By Silvano Joly, Sales Country Manager, Centric Software Italia.
When one accepts a job and decides to work for a company it is for several interconnected reasons. We can call them Personal Success Factors (‘PSF’). As a person and a manager, I summarize them as the ‘4 C cluster’: C-ash, C-areer, C-ompany, C-ontext. Both when I am evaluating or proposing a job, I try to use this scheme. Every organisation, with a genuine strategy or not, proposes its own mix of PSF, which in turn is successful or not depending on the people who do it and are part of it. It can be applied both for attracting talent or for retaining the best people in your team.
Let's develop, as an example, some concepts around the ‘4 C’ and about why a someone enters and remains in an organization:
C-ash
i.e. the Salary - Everyone has a salary and expectation of what they are worth. The minimum threshold is variable, whereas the maximum one might not exist. Satisfaction with one's salary level is based on a delicate balance between your salary when compared to the external and internal market. Salary is the foundation of the contractual relationship between employer and employee, and it is also the foundation of trust. Remuneration is directly related to performance and mainly related to your quantitative and measurable results.
C-areer
i.e. the organisation and development - This factor combines several elements:
• Positioning within the organization - i.e. status (Director, Executive, Supervisor);
• Job title and description;
• Growth potential plus learning opportunities, visibility in the community, prestige of the company;
• Skills needed and recognized to perform the role
Where your role is not clear or where you have no possibility of development, learning and/or your professionalism is not well identified and recognized the salary may therefore need to be variable.
C-ompany
i.e. Work environment - This factor is divided into three parts:
• Acting values and reputation of the organisation;
• Relations with the management;
• the work environment in general - in fact a safe and big company can be considered the best and safest place where to stay.
No money can compensate for having a bad manager, bad relationships with colleagues, an unhealthy work environment or the bad reputation of an employer.
C-ontext
i.e. Work-Life Balance – This is a very important factor and it can be vital. It includes the type of contract and actual behaviour encouraged by the company in terms of minimising stress; physical security; and location - i.e. not monetary benefits. More and more people consider this balance before taking a job – especially millennials and younger people.
We have seen how important smart working has become and how strategic a company must be in organizing it for its workforce. This can be measured both by tangible benefits, like health insurance, yoga coaching or a nursery in the company and intangible ones like a low levels of stress, frustration; reduced commuting time, clear working hours and a high level of general organisation.
So, my balance in the old and our new normal follows the PSFs and my 4 Cs:
• Within an organization, there may be different mixes of Personal Success Factors, depending on of departments or offices - don’t assume the candidate in front of you is the same as you.
• Ask your HR department to do more than to pay salaries. Have them work with you and discuss together your PSF and those of the team;
• The mix of PSF constitutes your Value Proposition as an Employer, so give one to your candidates and employees as you give one to your sales prospects.
In the last 15 years, I have had the opportunity to work with Guglielmo, splendidly, I have always had quality results thanks to his work and commitment. His return to Friisberg as a Partner will increase many projects, especially at an international level.
