Give attention to direct reports
Once he helps get the right people at the top of Heidrick & Struggles, Kelly knows that part of his job is to keep them there so they can build the business. The touch to keeping people happy is both art and science.
“There are a lot of individuals out there across the globe who are extremely intelligent,” he says. “But in today’s world, particularly as a CEO or an executive, if you don’t have the emotional side of the equation, then you’re not going to bring people along with you.”
That requires what Kelly has termed “cultural quotient,” which is about understanding how important company culture is to success. The first part that most CEOs don’t get is you have to realize your direct reports don’t feel like you’re giving them enough credit.
“Usually, the biggest mistakes people make are not appreciating their employees — which leads to retention issues — and how simple it is just to convey to people that you appreciate what they’re doing,” he says. “(That effort) is more important than money and will keep an individual from having a situation where a key employee resigns, they have a hole, and it takes three to six months to fill that hole so they’re missing that opportunity in the market.”
Kelly says letting things get to that point would be silly, because it’s easy, and often free, to show your appreciation.
“It’s as simple as a handwritten note,” he says. “It’s communicating to them that they’re important to the firm, articulating to those individuals that they potentially have a career path if they’re happy in what they’re doing. It’s taking time to assess them and asking how they want to develop their career. I’ve had a number of experiences where I’ve talked to executives or executive teams and just having a third-party dialogue about what they’re interested in doing, how they see their career and how they can develop has gone a long way.
“This younger generation, they crave feedback, and you need to be direct. Feedback is one thing that most organizations aren’t very good at, and lack of feedback, just telling people you’re doing this right or this wrong, can lead to an individual leaving. Not giving appropriate feedback can hurt the organization in terms of morale and culture.”
Putting too much fluff in your comments can also take you away from important jobs like having those conversations with people about their aspirations.
“I found that I’d have conversations with people and I’d say, ‘Have you ever looked at this way or maybe you want to think about this next time?’ and nothing changed, and then I’d try it again and nothing changed,” Kelly says. “So what got frustrating is it took me three times as long to convey a message to somebody before they got it, because I wasn’t direct, and in today’s world, and this is one thing I know from spending a lot of time with CEOs, we all want more time. So it’s going to save you a hell of a lot of time if you can give direct feedback.”
