Building strong teams
Last week, I had a call from one of our team which brought mixed feelings. He had received an offer to join one of our members where he will be putting into practice what he has learned over the last several years with ICDP. On the one hand you are pleased for the individual that in a competitive process, they have been picked as the best qualified candidate as that is a positive reflection on both the individual and us as the employer that has provided the skills and knowledge to allow the employee to reach that position. On the other you know that you have a challenging period ahead, to cover any temporary resource gap, and to identify and bring up to speed a new recruit.
Most of the world has moved on from the time when you joined a firm for life, with the ambition as a young graduate that one day you would have the top job. To the extent that was true, there was still the opportunity for external factors to disrupt your carefully planned career moves. My first two career moves from BL (the graveyard of much of the British motor industry) to Ford, and from Ford a few years later were both the result of arbitrary internal recruitment bans blocking moves that had been proposed to me as the result of intensive (and expensive) processes to identify high-potential individuals who should be fast-tracked. Now, there is a lower expectation of loyalty to one company, and I have no complaints about how things worked out for me in the end. I certainly gained from the exposure that I subsequently had to different companies and industries.
Certainly, when you are working in a single company, events and development tend to follow a linear process. Some start-ups take a more flexible (and higher risk) approach, but you are still working in a single environment approaching the market from that perspective. You learn a great deal about that company, its relationships with other stakeholders, and the practical challenges of operating and implementing change in that environment, but to see a change process through from start to finish might take two years or more. In a consulting style environment like ICDP, you do not have the ultimate responsibility to implement change, but you do end up working across multiple environments in parallel. In that same two year period, you would look at challenges from the perspective of different types of manufacturers, dealers, OE suppliers, service providers and start-ups, across all parts of the value chain, in multiple markets and at different stages of a change process. Less depth, but much more breadth.
There is an element of horses for courses – some people are better matched to analytical and advisory rather than executive roles, others could be brilliant executives but would not be able to focus down on the detail and more abstract thinking that is needed to be an effective analyst or objective adviser. In truth a business needs a balance of personality types, and will be stronger for having that blend. In large businesses, working with large teams, the numbers are an advantage. You can look for diversity of all types in your selection process, mentor individuals according to their needs, and where necessary positively support those who will flourish more in a different environment. This was a key element of the HR processes when I was in one of the major consulting firms – a policy sometimes referred to as “up or out” – but actually a valuable process to allow individuals to maximise their potential in an environment that suited them, and for the firm to enable progression for those who were developing most strongly internally. The process not only creates a stronger business, but if handled sensitively also creates a network of former employees who have developed good careers, whilst retaining loyalty to their former employer.
On a small scale, ICDP has a similar track record. Our most senior alumnus now heads a major car brand, with others on their way to the top (or so they assure me). Some former colleagues have returned to advisory or academic roles, but richer for the experience of spending some time on the other side of the fence. Others have stayed with ICDP over extended careers, but in doing so have developed deep expertise which is highly valued by our members and consulting clients. The bottom line is that whilst change in personnel is never easy, change is the name of the game for all of us, and we need to embrace it, and make it a positive experience. We therefore wish our colleague good luck in the next stage of his career, and look forward to identifying and welcoming his replacement!
The vacancy we now have is in Germany – details can be found here.