Nibletz Staff
When you are choosing to add new executives to your business, whether to head up new departments that you’ve decided need to be created, to replace people who have left, or to take a share of the management off your own hands if you were doing all of the decision making yourself at the start, picking the right people is extremely important. Executives provide leadership and direction to the business, and one new person in the mix can have a big impact on everything from company culture to strategy.
It goes without saying that you need talented people, and people who you think gel well with you and the rest of the leadership team, but when it comes to experience, it can actually be more about picking people whose experience is the most relevant, rather than the most prestigious.
Executive Work Varies a Lot at Different Stages
Businesses go through all kinds of different stages on the route from starting up to being successful, sustainable, profitable ventures. The work that executives spend most of their time on is very different depending on what the current phase of the business is. If your business is undergoing significant growth, the work will be different to if your business is preparing for an IPO, or is looking to diversify into a new market. Executives who work for very established businesses may be very experienced in looking for small innovations and improvements that can boost things or make savings, but less experienced in things like growing a new department or a new site.
Experience with the Right Environment and Challenges
This all means that someone who has an incredibly appealing resume in terms of having held senior positions with well-known businesses, may actually not be as good a fit for what you currently need to do than somebody who has worked through a major growth phase in a smaller business. Often it is not the amount of money the person has had in their budget that defines what they can bring to the table, but the phase-specific challenges and different business environments they have navigated through. Someone who has rescued a failing company is always impressive, but if your business isn’t failing, someone who has built on existing momentum before may be more what you need.
Finding the Right Executive
If you’re looking for the right experience in your new executive, then you’re going to need access to a good pool of potential applicants, so you can delve in to what different qualified people have done that may be similar to what they’ll need to do for you. Using a good executive staffing agency or executive search firm, such as TruPath Search, who have a lot of experience in matching executives with businesses, is the best path to go down. They can make sure your vacancy is communicated to a large pool of skilled people, and can discuss your specific business needs to make sure only the most suitable people are considered.
Good luck in finding the right people to help lead your business to greater success!
