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Employer Insights

What is Humble Leadership? How Can It Take Your Business ...

James launched his mid size, Perth furniture business in 2015. The first three years saw a rapid increase in sales and profitability, but something wasn’t quite right in the last two years. There had been an increase in the number of customer complaints. Late deliveries, unfriendly customer service reps, lost sales opportunities and lost customers started to become a trend. Simply stated, James’ business was in trouble.So, James called his managers into a claustrophobic conference room, he wanted answers. "I depend on you people to make this business work!" he barked. "Sales are dropping like a rock, which obviously means someone's not doing their job. We're not leaving this room until I find out who it is!"No one speaks up. Everyone wants to crawl under their chair. James’ not getting answers, but what he doesn't know, is that the answer is right in front of him.What is humble leadership?James’ dictatorial leadership style might have worked when workers had few options and even fewer rights, but it clearly doesn't work now. The simple fact is that in the current employment landscape, workers who report to the "I know more than any of you" manager become resentful. They're less likely to be creative, resourceful or innovative—because in John's world, a mistake isn't a learning experience.That's why an increasing number of business leaders are adopting a new approach, called ‘Humble Leadership.’ Humble leaders recognise their own limitations. They understand that everyone, irrespective of their position within an organisation, have something to contribute.In How Humble Leadership Really Works, Harvard Business Review (HBR) explains how humble leaders (which they call "servant-leaders") develop their businesses by bringing out the best in their employees:"The key, then, is to help people feel purposeful, motivated, and energized so they can bring their best selves to work…To put it bluntly, servant-leaders have the humility, courage, and insight to admit that they can benefit from the expertise of others who have less power than them. They actively seek the ideas and unique contributions of the employees that they serve. This is how servant leaders create a culture of learning, and an atmosphere that encourages followers to become the very best they can."Why Does it Matter?It would be easy to dismiss James’ lack of leadership skills as little more than a source of discomfort for his workers, not something that fundamentally affects the bottom line. The fact is, almost half of employees who work for leaders like James (according to Forbes) are actively considering quitting. This ‘on average’ costs a business anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them. What are the principal traits of Humble Leaders?Adopting a humble (ie, inspiring) leadership style, typically means higher employee engagement and increased productivity and profitability. For that reason, it's critically important to understand which traits characterise humble leaders. Although every business and every leader s different, generally, humble leaders share the following 5 traits:They recognise their own limitations: one of the main reasons for start up business failures, is leaders who think they can "do it all." From finances to IT to marketing, these leaders assume their leadership position makes them ‘al things to all people’. As a result, they tend to make costly mistakes that place their businesses in jeopardy. Humble leaders have the courage and self awareness to understand when and where they need guidance and advice, and they're not afraid to ask for it.They seek out talent in their workers: because humble leaders know what they don't know, they make a conscious effort to seek those skill sets in their employees. They're more likely to carefully assess employee skills at the time of hiring, and through ongoing performance evaluations. For this reason, they know to whom they can turn when they need help solving problems.They inspire their employees: workers want to perform at their optimal level when their manager acknowledges the contributions they have made. Humble leaders have no problem ‘sharing the spotlight’. This inspires employees to work collaboratively and give their very best to a team effort.They promote a culture of learning: because humble leaders can admit their own shortcomings, their employees are more likely to acknowledge gaps in their own skill sets. This inspires them to seek out training opportunities to advance their knowledge and their careers. Humble leaders are more likely to make those training and career opportunities available to their staff, promoting a culture of continual learning and improvement.They listen: the best leaders listen more than they talk. Their role in meetings, for example, tends to be that of a facilitator who articulates the nature of a problem, actively listens to attendees' solutions and guides the discussion to consensus. This ensures not only the best solution, but also the buy in necessary to implement change.ConclusionA humble leadership style could be argued, is about ‘doing the right thing,’ looking after workers and respecting their contributions. Effectively leveraged and implemented, humble leadership can be a game changer for your business, reducing employee attrition, while increasing productivity and profitability.

