One of the major challenges facing organizations today is that of finding talent. Recruitment specialists and consultants go through thousands of CVs and are often unsuccessful in finding the right candidates for entry positions. Filling managerial positions is not easy either. Many argue that there is a dearth of talent in Africa. No doubt the educational system has contributed to this problem; graduates have not been prepared to perform. Yet, some organizations find talent locally and they are outperforming their competitors.
A few years ago, I became interested in researching a phenomenon I had observed for some time. I could tell ex-Arthur Andersen staff from managers in a group. They had a number of commonalities: most of those I met had high professional and ethical standards. I wondered if the fact that they grew up in Arthur Andersen (AA) had something to do with it. I decided to research AA in Nigeria between 1978 (when it started in Nigeria) and 2002 when the global firm collapsed. How did AA in Nigeria find people like Dotun Sulaiman, Seyi Bickersteth, Ifueko Omoigui, to name a few? What did the firm do to develop an enduring value system in its employees? In this article, I share some of my research findings.
AA had a relatively long term perspective of the employment contract. This perspective influenced their recruitment strategy. Like Arsenal Football Club, AA looked for young people with potential and developed them. While it had an up or out system, those who left the firm joined the alumni and often recommended AA to their new employers. The firm supplemented its grow-your-talent strategy with occasional poaching to fill middle level positions when the need arose.
AA believed that to be a consultant or adviser, one had to be smarter than and ahead of clients. The firm wanted to be known for the quality of its service. Ethics was so important to it that clients who did not meet the high professional and ethical standard of the firm were dropped. AA defined what talent looked like: Brains, Ambition, Leadership and Integrity (BALI) and they used this formula to hire people. They looked for very bright people; people who were willing to succeed; people like Ifueko Omoigui, Yomi Sanni and Val Ejiogu who were the best graduating students in their universities. But having brains was not enough. Ambition was important, the right kind of ambition. After all, some very smart people are not willing to make the necessary sacrifices to go ahead in their careers. AA looked for people with fire in the belly. What tied everything together however was integrity: honesty, ethics, good behavior, right family values. According to one manager, a person who grew up without a lot of wealth, from a good family, got a good education, the family had the right values, who never had a lot of money to spend (just enough) is not likely to be corrupt, dishonest or cheat.
Defining what talent looks like is a necessary first step in finding the right people. The definition becomes the standard, the criteria for selection. Recruitment managers and consultants are clear about what the company is looking for and it is much easier to find the right people. A number of companies do not find talent partly because they do not know what talent in their organization looks like. Recruitment consultants and the selection panel are confused and simply try to fill a position, often with the wrong person. This may account for the high involuntary staff turnover within the first year of employment and the soaring costs of recruitment.
A clear definition of talent makes attraction and selection much easier. A frustrated recruitment manager told me she was asked by a client to hire an accountant. When she asked what exactly the client was looking for, she was told to find an accountant! The employer’s perspective of the employment contract (whether it is short or long term), the importance of culture to the organization and even the nature of the industry are factors which must be considered in finding talent. For example, a middle level accountant in a legal firm, an audit firm or in the maritime industry may require different experiences. The culture of the organization does affect an employee’s ability to perform on the job. Not surprisingly, Groysberg (2012) argues that talent may not be portable.
AA trained its managers on interviewing skills and provided useful manuals and videos on how to interview candidates. Applicants went through a series of interviews beginning with the immediate supervisor; the last interview was with the Managing Partner. During the interviews, the managers sought to determine if the candidate had BALI, and to find out what in the candidate’s background could have shaped him or her. According to Dick Kramer who founded AA in Nigeria: “You can smell ambition and willingness to succeed in people. You can also smell whether they have too much interest in money or possessions. Their grades and the schools they attended were important but beyond these the firm was looking for well-rounded people who can be taught. They may be brilliant but can they work well with others in a team? Can they work with clients? Can they lead others?”
While AA did not get it right all the time, they did find really good people. According to Dotun Sulaiman: “We did not get it right all the time but you have to get good at it. If you score 9 out of 10 then you are getting good at it. Your success is in identifying stars, recruiting and developing them. If you don’t you are going nowhere.”
AA’s talent strategy was to grow its own talent. Dick Kramer and Chris Holden came to Lagos in 1978 to set up AA in Nigeria. One long term AA employee commented: all Dick did was breed. Breeding is extremely important, if you don’t breed you won’t have a business. Breeding goes beyond finding talent to developing talent. AA spent time and money on employee development to ensure the right talent was at every level. 5 to 8% of gross earnings was spent on training. Employees attended training programmes which covered technical skills, soft skills, supervision and leadership. Even the way employees walked, talked and wrote were considered important! They had access to the famous AA green books and other resources.
AA values emphasized being and not having. One ex-staff commented: “we don’t mind being poor, being seen as a professional is more important”. Transparency, ethics, straight thinking and straight talk were some of the values of the culture. Talking about the AA culture, Kayode Omoregie, an ex-AA employee said: “You could feel it and see it in the people, the organization, the processes and the philosophy.”Managers asked young employees to look at those who had been successful in the AA environment. If they wanted to be successful they needed the same moral rectitude, honesty, ethics, competence, etc.
Another ex-AA employee who today is in public service said: “Andersen helped shape our values. Can I achieve without cutting corners? If I want to clear goods from customs without giving bribes, can I do it? Can I get an approval for a building without offering bribes? Andersen was unbowed and resolute on the idea that it can be done. When you joined Andersen you were told what to do and what not to do. Soon you believed the gospel and became a culture carrier. You told others, ‘we do not cut corners’ and it gave you a sense of self-worth. We felt special; it was clear that we were Andersen breed.”
According to Seyi Bickersteth “Andersen was my first major working experience, that environment shaped what I am forever.” Dick taught them to stick to doing the right thing the right way. If they keep at it, no matter the size of the difficulty, at some point it will crack and they will go on to more success. I know ex-AA staff who will not disobey traffic rules, who queue at Immigration to obtain an international passport, etc. They are law abiding citizens and they want to make a difference to their communities.
Organizations that lament the dearth of talent in Nigeria probably have the Man City Football Club talent model – they poach ready-to-perform talent who have been identified and developed by some other club or firm. These people are not readily available in Nigeria; if you find them, they command a premium. The cost of hiring expatriates is also incredibly high today. A few years ago, Tade Oyinlola initiated an academy at Ericcson Nigeria and managed to replace several expatriates with Nigerians and in the process saved Ericsson a huge sum of money. Computer Warehouse Group has an academy in each African country where it operates. They identify and develop local talent; they breed wherever they go.
Breeding brings a lot of fulfilment to leaders. A few years ago, AA alumni celebrated Dick Kramer’s 80th birthday with a seminar on Nation Building. As they prepared for the event, they recalled their experiences in AA. Many felt that their values and lifestyles had been influenced by Dick. The celebration was a show of gratitude to a man who built leaders. His legacy is certainly not how much money he made but the leaders he developed who today work in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. For Dick, building leaders is pretty simple: Pick the right people, develop them and get out of the way. They will know what to do.
Prof Franca Ovadje
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