Blog / Leadership
Bradley Brown, People are your greatest asset
As the director and CEO of the award - winning The Fletcher ’s Group, Bradley Brown developed a highly effective human resources (HR) model called RIRO (Recruitment Induction Retention Outplacement) to help companies find - and keep - great people.
"My highest priority as CEO is to create an environment that enables my organisation and its people to achieve more. The best way to do this is to develop the human factor.
In my eight years as Director of Human Resources, I implemented many programs to assist in the development of people and, based on this experience, I developed RIRO. This HR model was devised to help organisations understand the factors associated with developing people so they could create working environments where people thrived. An HR program, whether administered by an HR team or line manager, can achieve its potential under the RIRO model. This article briefly outlines each component of the model." Bradley Brown, CEO The Fletcher’s Group
Recruitment
Recruitment can be the greatest tool in achieving an organisation’s vision, or its downfall if handled badly. The aim is to recruit people who have the raw skills and attitude who, with leadership, will help the organisation achieve its potential. Instead of just creating a job specification, careful thought must also be given to designing a person specification.
People who will evolve the culture, ie those who match your vision of what future people in the organisation look like, should be at the top of the hire list. These people will help your organisation evolve. Their influence in evolving their own position is the key factor - the more influence they have, the greater the cultural gap you can factor in.
Every recruitment program must reflect the importance placed on the people employed. If you want to employ the best people in the market for any given position, then the candidate going through the interview process must believe that you really do want to employ the best. Oversell the position and you can bet you will have the opportunity to recruit for it again long before you planned to.
Induction
After scouring the market and hiring the best person for the job, live up to your promise and start them on the journey you want them to make in your organisation. Induction is the easiest area in the model to get right, but also the most likely to be overlooked.
The induction process should have your new hire up and running effectively as soon as possible. This may take one hour or three weeks - the right time frame will be whatever is most effective.
Don't just put them to work and miss the opportunity to influence the person and the culture; instead spend time helping your new cultural change agent to understand the role they are to play, instead explain why you hired them over all the others who applied for the job. If you don't share your aspirations for this person, they are unlikely to achieve those goals. They could fall back with the other staff members you planned they would influence, or get frustrated and leave. Induction should be as much about expectations and attitudes as it is about systems and procedures.
Retention
While recognising today’s workforce is more mobile than ever before, people retention (at least the ones you want to retain) should be at the forefront of your mind.
There are no perfect people, so it is your responsibility to create an environment that fosters the raw skills and attitudes of people so they develop and contribute to the organisation, while maintaining balance in their lives. The desired outcomes from the programs implemented should be aligned with the strategic direction of the organisation. It is not enough to say you align your programs to your plans, as while the intentions may be good, many do not achieve the results anticipated.
Retention should be about people staying with your organisation because they truly believe it is the best place for them to be. They must see they are valued and feel their needs are being met, particularly the need to grow and develop.
Outplacement
By this I mean a system that ensures the bar is always rising and ‘dead wood’ is pruned, not allowed to affect the entire organisation. Creating a culture recognising the need for people to move on in order to improve is healthy. People who, for whatever reason, are not doing their job well feel pressure from themselves, peers and often their family. Most people need assistance at this time, as there is comfort in having something familiar, even if it is not good.
‘Dead wood’ is a culture killer as well as a morale killer for the person in question and those affected by their presence. A performance management program where people are regularly reviewed is not only a retention tool, but can also be part of an effective outplacement program. These programs, if properly run, allow people to move out of the organisation with dignity and goodwill, because the person leaving can move into a position where they will be more effective, and the organisation creates an environment that enables those remaining to keep moving forward. There is no point allocating large amounts of resources to specific parts of HR, while ignoring others. RIRO reminds you to consider the organisation’s policies and programs in a more holistic way to ensure you achieve the desired benefits from the investments made in your people.
"it is your responsibility to create an environment that fosters the raw skills and attitudes of people."
Bradley Brown’s RIRO HR model will be Session 1 of the four-part Complete Business Management workshops run by Real Estate Academy. Lee Woodward will showcase Mr Brown and facilitate this session, which will be held on March 6, 2012 in Sydney, NSW.
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