In my conversations with successful women, I always ask to what extent they have strategically planned their careers and whether that is even possible.
Most of them never really got the idea and reflect that perhaps they could have reached their goal faster, could have taken all the salary increases and saved themselves detours.
And then there are those who were very ambitious in school and chose subjects that gave them the best opportunities on the job market. A closer look often shows that they had really noteworthy female role models.
Their chosen life partner also plays a major role. So many recommend looking carefully to see if this partner can actually live with a successful woman. If children are planned, the question arises whether both a career and children will be compatible for both parties.
I found that, especially among those women with children, they actually needed to be given the idea of
It is what first came to mind, probably because the sun is shining and I am hoping for summer. There is probably an extended metaphor in there somewhere (not judging on appearances / digging beneath the surface…), but here I am actually referring to 3 ways you can find the right Search firm with whom to work.
We know that, due to the pandemic, many companies have been forced to reduce staff and freeze recruitment in an attempt to cut costs, but advertising and crossing your fingers hoping that the right candidate will apply, simply does not work for executive level hiring.
It’s not just about tapping into existing networks either – i.e.. who the exec team or the board might already know – they know who they know, but have no idea who they don’t know.
That's why for companies looking to change or add to their existing leadership team, engaging with a reputable Search consultant really matters.
But who can you trust?
Successful hiring is the most important thing you will do in growing your business, so invest in outside professional help, but make sure you invest in the right professional help.
Lorri Lowe,
Partner, UK
Why do you want to change your job?
Many candidates primarily consider what they know against the job description. Having the right expertise is an important requirement, but it is not enough. In addition, we must look more closely at what might motivate a candidate. Many of the requirements specified for a candidate can be nuanced in order to provide room for a new employee to grow into a role.
As advisers, we do not force a job opportunity onto candidates. We ask open questions and listen carefully when discussing a possible job change. We listen for answers about why the candidate wants this job. What are their ambitions? Is the candidate driven by 'push' or 'pull' factors?
The right motivation is an important requirement for thriving and making a difference. If you have anything to gain from a change of job, it is easier if you have a commitment, make an extra effort and contribute to good internal collaboration.
Pay is seldom a sufficient motivational factor by itself.
Cultural match is both crucial and under-appreciated.
What can you do yourself?
Enterprises have different purposes and ownership. Organisations vary in culture, size and structure. Some companies have a totally commercial DNA, while other workplaces are more balanced, driven by new insight, or contribute directly to social progress. Being conscious of your own motivation and taking ownership of the process are important success factors when changing jobs. Awareness of 'what triggers and what drives me', combined with an ability to explain why exactly this role could be right for you, will be important. By obtaining information about relevant employers, the candidate also takes personal responsibility for testing their match with a new workplace. This is particularly critical if you have been with the same employer for a long time, because it can then be difficult to assess what you take for granted in today’s job – and which could be lost.
Choose an adviser who understands the significance of motivation.
Where an enterprise is concerned, the value of making the right appointments is considerable. And the choice of employer will be crucial for an employee’s career development. That makes it vital to have good advisers who both understand and can provide input to both sides. Our job is to search out environments and candidates who possess a good baseline for both wanting and contributing to a new role. The ability to think openly around motivation together with relevant candidates is an absolutely central part of the adviser role, and crucial in ensuring that the right choice is made – for both clients and candidates.
Hild Kinder, Partner
Benedikte Stiff, Partner
Norway
In theory it is hard to disagree with the Nolan Principles of:
and the pandemic has demonstrated the overwhelming dedication of so many to a public service ethos, often under intense stress.
I have written about the importance of ethical leadership many times before because there are still far too many holding powerful positions who behave as though rules and social norms only apply to others and not to them. It is of course naïve to think of a halcyon, scandal-free age of British politics and British business, but the pattern of ignoring standards of openness and subverting governance is often the forerunner to corruption to the benefit of those who hold the power.
There is undoubtedly a clear overlap between the principles we expect in public life and those in business because the seventh of the Principles is the important of them all – leadership.
Leaders set the tone and this forms the culture. The tone must come from the top. We always advise that a company's senior leadership should place overt importance on ethical values, they should demonstrate a visible commitment to high standards, and they should be willing to be held accountable for standards within their organisation.
The Nolan principles offer one such checklist of fundamentals to sense-check a Board’s collective decision-making process and approach. Boards are vital to good decision-making. Ethical frameworks, like the Nolan principles, can help boards fulfil their purpose in a way that adds value - especially when all else seems uncertain.
Alastair Campbell said that we live in a ‘post‐shame’ world. I worry that we live in a ‘post-Nolan’ era.
We are entering a new age. Business can be the source of inspirational leadership and an engine of positive progress – but only if it is built on solid ethical foundations.
