We solve hiring challenges for purpose driven organisations

What if there was one factor that would determine the success of your next team member more than almost any other. What if it was not based on industry knowledge, connections, qualifications or intelligence? What if it were something that could be ingrained in your organisation and used as a tool to attract the best talent, allowing you to drive your business to new heights. Well Mindset is that magic ingredient. The psychologist Carol Dweck popularised mindset training in her book The New Psychology of Success. The premise is that our conscious and unconscious thoughts play a huge part in our ability to learn, grow and succeed.Her theory reveals that mindset can be either, growth or fixed. People can fluctuate between these two states, but a fixed mindset person believes that their intelligence, personality, and abilities are fixed. Whilst growth mindset individuals have a strong desire to learn, they persist in the face of setbacks, and learn from criticism. Ultimately, they view effort as a growth opportunity, allowing them to achieve better results.So, when it comes to mindset in the recruitment process how do you ensure that you attract the right people. Well having a growth mindset within an organisation is a great starting point. Are mistakes routinely covered up? Are a few top performers alone constantly held up for recognition of their success?Companies can be inadvertently fostering a fixed mindset by focusing too heavily on performance-based goals rather than learning outcomes. That’s not to say that those top performers shouldn’t be acknowledged or rewarded. It simply means that developing a culture where there is focus on the process as well as the result will make for a more harmonious team where everyone can grow.A successful organisation will work hard to create an environment where everyone shares in its success. With team rather than individual bonuses, a commitment to ongoing learning and a safe environment to give and receive constructive criticism.To ensure that your team can operate from a place of growth and attract those that will do the same -one of the most important factors is to have a culture where there is a learning culture. An organisation where leaders are not afraid to share their mistakes and what they learned from them will encourage others to do the same. Company culture must embrace change and be willing to reward learning as well as positive outcomes.Does your company place a high value on training? In tough economic times learning can be the first resource to be cut. Continued learning is vital if you want to encourage your existing team and those joining you to move into a growth mindset.When creating job adverts it is vital to detail the training and development opportunities that your company offers. Individuals with a growth mindset will be attracted to organisations that offer them the opportunity to continue learning.At Headway we are fortunate enough to work with Virgin Money. They are an organisation that genuinely embrace training and development. As part of their strategy to attract and develop those individuals with a growth mindset they offer learning opportunities in a variety of ways. From bite-sized learning to lunchtime lectures, development is key. It goes back to Sir Richard Branson’s belief in giving every employee the chance to progress – personally, and professionally. You don’t need the budget of a Virgin Group to create an environment where everyone strives to be in growth mindset. It comes back to the starting point for all good recruitment strategy – purpose. See my previous article on purpose.When everyone is clear about the why of the business many of the factors leading to individuals adopting a growth mindset become easier. For example, it is easier to embrace challenges head-on when you are truly behind your organisations purpose. Knowing the positive impact your work makes in the wider world means you are more likely to overcome setbacks, put in more effort, and find inspiration in the success of others. We see this with another purpose driven client - Victim Support. Once people join their team they work tirelessly often way above their contracted hours as they are bought into the purpose of helping people feel safer allowing them to find the strength to move beyond crime. This puts them naturally in the growth mindset of viewing challenges as opportunities and persisting in the face of setbacks knowing what difference they are making in the world.So mindset alone is not enough. I obviously would not want to be operated on by a surgeon with no qualifications but a willingness to receive constructive criticism! There are many factors to consider when developing a successful long-term hiring strategy; company purpose, adoption of technology, psychometric profiling, and Inclusivity to name a few. However, an organisation that prioritises a growth mindset culture and communicates it effectively will always have the best chance of attracting the brightest individuals in their sector.Mindset training is the final element of Headway’s INSIGHT recruitment process. Find out more here  

