Recruitment is sales, and sales is tough. Eventually it can be glorious! Therefore, to maintain focus and motivation we need to know we are genuinely supported by our managers. We need the confidence and reassurance we are doing the right things at the right time and to the correct standard. (This is pretty tough to assess if you’re not working to a set of skilfully agreed KPI’s!)
I’m surprised at the frequency whereby I come into contact with genuinely talented, and once highly motivated sales & recruitment professionals who feel unsupported. Typically, they can easily convince me they had started their role full of genuine enthusiasm, determination & resilience. They had started early, finished late and wholly immersed themselves in what they thought was their big break opportunity!
Though as time has passed, the results have not been as they would have hoped. Undaunted, they persisted, just asking for some structured help, training, reassurance? But it hadn’t transpired in anything which resembled meaningful support!
I know a weekly 1-1 is imperative to the success of colleagues within a sales/recruitment business – and thus to the overall success of an entire business. How do I know? Well, many years ago I was a salesman on a final written warning due to consistently missing sales targets. To compound my misery, my initial manager was “moved” and I was introduced to a new manager. For me, this was definitely the final nail in my sales coffin! Not only was he a “new sales manager” – so definitely would want the runt of the team out ASAP – but he was the companies blue eyed boy, consistent sales achiever, blue suited, white shirt wearing Captain Corporate – I was dead! How wrong I was. He saw my commitment and invested his time in me. The most valuable structured time he invested were our Friday 1-1’s (and accompaniment on sales appointments). He understood, never sympathised, though always empathised and offered solutions to my challenges which he had personally overcome. I didn’t get sacked!
A 1-1 should be a dedicated time when a manager and colleague sit in private, and meaningfully review a colleague’s effort, successes, concerns, forecasts and training needs. Effort and success should be genuinely acknowledged and appreciated. Challenges should be acknowledged, understood and supported (by both parties) with a straightforward set of actions agreed that will support these in the coming week.
I believe the most effective day to conduct 1-1’s is a Friday. This is enables a full weekly picture to be reviewed. It provides a positive tone to the conclusion of the week for all concerned, with each party concluding their week feeling supported and understood (mainly!!!) – knowing the successes of the concluding week can be further built upon, and its challenges will be supported by their manager over the coming week.
If you would like guidance implementing such a way of working, we’d be delighted to hear from you.
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