Posted by Kim Padmore | min read

Career Advice

A Video CV Needs to Be Your State of Play

Dear Job Seekers, to trump your competition, a video CV needs to be your state of play. For those shrinking violets that are scurrying away, please hear me out as you’re talking to someone that isn’t the most thrilled with the concept of getting in front of the camera either. Exhibit A: if you want a giggle at my expense, head back to one of my earlier videos on the p2p website; I don’t think I blinked once in the entire sixty seconds. Since starting at people2people Melbourne, I was encouraged to video my job updates, market insights and general highlights on a weekly basis, not to my absolute delight I must admit.After giving myself a 5 min pep talk and reapplying some concealer and lippy, I’d pluck up some courage and take myself into one of the meeting rooms. Ten shots later, I’d have a 60 second video that I deemed presentable to the public and then, enter the anxiety hitting process of editing and clicking ‘publish’.Three years on, I am yet to call myself a thespian but truly, I can’t deny the success that I have had with candidate and client experiences that have occurred due to my video content. Without physically meeting me, people have been able to connect with my enthusiasm and passion over the wonders of video technology and most importantly, gain a fast and succinct snapshot of the message I’m conveying.This has undoubtedly led to several success stories; whether it be a client seeing a video of a candidate I have registered on LinkedIn and wanting to interview or a candidate watching a job video on social media and later being offered the position. These successes have led me to think more on the opportunity it poses to you as a job applicant to use video to elevate your job application. Relishing the opportunity to make a faultless first impression, video allows you to erase and edit any potential facepalm moments. It will inevitably enhance your success in standing out in a growingly competitive market. Now that I *hopefully* have you on board, let me, a camera shy millennial, explain what a video CV is and how you can prepare and execute to what I hope will be potential perfection. A video CV is not a replacement of your written resume and cover letter, but an extension of it. It is a video file that is attached separately and is approximately 2-3 minutes. Some of you may have already experienced being invited following your application for a job or graduate program to submit a video answering a series of questions. A video CV is somewhat similar, however the key difference is that it allows you to talk through youreducation, work history and hobbies, whilst tailoring it to the position you are applying for throughout. In preparation of your video CV, think about the set up. Do you have a selfie stick to film it yourself or would you rather have a friend film it? What is going to be in the background and is it appropriate? I personally don’t think it is professional to have a bed, kitchen or a sofa in the background and controversially, white backgrounds aren’t my preference either, as I like to add some character if possible. Ensure that no one is going to disturb you, including any friendly, furry friends. In terms of your script, you want to tailor it to the job in hand, add character and ultimately, engage your audience. It may help to have a script that includes bullet points, so you’re not reading it word by word and in doing that looking robotic. You want to usea script, but don’t rely on it; improvise as you go and make it conversational by imagining that you’re speaking to someone and not your phone. Think about the edge that is required to set you apart from your competition and in particular, you need to be showcasing the strengths you can’t articulate on a resume. These are qualities such as poise, warmth, strong communication skills, a sense of humour, passion and charisma. Here’s a brief structure that you can use as a guideline:Introduce yourself - Hello, I’m *insert name* and welcome to my video CV. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you about myself and my interest in joining the *insert company’s name* team. Outline your most recent and relevant education history. Discuss your current or most recent position and your main responsibilities. Most importantly, include key achievements and success stories. What have you learnt in this position?Include some engaging anecdotes that would be relevant. What are some personal attributes that you pride yourself on? Finish with a bang - explain your motivation in applying for the role and why you’d be an asset with tangible evidence. Leave your audience with easy instructions on how to contact you. Once you have filmed your video, review it and edit accordingly. Voila, the final step is to click send and wait *impatiently* for a response and feedback. You may be thinking that video CVs are limited to the technology and creative arts industry and therefore don’t apply to you. Admittedly, they are yet to make a forceful appearance in professional services, however this is evolving and I predict that a video CV will become a must-have tool in any job seekers toolbox. Rest assured, you don’t need to be an extrovert to step into the spotlight of video CVs. You do however require some bravery in ripping the band aid off, in order to relish the rewards that come with taking the centre stage. As a Senior Recruitment Consultant, I’m not a Video Editor by trade and am certainly not claiming to be an expert, but I am happy to answer any questions/ queries you may have on Video CVs and how to use them in the recruitment process to your benefit. In particular, I’d love to hear of any success stories in using video CVs, so please call/email me to share them with me - I’d love to hear from you. I’m contactable on 03 9098 7433 and aimee.burton@people2people.com.au