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Reinventing talent is just as important as attracting new recruits
It’s very easy to assume that an innovative organisation must be one that’s good at attracting new talent from outside of the sector but evolving the existing workforce is crucial too, writes Philippa Jones
How strong is the correlation between how forward-thinking and pioneering an organisation is and their focus on recruiting external talent?
It is a fascinating question, especially because my own organisation is considered relatively bold in its approach – and yet the vast majority of our leadership team have worked in the business for a very long time.
As I approach my own 30-year milestone at Bromford, I am reminded that my personal journey has seen me adapt, develop and challenge myself in pretty much every part of the business – from housing management, to recruitment and training, to supported housing, to development and sales, to governance and people – and even, at times, holding accountability for ICT (I must have kept that one quiet as even my PA was surprised by that admission!).
I’m a firm believer that once you get above operational management level, as long as you’ve got the right technically skilled people to support you, you should be able to lead anything.
Indeed, spotting where and how talent could be used and developed differently should be seen as a key skill for any senior leader.
That happens more naturally in smaller organisations with fewer resources for senior roles but as we grow bigger we do tend to move more into professional and functional silo mode.
“Once you get above operational management level, as long as you’ve got the right technically skilled people to support you, you should be able to lead anything.”
That is why, when I became chief executive in January 2015, one of my very first jobs was to reshape our directors team – giving directors the sort of opportunity I had benefitted from to stretch their skills, learn to lead a team and function outside their previous experience.
Perhaps the most radical move was that of Julie, the HR director, who took on the leadership of our home maintenance and customer experience teams.
Or our director of financial reporting Russ, who now leads strategic asset management, commercial property and procurement.
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When I look around the business today, there are so many examples of colleagues reinventing themselves, developing new talents or honing others.
Our very own and well-known Paul Taylor, who heads up our innovation lab, started life on the frontline with customers as a housing manager.
There are so many others too – like Suki who joined as a temporary receptionist, then became a support worker and is now locality manager leading one of our teams of neighbourhood coaches.
Or Adrian, even more long-serving than me, who was a housing officer in my team when I joined Bromford, transitioned into ICT many years ago and is now a key leader in redesigning all our processes and systems as part of our business-wide transformation programme.
“What talents do we have in the business and how can we best retain and develop that for our future?”
These are just a few examples from so many more of existing colleagues being able to reinvent and reshape a business, as well as their own potential, from within.
This philosophy of colleagues reinventing themselves and using skillsets in various parts of the business is particularly relevant today as we work through our partnership with Merlin and merger with Severn Vale.
The approach we are signed up to is not looking just to slot people into jobs on a new structure chart, but rather what talents do we have in the business and how can we best retain and develop that for our future?
In January there was an interesting discussion on social media about how long chief executives should stay in post and whether it was unhealthy to have people at the helm of a housing association for a number of years.
It was suggested that perhaps chief executives should be appointed on a fixed-term basis.
While that’s an interesting proposition, shouldn’t that question be less about how long a particular individual has been in post, and more about whether they can reinvent themselves as the business evolves?
As a sector we have a real belief in our customers’ potential to build and rebuild their lives and it is worth remembering that this passion for unlocking people’s talents shouldn’t just apply to tenants but to our colleagues too.
Only by effectively demonstrating the value we place on our workforce, and the opportunities we offer people to reinvent themselves, will we be better able to attract the brightest prospects from outside of housing as well.Philippa Jones, chief executive, Bromford
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