To me, strategy is creating “fit” among a company’s activities. The success of the strategy depends on doing many things well – not just a few – and integrity is among them. If there is no fit among activities there is no distinctive strategy & little sustainability.
I have been working with one of my clients developing their recruitment strategy. I thought it was a useful to post a few tips on how to approach creating a strategy yourself, often we see some of our clients getting lost in this process or find it overwhelming.
To clarify:
- A goal is a broad primary outcome.
- A strategy is an approach you take to achieve a goal.
- An objective is a measurable step you take to achieve a strategy.
- A tactic is a tool you use in pursuing an objective associated with a strategy.
A strategic plan helps you to understand where to spend time, human capital, and money – it’s hard to accomplish anything without a plan!
But, how should small businesses approach strategic planning when it comes to recruitment?
It might seem like an overwhelming process, but if you break it down, it’s easier to tackle.
Here’s a 5 step approach that can be used to develop a strategic plan – recruitment or otherwise:
Where are you?
Determine where you are – now this is actually where you are – not how you like to be seen!
You can obtain independent advice from a 3rd party about your team’s core competencies. Alternatively you can undertake an internal or external audit on the market place.
2. What’s important?
Where does the business want to be over time? What’s the goal?
Define the mission – which markets, people, clients/customers or even products and what’s the vision here?
The vision should be a conceptualization of what your organization’s future could be.
From here you can work out what the squeakiest wheel is. Which issues are significant to the overall well-being of the business and therefore which ones need immediate attention. The strategic plan should then focus on those issues.
3. What MUST you achieve?
What are the expected objectives the business needs to meet? Clearly outline your objectives – what the business needs to do to address these issues.
4. Who?
Who is accountable for this? This is how you’re going to get to where you want to go.
The strategies, action plans, and budgets are all steps in the process that effectively communicates how you will allocate time, human capital, and money to address the priority issues and achieve the defined objectives.
5. Review.
It’s never over! You must hold regular reviews of the process and refine as you go.
The review should be incorporated as part of your quality management system or formal review process and should be incorporated in monthly or quarterly depending on what’s appropriate for the business and remember the strategy should be a good fit with the companies activities.
If you or your team need assistance or simply don’t have the time to review your internal recruitment strategy or operational procedures please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected]
