More Than A Game!

On the wall of my office hang two autographed football jerseys. It’s not really important that they are red and white and say Young (8) and Rice (80) on them (wink). These jerseys got me thinking. The beginning of training camp is on the horizon and, just like every year, a ridiculous amount of time and money have been spent digging into each and every one of the individuals who have been invited to those training camps. Digging into their experience, what they have put on paper/film, what skills they possess, and whether those skills align with the needs of the organization.

Each NFL team has a process in place to identify talent, research a prospect’s background, and interview to see if that particular athlete will be a good fit within the organization. I mean, if you were about to invest millions of dollars into a particular individual, wouldn’t you want your process to be thorough, exhaustive, and all encompassing? The teams that do it the best and are successful year after year are the ones who have taken the time to develop their organization’s culture and carry it through the entire process, always keeping that at the forefront. 

Whether or not you are a fan of the Patriots, (which I’m not), they have done this better than most teams over the last twenty years. Bill Belichick has been lauded for taking talent that most scouts and GM’s would have designated as “lesser” and turning them into household names because they were a fit culturally and he was able to put them in a position to be successful. You often hear about “The Patriot Way” – and if you weren’t sold out to the culture, you didn’t last long with the team.

Now more than ever, studies are showing how important culture is not only for an organization but also for candidates who are considering the opportunities in front of them. It’s becoming even more important than money. We’ve had candidates turn down offers with more money with other organizations because they wanted to work with our clients who they learned about in the hiring process.  They were attracted to the culture of our clients’ organizations.  If they were going to provide their skills and talents during the best part of their day, they wanted a family-friendly, hardworking, fun-loving environment.

While the general consensus of those attempting to speak for the job market is to simply offer more money, at Liberty Employment Solutions we know that is not always the best answer. It may get someone in the door to fill a spot, but if you don’t have a good culture, they are going to walk out that same door within a couple of months. This leaves you to start the whole process over again, wasting your precious time and hard-earned money.

For a football team to drive down the field with less than 2 minutes left on the clock and put themselves in a position to kick a game winning field goal, the offensive coordinator and the coach need to dig into the playbook, call the right play, at the right time, for the right player and then watch the team execute successfully. 

That’s what you need.

That’s what your organization needs.

You need a playbook that outlines what the top performer looks like and the process to identify that top performer, while showing that top performer what your winning culture looks like.  At Liberty Employment Solutions, we are ready to help you build it.

This is more than a game.