Davidson & Partners

• People and Talent
• Resourcing and Talent strategies
• Management
• Boards
• Maturity and Experience
• Youth and Young People
• How do we make our credo real and alive?

… ‘People and Talent’ …

• Everyone possesses natural, inherent talents
  • A key task for individuals is to take personal responsibility and seek every opportunity to identify and develop these talents
  • A key task for leaders is to recognise and develop the potential talents of their staff for the benefit of their organisations and their beneficiaries/customers
• People should be treated with respect, dignity, honesty, and transparency
  • Effective leaders set this tone, for in such environments, people tend to thrive and contribute more to their employers
• Diverse teams tend to make more informed decisions
  • Effective leaders build such teams and a working environment where different perspectives, skills and talents are able confidently to challenge each other and pursue excellence
• Talent comes in all shapes, sizes, ages, guises, faiths, abilities, accents, genders, nationalities and backgrounds
  • Difference should be an advantage and not a problem
• No sector (private, public, not for profit or community) has a monopoly on talent.
  • The best talent in any one sector is as good as the best talent in any other sector.
  • Properly coached, mentored and supported – all talent is transferable across all sector boundaries
  • We are committed to helping to break down the barriers to moving between sectors (real or artificial) and challenge the prejudice or lack of confidence that inhibits or prevents such movement
  • The view, so often expressed, that ‘it will be very tough for anyone from outside of my sector to successfully move into my sector’, but that ‘… of course, I personally could easily move into another sector’ – is patently absurd. Talent exists in all sectors
• No sector or individual is inherently or morally superior to any other
  • The private sector is not inherently evil, and neither are those who choose to work there
  • The public, not for profit and community sectors are not inherently morally superior, and neither are those who choose to work there
  • There are heroes, exemplars and best practice in all sectors – and there are blockers, inefficient examples and poor practice in all sectors. Talent exists in all sectors

…’Resourcing and Talent strategies’ …

• Resourcing strategies typically fail to address long-term talent development/succession planning
  • ‘People are our greatest resource’, goes the refrain. So why the common failure to manage and develop the careers of an organisation’s top talent? This is a CX/HR priority and responsibility
  • An organisation should never be left vulnerable due to the departure of key employees. Succession planning is a core CX/HR responsibility
• Resourcing strategies typically fail to honestly address employer ‘brand/reputation’ issues – or to harness the power of such honesty
  • People are not stupid and should not be treated as such. Pretending there are no brand/reputation issues when patently there are is self-defeating
  • If the brand is strong or potentially so, then it should be leveraged to the full
• Resourcing strategies typically obsess too much on ‘process’ and too little on outcomes
  • No process can be justified if it consistently inhibits the delivery of desired outcomes
  • Process needs to be designed to support achieving an outcome – not prevent or inhibit a desired outcome
• Resourcing strategies typically obsess too much on skills, competencies and experience – and too little on values and behaviours
  • Far too many people are recruited who tick all the skills and competency boxes, but then proceed to deploy those skills and competencies in a manner that runs against the grain of the values of the organisation
• Resourcing strategies typically focus too much on the assessing and too little on the referencing and ‘getting to know’ the individual – or letting them get to know their potential employer
  • Proper referencing means much more than filling in reference forms and more than checking out the last two employers
• Resourcing strategies typically focus too little on the transitioning
  • We are strongly committed to the provision of mentoring, coaching and development to assist new hires make it through the transition successfully, and speed up their contribution in their new roles
• Resourcing strategies must increasingly allow for more flexibility in their use and deployment of talent – be this internal or external, interim or permanent, work or home based. The proportion of people taking up conventional careers is declining:
  • Employees are increasingly adopting what they themselves describe as portable and flexible careers
  • Employees are increasingly choosing: lifestyle over work constraints; to work past normal retirement ages; to seek more control over their lives through being self-employed; and to take temporary and career breaks when personal circumstances allow

… ‘Management’ …

• There is no excuse for poor management, and the resultant abuse and waste of talent
  • We are believers in strong but not bureaucratic or formalistic performance management, goal and target setting – all linked through to the impact being sought and the espoused values and behaviours
  • We believe that the benefits of performance management apply just as much when it comes to chief executives and boards, as for staff
  • In the case of chief executive evaluation and indeed that of political leaders/ministers, boards and NED/Trustee chairs, we are much convinced by the benefits of external facilitation

