When a small team is under workload pressure,
how do you add a new recruit without creating more stress?
Summary
Problem
ThinkSmart was enjoying a period of growth but struggling to find the right person to add to the Customer Success team. Using the LAB Profile and a half-day workshop for all staff, Brilliant Minds helped them work together more effectively and to introduce a new person seamlessly.
Investment
This project was relatively light in terms of Brilliant Minds involvement and costs to the client. The entire project involved:
- Seven LAB Profile interviews
- A half-day workshop
- A few hours of consultancy time to write reports etc
- At current prices this would cost around £7,000
Results
The most important result is that ThinkSmart has a new recruit who has settled in well and is learning the job quickly.
The rest of the team also benefited from the individual and team insights…
[If that’s all you need to know to be interested in how we can do the same for you, please click here to contact Sharon Smith, my PA, and request a free consultation]
Background
ThinkSmart Software provides their business management software product to the children’s activity sector, mainly in Australia and the UK. The Customer Success team is based in the UK, under the leadership of George – one of the two founding partners in the business.
George has a small team of people who are passionate about their customers’ success and have in-depth knowledge of the product, its application in customer businesses and the training of new users. As the business has enjoyed significant recent growth, it became clear that the team needed to increase in size too.
Finding the right new recruit proved difficult. A mistake could be expensive, not just in recruitment costs, but also in the time it takes to train a new member of staff, which would be wasted if they didn’t stay the distance. Not recruiting was creating workload pressure for the existing team, so George engaged Brilliant Minds to help.
Why Brilliant Minds?
This project taps into some of our core capabilities:
- We know the IT sector and have worked with companies of all sizes over a long period of time
- Using the Language and Behaviour (LAB) Profile in recruitment is another area where we have a lot of experience
- Helping teams work together efficiently and reducing stress has long been one of our strengths
George had completed the NLP Practitioner training with us, so he had faith in us…
George Bentley
What we did…
We used a tried and tested process that we have used with many other teams. Each member of the team had a one-to-one session with Dianne to compile their LAB Profile, which uncovers both motivation patterns and productivity patterns. By collating the individual profiles, Dianne created a Team Profile, to highlights the strengths and diversity within the team. That was followed with a half-day team workshop to look at the team profile together and explore the implications.
The planned next step, was to create a profile of the ideal staff member to help with the recruitment process…
What actually happened, was that an existing team member found a suitable candidate in her external network. Dianne profiled this new person and then she and George were able to design her induction and training to suit her working and learning styles. This also made it easy to identify the best members of staff to support her.
Results
The most important result is that ThinkSmart has a new recruit who has settled in well and is learning the job quickly.
In general, the workshop gave a confidence boost to every member of the team. People were able to see that their differences are an asset and that each person contributes something valuable to the team’s success.
Some specific insights…
George had been mindful for a while of the opportunity to develop one of his senior members of staff but was frustrated that she never seemed enthusiastic about any of the extra responsibility he offered to her. During the workshop, they realised that the type of work he was offering was completely the opposite of the type that most motivates her. He now knows exactly what to give her to do to tap into her motivation and best attention.
Another senior member of the team had a flash of insight when she realised she’s always at her best when she’s breaking new ground. As a result she’s about to take the lead on bringing the ThinkSmart product to a completely new market.
These are all great benefits from a relatively small investment of time and budget. It required only half a day and half an hour of each person’s time – an important consideration when the team were feeling the pressure of that unfilled vacancy.
This is an area I will continue to invest in and will be forever grateful for finding Brilliant Minds.
George Bentley
What to do now…
If you would like to find out more about how your team can benefit from this type of team event, your first step is to book a free 30-minute call with me. We’ll talk about your situation and the changes you want to make. From there, I’ll make some suggestions about how we can work together. There’s no obligation and the exploratory call is completely free, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
To book your call, email Sharon Smith, my PA: sharon@brilliantminds.co.uk
Or you can call her on 01480 861569
