Those that work with me or have so in the past at Oyster, will know I’ve always had ‘rules’ when coaching & training all levels over the years.
These rules became apparent to me in my formative years at Oyster. When I began to hire, onboard and coach people, it was the easiest way for me to bridge the gap between theory & practical situations.
I’ve always been someone that sees things in pictures, so when explaining something, this style came in handy. It enabled me to instil certain habits in the recruiters early in their careers. It’s also helped that I’ve worked with some of the best leaders in the recruitment business and learnt a few things along the way.
I learnt, that if you said something enough times, with relevance, tone, and using a ‘hook’ (or in this case a Rule #1 it made sense to people.
One rule became two, two became four and now there are 38 of them, adorned on one wall in our board room, for when I, or one of the management team, conduct training sessions. The most important rule of all is written across the entire other wall.
Of course, these rules and analogies I keep referring to, have been used in the context of my career, however, these aren’t industry-specific. Some of these may be familiar, some may not.
By going over some these rules in the coming weeks, I hope individuals and organisations can resonate with some of the principals that have played a key part in the successes that myself and the individuals, that have made Oyster what is it today, have had, professionally and personally.
Urgency /ˈəːdʒ(ə)nsi/
‘The need to deal with something quickly’
In recruitment, urgency is everything. ‘You’re only as good as your last deal’. More often than not, you’re in a race to pick new roles up from clients, tell candidates before someone else does, get CV’s over, secure interviews for them before someone else does, deliver feedback to agree acceptance, all before that candidate agrees to something else, or the client decides to go with someone else.
It’s an intense, highly stressful, and unnerving environment. It’s not for the faint-hearted. That’s what recruitment is like, day in, day out, in its early stages, until you get to a level where clients and candidates wait for you, only use you, believe & trust in you – but that takes time.
Complacency has no place in a recruiters’ life. Even if you think you have ‘exclusivity’ with people, no one will wait forever and unless you have a signed agreement in place, every moment you aren’t on the phone – someone else is, calling ‘your’ candidate, calling ‘your’ client and you will lose out – #timekillsdeals. When we talk about urgency here at Oyster, it means everything, because you never know when your last deal will be.
I don’t doubt that many people reading this, that aren’t in recruitment will say, ‘well we have that too’, I don’t doubt it. I’m sure if a contractor doesn’t call their client back with a revised quote quickly, they may lose out. If a Surveyor doesn’t action a serious issue, there could end up being building damage or worse still, harm done to someone.
Lack of urgency is a real problem if you have it in the workplace. Not picking up that phone, when it rings, not passing on that message quick enough, leaving ‘it’ until tomorrow or after the weekend or ‘someone else will do it…..’, are all behaviours that aren’t conducive to a good team environment. In fact, it’s what we call ‘counter cultural’ here at Oyster.
It’s all about taking ownership and responsibility in your role. If you form part of a team, you owe it to your clients, candidates, colleagues, and management – urgency is paramount regardless of what you do.