Keeping the Lions at Bay
Building and Influencing Relationships with your Talent Acquisition Stakeholders and Partners
(Part I of II)
It is sad but true, there is no other Human Resources entity that is subject to more criticism than the Talent Acquisition function. In order to survive and be viewed as a strategic and valuable business partner, you must successfully build and influence relationships with your stakeholders and partners. I interviewed leading talent acquisition leaders at various companies and would like to share their ideas on how to “keep the lions at bay” and elevate your value within the organization.
- Find a stakeholder who will be your champion to help you build credibility within the organization. Ask, how can I best help you? Then “save the day,” fix the problem and ask the stakeholder to serve as your mentor to help build your credibility and brand.
- Listen and then listen some more to your stakeholders. Set up occasional touch point meetings to ask what’s going well and what you can improve upon, and discuss if anything what can be done differently, more efficiently, or more strategically.
- Involve your stakeholders early in the process.
- Hold yourself accountable and do what you say you are going to do. This is one of the most impactful things you can do and it will help quickly build trust and credibility.
- Learn your stakeholders’ business. Attend their department meetings so you can understand their needs and requirements and become viewed as a true business partner.
- Create an internal brand. Empower and train your team to communicate that brand well so they can serve as positive PR for the department.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate, and then communicate more. Don’t think you have time? You must make the time. Successful relationships are paramount to the success of your department. Block every Friday afternoon (or whatever frequency makes sense to you) to update all key stakeholders involved in the hiring process on what you are doing and why it is important to them.
- Appoint someone on your team to put together weekly, quarterly and year-end reports that can be distributed to the stakeholders to show what value you are adding to the organization. Make sure it aligns with the strategic plan and mission of your company. Most criticism of talent acquisition can be quelled by effective, consistent communication.
Part II of this blog series will discuss building and influencing relationships with hiring managers and other divisions of the company.