Lorri Lowe
Partner, UK
Progressive organisations and their leaders are now realizing that the hackneyed excuse of “there just is no qualified diverse talent” is an outdated phrase from before the pandemic.
The question of who will be returning to the physical office and who will remain virtual is a burning issue. In 2020/2021 many organizations operated in a virtual, or hybrid, workplace and there is no doubt that this has influenced how they view their current talent, how they deploy that talent and from where they now look to acquire talent.
We recognise that leaders are becoming more open to looking at how the work gets done irrespective of a specific physical location.
Women and people of colour who might have felt like outsiders in a white male-dominated in-person workforce might find working in a hybrid or purely virtual workplace an attractive way to gain career experience. Talented people who are differently-abled can now become entrants into a job market that was once physically closed to them when all work was done in-person. These are exciting options for everyone.
Long commutes to an office may have dissuaded people from working for a particular company. By casting a wider net for talent to fit new hybrid workplaces means roles can be much more attractive if newly hired talent only had to go into the office two days a week — or even one week a month.
The world has changed.
The workplace has changed.
We have all changed.
Friisberg works with organisations all over the world to help them keep pace with rapid progress and ensure they secure the very best talent.
Lorri Lowe,
Partner UK
VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity – an acronym used in 1987 to describe the unpredictability after end of the Cold War and is increasingly used to describe the unpredictable nature of the world today.
Not only has Industry 4.0 rapidly changed the business environment (artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, robotics, biotechnology, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, etc.), but it also influences various aspects of our lives; from politics, terrorist attacks or natural disasters, and catastrophes such as COVID-19. We can hardly anticipate what new business realities will face our future leaders.
What kind of leadership will be most effective in VUCA reality?
Facing more and more uncertainly, leaders must be open to change, flexible to deal with ambiguity, creative, fast learners and risk-takers. There is of course one constant element in the VUCA world: PEOPLE.
Leaders must support their team by remaining focused, fast and flexible. Leaders should coach their employees by enhancing their skills in two of the most significant areas: agility and complex thinking. According to the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, HR should create leadership development plans on the assumptions based on:
Volatility can be countered with vision, because vision is even more vital in turbulent times. Leaders with a clear vision of where they want their organizations to be in three to five years can better weather volatile environmental changes such as economic downturns or new competition in their markets, for example, by making business decisions to counter the turbulence while keeping the organization’s vision in mind.
Uncertainty can be countered with understanding, the ability of a leader to slow down, look, and listen. To be effective in a VUCA environment, leaders must learn to look and listen beyond their functional areas of expertise in order to make sense of the volatility and to lead with vision. This requires communication with all levels of employees in their organization, development and demonstration of effective teamwork and collaboration skills.
Complexity can be countered with clarity, the deliberative process to make sense of the chaos. In a VUCA world, chaos comes swift and hard. Leaders, who can quickly and clearly tune into all of the minute associated with the chaos, can make better and more informed business decisions.
Finally, ambiguity can be countered with agility, the ability to communicate across the organization and to act quickly to apply solutions (Kinsinger and Walch, 2012). Vision, understanding, clarity, and agility are not mutually exclusive in the VUCA prime. Rather, they are intertwined elements that help managers become stronger VUCA leaders.
In the Harvard Business Review article, The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World, researcher Sunnie Giles shared the results of “the first round of a study of 195 leaders in 15 countries over 30 global organizations.” In the study, “participants were asked to choose the 15 most important leadership competencies from a list of 74.”
The top 10 competencies were then grouped into 5 themes:
On the top of the uncertainty of the business environment, we have overlap of generational exchange. Contrarily to Millennials, who tend to expect quick success and have less propensity to stay put as they grow up in an age of endless options, the Z generation is even more tech-savvy and high expectation seekers, but they search for job security.
Tomorrow’s leaders need to build trust with their teams. Trust will continue to be the currency of the workplace. Being able to create a safe place for their teams will help Millennial leaders’ priorities to build a culture that appreciates both people and results.
Today’s market environment stresses speed, flexibility, and the ability to lead in uncertain situations.
Tomorrow demands high ethical standards, encouraging openness and great communication skills to managing firms successfully.
Dorota Serwinska, Partner
Anna Rudzinska, Partner
Poland
We asked more than 500 senior executives what they were most looking forward to when they return to the office, a staggering 28% of them said “Nothing.” Many said that they simply find their work environment unmotivating and can work better at home.
After a year of WFH, many people are genuinely worried about returning to their offices. They feel a real sense of dread and anxiety about wasting hours in traffic, or on crowded public transport, paying for overpriced lunches and not spending enough quality time with their families.
But for how long will employers remain flexible?
