Communicate everyone’s role in achieving your goals. Oftentimes, you’re dealing with younger, less experienced people who need greater clarity and understanding of where they’re going, where we’re going as a firm and how what they’re doing ties into our success.
It also is important for us to understand what that generation is looking for and what they expect of us. The thing that our 20-something-year-old employees are looking for from us, as their employer, is different than that of those who have been with us for 25 years.
We assign mentors. We have a structure in place from an HR perspective to have communication and two-way feedback from those people. We also have more of an informal networking group for that group internally, so that group gets together to share what’s working for them, what’s not and to bounce questions off one another.
We actually formalized a position here internally. We took one of our very long-term employees, who has been here for 20-plus years, and gave her the responsibility for leading the internal communication and message within our firm. So we try to use that individual to create a consistent message that our practice leaders can then cascade through the organization because the larger we get, the tougher it is.
You have to simplify the process of communication by having a consistent message that that group is delivering.
So that communication strategy internally is very much about updating and measuring how we’re doing against the message. Or, if there’s been a change, it’s OK to adjust based on things that are going on in the marketplace, but we have to communicate that as well.
Let lofty expectations become your hiring filter. If you get hired at Oswald, you’ve met with a lot of people here. We are definitely looking for a certain culture. It’s a very rigorous process that we go through in terms of testing and interviewing and meeting with people. Our culture is not for everyone. There are some people who are very good at this business, can be very effective and very successful but may not fit with us.
Oftentimes, what I’m doing in the interview might make it seem like I’m trying to talk them out of it. We’re very upfront and clear in terms of our expectations, we’re very upfront and clear about what type and style work here, and that person who hasn’t taken their hat out of the ring is my litmus test in terms of, are they the right type of person, because we’ve made it very clear what won’t work here, and oftentimes people that understand themselves take themselves out of the running.
How to reach: Oswald Cos., (216) 367-8787 or www.oswaldcompanies.com
