January 21, 2020

Are you confident that your staffing company’s team is the absolute best it can be? Are you fielding your dream team every day in the marketplace? If you’re hesitant to answer those questions with a “yes,” you probably have some work to do to build a winning team. In this post, we're going to share three strategies to get your team 'Super Bowl Ready' from our recent Journey Up Podcast episode with Rod McDermott, CEO and Co-Founder of McDermott and Bull Executive Search. As a staffing leader of over 50 employees globally, Rod believes that the growth of a staffing company is determined primarily by its leaders’ ability to recruit a world-class team that is motivated to achieve company goals. “I kind of look at it as if we're running a professional football team. We need to put players on the field that are going to help us win games and ultimately win the Super Bowl. If we've got the wrong players on the field or they have the wrong motivation, or they don't necessarily want to play on the team, they might be great people, but they're holding back the rest of the team. So, we just have to look at it from that perspective.” How to Get Your Team 'Super Bowl Ready' Putting a rock star team in place is instrumental to your company’s - and your talent’s - growth. However, getting your team to the point of being 'Super Bowl Ready' is often easier said than done. When it comes to establishing a sound retention strategy, Rod offers these critical pieces of insight: #1 Build a Culture Around Your People Building a culture of success always starts with hiring the right people from the start. Even though it’s an unconventional approach, Rod says, “I don't hire people without having them over for dinner to my house. When I look at somebody, and I want to bring them on, I think, "Okay, this person could really help us in this market, and we really need somebody in this space." Retaining top talent goes beyond offering competitive pay, and according to Rod, is about “more than just the dollars.” Instead, create an environment in which people feel less like employees and more like family. This is often the “secret sauce” that makes employees feel part of something bigger than themselves. Rod even emphasizes the importance of establishing personal ties with remote workers and treating every member of your team as an extension of your own family. #2 Find Talent Through Ancillary Avenues Rod also notes the importance of exploring candidates through ancillary industries who possess the necessary transferable skills to excel. Even if at first an attractive candidate doesn’t appear fully equipped, he or she still may have the potential to grow into the role. When it comes to developing top talent, Rod explains, “We try to open our minds to ancillary businesses that have taught people some of the skills. As long as we meet somebody who’s got the core ‘culture fit’ we’re looking for, they’re somebody we want to hang out with. They are somebody we can build up and teach.” Applying this concept to your recruitment and hiring strategy will help you expand your talent pool options. Ultimately, this approach will help you build a team that’s prepared to tackle your company’s biggest challenges. #3 Develop Career Paths for Everybody Every person on your team – from entry-level workers to upper leadership – deserves the opportunity to advance within your company. That’s why it’s important to provide a platform in which your employees can evolve in their roles. Rod offered an example of promotion within his company, saying, “The gal who's our controller now who handles everything finance, started as a researcher right out of college and she moved up into various different jobs and then took over, and now she runs all finance and accounting for us. We have a number of stories like that. So, we try to promote from within.” Offering internal promotion and training is one of the most important steps you can take to develop a sustainable team that cares about your company’s growth. Is Your Team Ready? At the end of the day, a good leader wants to make employees part of the company’s success story. So, if employees fail to meet the standards of your company and culture, it’s time to make a change. Rod says, “We need to either fix it, put them in a role in which they can succeed, or move them out because they’re going to hurt our ability to win Super Bowls.” There were many more fantastic insights from our interview with Rod that all Staffing Executives looking to scale can learn from! Cheers! -David Alonso About TrackerRMS TrackerRMS is a leading recruitment management system designed for the SMB Staffing company. Our industry-leading ATS Software will help you recruit faster and more efficiently. With over 20 years of experience, our recruitment software is built with you, the staffing professional in mind.

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How to Get Your Staffing Team ‘Super Bowl Ready’!