Very soon I suspect many will start to demand that people return - and quickly. David Solomon, the Goldman Sachs CEO, called remote work, “an aberration that we’re going to correct as quickly as possible.” And Amazon told its employees that it expected, “to return to an office-centric culture as our baseline.”. Office-centric – now that is an interesting way to define your culture.
Some employers are actively preaching the gospel of flexibility – being overtly receptive to concerns and appreciating that the free time given by the pandemic is something their employees are simply unwilling to relinquish
Not wanting to lose great people, some companies have spent the past year trying out different models, to figure out which one works best.
Whether that's allowing a hybrid of WFH and in-office work, or treating the office as a clubhouse where you gather for specific reasons, there are lots of innovative ways to approach this transition that keep both employee preferences and productivity in mind.
But most organizations still seem to be struggling with what will actually work best. There is however a rare opportunity to rethink formerly rigid conceptions of what an ‘office-centric’ culture should be.
There is no doubt that for some people, return-to-office anxiety is real.
It is important that businesses take steps to support their staff to feel safe when returning to work.
Avoiding a knee-jerk approach to reopening and strictly dictating when employees come back, and on what terms, might just be the safest option for everyone.
Lorri Lowe
Partner, UK
Steve Jobs said that it doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. You should hire smart people so they can tell you what to do.
Employees are vital in creating your company's reputation and reputation creates value for your company.
Today, more than ever, a company’s reputation counts. We live in the digital age, where people (stakeholders, aspiring collaborators or just curious people) turn to social media and websites to get references and news about companies - and your employees can promote or destroy your corporate image.
The basis of a good reputation is employer branding - the ability of the company to become a recognised and valued brand relies on your reputation as being a great employer. In many ways your employees are more important than your customers, because if you take care of them, they will then take care of your company.
Employees are the only people who really appreciate the ethos and culture of your company. For this reason, their opinions can have an important impact on your business and future revenue.
Employees are crucial in the creation of the company values through:
Reasons to invest more in employer branding:
Guglielmo Sallustio
Partner, Milan
The rules of the game have changed, and they could change again at any time. We have a duty not to superficially believe that a simple change in” how we work”, will be enough for our new reality. We must evolve, we must learn taking this rare opportunity for self-analysis and rethinking our corporate strategy, our values, and our purpose.
Companies must be adaptable and flexible, with the ability to withstand moments of uncertainty, and with the foresight to anticipate when unfavourable circumstances might arise.
The strategy should be simple to enable prompt analysis and agile decision-making.
An organizational structure should be flat and process-oriented, where the information flows easily and where there is access to pertinent information facilitating timely reactions to unexpected situations.
We must trigger the essential part of the organization: THE TEAM, redefining the organizational culture to encourage motivation and ensure we are all rowing in the same direction. A culture of innovation, together with interconnected and continuous learning means people can develop the skills this new model demands.
Solid HR basics are essential to adapt to the ever-increasing global transformation of business. Team selection and development become a key factor, as well as the use of Business Intelligence or Big Data tools so that HR professionals can make quick decisions based on data.
Perhaps reading this article was your first step, but we would be happy to support you on the rest of your journey.
María Figueroa, Associate
Madrid
You have been responsible for international business development for years. What do you enjoy most about this role?
Diversity. Diversity, in terms of colleagues, cultures, projects and the international scene where we service our Clients. It delivers new challenges on a daily basis that I need to solve rather fast. Besides my work as a consultant on the Hungarian market, my international business development role makes it more complex providing me with a lot of new information, insights of international trends and involvement with how our Partners handle projects in various countries. It is just fun!
The concept of thinking globally is now more widespread. Why do you think Friisberg is so successful working globally and on cross border assignments?
Quite simply, Friisberg can be very responsive to the markets. Our flexible methodologies mean some of our offices actually exhibited massive growth during 2020, which is simply admirable. Even before the pandemic we positioned Friisberg not only as a trusted search firm, but also a management consultancy firm, delivering solutions for business leaders in management audit, board services, network science-based organisational development and business partner search.
What qualities do you think are required to facilitate effective international business development?
You must love it and you must be dedicated to it. Having inspiring people around you whether that is your colleagues, clients or candidates, helps and we must all listen to each other carefully. Openness is very important in such a role.
How do you use technology? Do you use business intelligence tools or systems and what steps you do take to analyse trends and identify new opportunities?
Throughout Friisberg we use various cloud based platforms for our business administration, but most importantly our Friisberg Network Advisory (FNA), which is a network science-based organisational development tool supported by AI, reveals the social network of the company and provides the opportunity to visualize and thus analyse and manage the relationship of business units and individuals. This is much loved by our clients too!
Where do you see Friisberg in 5 years’ time?
Friisberg is a growing organisation so my role is increasingly interesting. We are opening new offices in new cities and new countries and we plan to expand even more in the coming years. The future is very bright for Friisberg!
Zoltan Petho
Partner, Hungary
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