Knowing your organisational purpose changes everything. Once you can clearly define why you do what you do, the practicalities of how become much more apparent.The definition of purpose in a business sense is often confusing. Does being a purpose driven organisation mean that profits must be sacrificed? Is purpose just corporate social responsibility re-packaged for the 2020’s?Having a strong sense of purpose is likely to increase business performance rather than hinder it. Purpose and profits can co-exist quite happily. As for CSR, this is often seen as a way for a business to offset problems with core operations, something quite different to genuine purpose.My favourite definition is that purpose is about saying ‘why are we here as a business?’ It sits above. It is a higher reason. At its core, purpose brings a sense of meaning to an organisation. The guiding light when answering the big strategic and operational questions.A while ago I was recommended the book Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth. It outlines a theory of economics where you have what looks like a doughnut. On the inside of the doughnut is the social side of things: so, providing an economy where people can have a good standard of living, including everyone in the world. On the outside you’ve got the planetary boundaries, so it’s an economy which lives within the planetary limits. This helped me frame my business purpose and set me on a path to explore B Corporations and building charitable giving into multiple aspects of our business.It is very important that purpose is genuine and not just a tick box exercise or a means to an end. If there is real purpose in an organisation it will be hugely powerful. If there is a disconnect then it will not resonate and have detrimental outcomes. Purpose will impact all areas of an organisation. The 3 big ones not related to hiring are: To increase and maintain legitimacy, to foster stronger business relationships, and to increase business performance. In my opinion it is no exaggeration to say that organisations are the sum of their people. Those people are looking to be encouraged, inspired, happy, and feel like they are working towards a goal. Purpose meets all those needs.When it comes to successful hiring there are three main elements to consider: attraction, motivation, and retention. A strong and genuine purpose will allow an organisation to stand out and differentiate. I have seen it time and time again. Good companies miss out on the best people when they are bland or lacking in differentiation. This has never been truer than now with generation Y and Z making employment choices based on principals that may seem alien to their older counterparts.I’ve worked for professional services firms and for some banks. They are all realising that, with young talent they want purpose. Why? Because they want meaning in their lives. They want to work for an organisation that’s got a sense of meaning. And people are beginning to get that.Geoff McDonald, Former Global Vice President of Human Resources, Unilever Once the recruitment phase is over the real work begins. How do you motivate your new star employee? Having a deeply embedded purpose will mean even transactional tasks have meaning. At Headway we have built this meaning into everyday duties in a very tangible way. Through our association with B1G1 we align our everyday business activities with our vision to promote sustainable economic growth and productive employment for all. For example, every client that completes our fact-finding document we will donate a day of sustainable agriculture training for a third world farmer.Purpose also means that individuals are less likely to leave an organisation. This is the real gold when it comes to purpose and hiring. On average the cost to employers of replacing a single member of staff is more than £30,000[1]. An employee who values the meaning in their work will be reluctant to leave for a company that does not offer the same level of meaning (often even if the salary offered is significantly higher). Combining employee motivation and commitment to the organisation is a powerful anchor.Authentically pursuing an organisational purpose should be more than just a recruitment hack. It should be the guiding principal which shapes the decisions made within the business. Far from being a constraint, having a strong purpose should free everyone in the organisation to have the autonomy to make decisions, knowing they are guided by purpose. Once you have purpose in place it is your responsibility to use it to attract, develop and retain people who share your vision. This will ultimately create a virtuous cycle which will continually allow you to employ the best talent in your industry and make your mark on the world. In the words of William Clement Stone:Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.  [1] The analysis by ACAS was based on figures drawn from five different sectors: retail, legal, accountancy, advertising, and IT and technology. Over a year, the report said the total costs for the sectors combined would amount to £4.13 billion. 

Well, we’re passionate about raising the bar in the industry because fair recruitment practices and purposeful leaders are a powerful force for good. Plus we love seeing the difference we make to businesses and careers. Admittedly that’s copy taken from our soon to be launched new website but it’s all true!As a business we get a chance to vote for the type of world we want live in every time we decide where to spend our time and money. That’s why we’re focusing on working with ethical suppliers and purpose driven clients. B Corp status is the best way for us to demonstrate this ethos in a real accountable way.The B Corp assessment rates each company and captures best practices regarding mission, measurement, and governance focusing on its workers, suppliers, community, and the environment.I always considered Headway to work in the best interests of not only our stakeholders but society, the environment as well. So it came as a shock when we first evaluated our score and realised we only registered 40 out of a possible 200! Though I was heartened when I read that any score higher than 0 points is a good score, as it indicates that a company is doing something positive for society and the environment.So that’s where we’re at now. Working hard behind the scenes to improve our score from 40 to 80+. It’s a time-consuming process but one that has made me think hard about every aspect of how I run the business. From eliminating paper waste to increased benefits for all the team.