Downturn a great time to recruit exec talent

Telecom companies need to use the economic downturn and potential business slowdown to assess and upgrade their leadership talent, focusing on the skills needed for the future, said the head of a large private executive recruiting firm. Laura Lee Gentry, head of the Technology and Communications Practice at Egon Zehnder International, a global firm operating in 37 countries, sees different skill requirements going forward.

“Top companies are using the market downturn to upgrade their talent,” Gentry said. “The way they do that is they go through a strategic assessment of internal talent. It’s almost like a talent audit that can show you where real vulnerabilities are. At a time like this, small to mid-sized businesses have access to top-drawer talent they might not have been able to get in the past.”

The key thing, Gentry said, is to know what skills a company will need going forward that maybe weren’t as important in the past and to determine if those skills are already available internally or need to be acquired.

“You want to assess your team internally, know where your gaps are, and set up an internal development program to close those gaps so you can really hit the accelerator when things turn up again,” Gentry said.

For telecom service providers, key skills going forward will be things such as change management, collaboration, and innovation management, Gentry said. The telecom tradition of top-down leadership, where strong individuals put their mark on a company, may not be as valuable going forward, Gentry said.

“In a high-growth market, like wireless and broadband, it’s been about results,” Gentry said. “It’s been about harnessing that growth and making sure you get your fair share. But to lead your team through these times, you need strong strategic capabilities – those are change leadership and team leadership. Softer skills are even more important.”

Telecom service providers may look outside their own industry for these skills but need to make sure the fit is right, Gentry said.

“Change leadership, for example, is not something you learn from a book,” Gentry said. “It can be instilled, but you may have to look at particular arenas outside your realm that have had to deal with rapid change. That doesn’t mean a knee-jerk reaction, though. In the mid-90s, the telcos went out and hired people from Proctor & Gamble to do their marketing and figured out that that kind of class marketing skill set wasn’t what they needed. So they need to look at industry segments that have best-in-class leadership but also look within their own sector.”

TOMORROW: The importance of collaboration and the US brain drain