spirit of generosity) can be converted to material wealth. If you want to win, you must do 1) a great deal of convincing, and 2) a great deal of intelligent giving. Also, intelligent giving (making the right partnership deal with the right individual) is actually smart investing.
Douglas Castle
http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com
http://lifelinksiep.blogspot.com
http://TheGlobalFuturist.blogspot.com
http://TheInternationalistPage.blogspot.com
http://TheNationalNetworkerWeblog.blogspot.com
Capital, Traffic Building, International Customers and unique SERVICES.
The National Networker Publications™ produced by TNNWC Group, LLC
“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”
