Should I promote my homegrown talent?

Dear Aunty B,

What is the argument for bringing in new people versus promoting homegrown talent? 

My inclination is to promote people who have been with the business and understand it, but my mentor says that limits the company’s growth and I need to be importing outside skills into senior positions. Which is right?

Money is an issue for us and it is cheaper for us to grow our own but on the other hand I don’t want to put a brake on growth.

DJ

Dear DJ,

There are pros to both sides. First, the pros to growing your own. Companies are their management. Take away the managers and what have you got? A bunch of people running around doing what the hell they like just because they feel like it.

Here is the perfect manager. She has lots of experience within your industry and the marketplace, built up great networks, knows who to poach, who are the duds, who should be avoided like hell and then get the team to execute successfully on the strategy.

That’s just a starting point. The most successful managers are expert in your company. They know the products inside out. They know how to price them and sell them and more importantly they know everything that has not worked because they tried it before and it tanked. They have learnt the hard way what works and what doesn’t. They understand the risks and what is going to trip them up and they know how to build in technology and frameworks to get the company to the next stage without taking massive risks. They understand the vision and the strategy – indeed they helped create it and they can guarantee you it will work because they know what doesn’t.

On the downside, they can be cautious, especially if they haven’t worked in large companies before and they have grown up with the business. By importing someone from a large company who understands how to build scale can be very valuable. On the downside, when you bring in new executives you holt growth. It can take three to six months for a new executive to come up to speed and maybe even a year before they really start to add considerable value. And they can often have big difficulties adjusting to a small entrepreneurial culture. They often have a lot of support structures around them at the large company and when they lose those structures, can’t function nearly as well.

My preference? Grow your own and where needs be, spend a lot of time searching out the right people from large companies who understand scalability, but have experience of small entrepreneurial cultures. Best of all worlds.

Be smart,

Your Aunty B

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