As the profiles of what we need in IT leadership positions continues to evolve, how are you measuring the success of your new hires? Equally how are you ensuring your recruitment process and partners can hire the best talent available?
Measuring the success of a new hire into your business is crucial for many reasons. It allows you to assess if their skills and experience align with the role's requirements as sometimes what you needed can change during the recruitment process / notice period. Additionally, by tracking performance, (either annually or in a shorter timeframe) it helps identify areas for improvement, provide feedback and ensure the person you have hired is contributing effectively to the goals and strategies set out.
By effectively measuring success, you can then determine if the hiring decision was the right one, evaluate the effectiveness of your recruitment process (or recruitment partner) and build the capability to make data-driven adjustments for future hires.
If you are thinking of ways to evaluate the quality of your hire, here are some example factors to consider:
Alignment with strategic goals: Does their work align with the company's overall strategy and objectives? Are they driving innovation and value creation for your business and/or function?
Project delivery: Are they successfully delivering IT projects on time, within budget, and with the desired outcomes?
Operational efficiency: Have they improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the IT specialism they were brought in to provide leadership for? Are they reducing costs and optimising resource utilisation?
Innovation and adaptability: Are they driving innovation and adapting to your businesses ever changing technological landscapes? Are they staying ahead of industry trends and have they made recommendations to drive business advantage? If they are talking already about ideas and a track record of technology innovation in previous roles, it’s likely they have the ability to drive value quite quickly.
Employee satisfaction: How have their teams and those around them responded? Is this leader fostering a positive and productive work environment? Do they see the potential in the existing talent and are able to retain and develop them?
Financial performance: Is your new IT leader able to drive better ROI in their sphere of influence? Can they see ways to drive down cost whilst moving forward?
Customer satisfaction: Are they delivering IT solutions that meet the needs of customers and drive business growth?
Leadership skills: Are they already demonstrating strong leadership qualities, such as vision, communication, and decision-making?
Team building: Can you see they are able to deliver on what you expected? Are they able to build and maintain high-performing IT teams?
Stakeholder management: Do they have the right style for your internal and external stakeholders? You should see that they can effectively communicate and collaborate with stakeholders at all levels of your organisation.
Problem-solving: Do they possess strong problem-solving and analytical skills or are they seeking the answers from others?
Adaptability: Can they adapt to changing circumstances and challenges?
Don’t forget if you are reading this it’s likely you were involved or made the hiring decision, so you play a key role in making sure the IT leader you have hired is successful. It's important to establish clear performance expectations from the outset to ensure a fair and accurate evaluation. Even the most senior leaders should have one-to-ones and check-ins to facilitate real time feedback allowing you to both identify areas for improvement and celebrate successes.
By considering a combination of these factors, you will effectively measure the success of your key senior hire and help make informed decisions about future recruitment strategies and partnerships.
This list is by no means complete, the success of a new hire can be measured and assessed in so many different ways often determined by the company and environment, but these were my thoughts based on my experiences of IT recruitment and recruitment leadership. What have I missed and what would you include when you are hiring IT leaders into your business?
Mark
mark@vitreustalent.co.uk
07900557982