What is the 1 KPI that all organisations should aspire to have?
Answer: the number of viable internal applicants for each vacancy advertised.
More specifically, asking the questions ‘do we have at least one internal applicant for each role?’ and ‘if not, why not?’
You may baulk at that assertion, but consider the reasoning:
We measure what we most hold dear and we invest our time and resources into the things we measure. Is it really surprising that the organisations investing most in their people have the highest retention rates and the best outcomes?
Good leaders develop leadership and competence in others – if we really want our organisations to thrive, we must acknowledge the irrevocable link between developing our workforce and developing our organisations. Indeed, where teams and personnel are growing in competence and leadership, the risk of single points of failure crippling outputs is drastically reduced.
There are, of course, always exceptions to any rule; occasionally, the skills required for a growing team will be so specialist that few people have had an opportunity to develop them.
It is also not necessarily the case that the internal candidate should get the job – we should always uphold meritocratic outcomes if we are to operate in the best interests of the business. It can be a significant boon to the collective wisdom and talent to bring in new gifted people.
So, what’s stopping you? Try this for 6 months and see if it doesn’t transform:
– attitudes to staff development
– outputs
– staff retention
– workplace culture
Are you interested in enhancing your organisation’s culture, whilst simultaneously improving outcomes? Get in touch via the contact page.