… ‘Boards’ …

• Strong proportionate governance and ethics are essential if an enterprise is to be successful in the long-term
  • Good governance and constructive strategic challenge facilitate, rather than impede business growth
• Boards (whether recruited, appointed or elected) need to be representative of both their workforce and the communities in which they operate, and to whom they provide or market their products and services
  • Pale, male and stale simply isn’t good enough; organisations should not wait for legislation to force change, but should be embracing a broader diversity of talent at board level as a matter of sound governance and business practice
• Board talent in any one sector is as good as board level talent in any other sector – FACT
  • All boards can benefit from looking outside their own immediate sectors for talent
• Board members should model, encourage and lead/demonstrate by example the values and behaviours they wish to see embedded throughout their organisations
  • Poor board behaviour is just as unacceptable as poor staff behaviour – whatever the sector
• Succession planning is a strategic board issue
  • Board succession should be a regular Chair/CX agenda item
  • Senior executive succession should be a regular agenda item for the board as a whole

… ‘Maturity and Experience’ …

• Diverse teams include individuals of diverse age groups, as well as wider diversity
  • It’s not acceptable to take the view that older candidates cannot ‘adapt’
  • And it’s absurd and a waste of a valuable resource to ignore or underestimate the value of wisdom and experience

… ‘Youth and Young People’ …

• All employers and individuals have a role in encouraging and developing the young people who are our future and the source of tomorrow’s prosperity and enterprise
  • It is not enough to say ‘I’m too busy’, ‘I don’t care’, or it’s not my responsibility
  • All organisations must look to their future talent needs and take positive and direct action to ensure that the talent of tomorrow which they know they will need is being developed, coached and encouraged
  • Employer involvement in schools and colleges, and offering work experience/apprenticeships/shadowing opportunities is a civic and moral duty – as well as good business sense

How do we make our credo real and alive?

• We have set ourselves the goals of being authentic at all times in how we present ourselves, and to ‘walk the talk’ with regard to our beliefs
• We treat all clients as partners
• We seek out and develop ‘talent’ in all its forms
• We help clients fulfil their wider objectives by securing and retaining the right talent
• We are there with our candidates and clients ‘for the long haul’For organisations that choose to work with us as partners:
  • We ‘challenge’ you constructively
  • We are not afraid to suggest radical and innovative solutions
  • We are honest – however painful that may be at times for both of us
  • Every assignment is led by a partner – no assignment is considered ‘low profile’
  • The strongest of personal and business ethics are ‘wired’ into how we do, what we do – built upon the best of public, third and private sector heritage
  • We aim to make your recruitment processes ‘bomb-proof’ from challenge
  • We know how to find and test talent that is transferable between sectors
  • We push ‘transition’ strategies heavily, so as to increase the likelihood of the long-term success of new hires

For individuals who choose to work with us – whether interim, permanent, development or for advice:

We will seek to understand you, support you, challenge you and develop you. In practice:

• We care …
  • Whilst our clients make the ultimate decision, if we believe in you – we fight for you. Always
• We respect you …
  • Irrelevant of our views or the advice that we offer – we are humble enough to recognise that it is your life, your career – and your right to choose to follow that advice or not
• We write honest interview reports …
  • We never write anything in a report that we cannot repeat to you, verbatim. Ever
  • And you will never be called for an interview with a client before we have read to you verbatim any report that we have prepared about you. Ever
• We always offer feedback …
  • Anyone who formally applies for a role and does not go forward to interview is offered honest telephone feedback. Always
  • Anyone who is interviewed but not shortlisted is offered honest face-to-face feedback. Always
  • And anyone shortlisted but not appointed is offered honest face-to-face feedback. Always
• We are always ready to offer honest advice …
  • Anyone who ever requests a meeting for advice is offered a meeting. Always
  • Our advice is constructive and often hard-hitting, but honest. Always
• We are there for you, for the long haul …
  • If we believe in you, we’ll fight for you
  • We’ll stick with you, even if you are struggling in your job search
  • We’ll challenge you, robustly and constructively, and we’ll help you with your networking, career and job-hunting strategies
  • When you succeed and land the role you want, with or without our assistance, we’ll stay in touch
  • We’ll do our best to help you develop your career