Hiring Leaders Who Can Drive Change

Talent acquisition is critical at every level, but it’s particularly important when it comes to executive recruitment. Whether you’re looking for a leader who can get your startup off the ground or you’re ready to scale up and take your business global, you’ll need executives who can drive change and deliver meaningful results.

At Acquire, we know just how important it is to hire enigmatic and inspiring leaders who are capable of realising your objectives and shaping the future. What’s more – we know how to find and attract top talent and successful leaders too.

What Makes a Good Leader?

When you embark upon a leadership search, it is essential to understand what constitutes a good leader. While many of us assume that we understand leadership, finding your next Digital Marketing Manager or Head of Growth Marketing requires a nuanced approach.

Some businesses look for candidates with high performance levels, for example. After all, someone who consistently performs at a high level is likely to embody these qualities at a leadership level and inspire others to do the same, right? Not always.

While high-performing individuals are certainly critical to your commercial success, they don’t always transition well to leadership roles. Performance is generally measured by ability, outcomes, drive, and likeability, whereas effective leadership is assessed with a wider range of factors, such as inclusivity, vision, and employee retention, as well as fiscal results.

Although a high-performing individual might make a great CMO, it is important to consider additional attributes when you’re conducting an executive search. By doing so, you can find and acquire a leader who drives real change and encompasses your brand values.

What To Look for In a Leader

Before you begin your leadership search, it is vital to identify the qualities, expertise, and characteristics you are looking for in your next CMO or Marketing Director. While qualities and traits, such as integrity, communication, empathy, and resilience, are often used to describe effective leaders, what do these mean to your business?

Until you know exactly what and who you’re looking for, you can’t implement an effective talent acquisition strategy. That’s why The Acquire Method begins with a Stakeholder Briefing to fully define the competencies and responsibilities associated with the position, as well as objectives and requisite industry experience.

By identifying what leadership qualities mean to your business and which are most important to your future growth, we can help you to create a comprehensive profile of suitable candidates as part of your executive search.

Implementing a Retained Search Strategy

Every employee plays a valuable role in your organisation but it is leaders who set the tone, motivate teams and are accountable for the company’s performance. Due to this, businesses must take a strategic and nuanced approach to find top leadership talent.

When sectors are growing rapidly, such as HealthTech or FinTech, it’s even more important to acquire executives who can adjust to an ever-evolving business landscape and identify key growth opportunities for your business, which is why a retained leadership search, like The Acquire Method, can be the best way to attract and retain the best leaders.

Retained searches focus on every aspect of the recruitment process, from defining the search parameters and pre-qualifying candidates to interviewing and onboarding. Crucially, retained searches give you the opportunity to hand-select candidates from your industry, even if they’re not actively seeking a new position.

In contrast, contingency recruitment typically involves collating resumes from candidates who are actively seeking new positions, thus leaving much of the market untapped. As a result, the most valuable assets to your business may never even be brought into the running for a leadership position.

Furthermore, a retained search approach, like The Acquire Method, involves conducting in-depth research and pre-qualifying candidates. This allows you to obtain far more information about potential candidates before meeting with them and essentially means you can hand-pick the individuals who are best suited to your company culture.

Whether you’re planning to hire a CMO in New York, a Marketing Director in London, or implement a distributed leadership team, a retained search strategy focuses on finding, attracting, and retaining the best talent in your industry.

Looking to the Future

When you set out to find your next Head of Performance Marketing or Director of Growth Marketing, it might seem sensible to search for existing leaders with exemplary track records. If an individual has been able to showcase their leadership skills in another position, for example, it can be taken as a good sign that they’ll be able to do the same at your company.

While industry and leadership experience are undoubtedly important, there’s no need to focus solely on the past when searching for new leaders. Every business faces different challenges, so previous successes don’t always equate to future triumphs. Furthermore, external factors may present new obstacles and there’s no guarantee that an existing leader will have extensive experience in overcoming them.

Often, you can find competent and successful executives by assessing an individual’s leadership potential, rather than their C.V. If a candidate has steadily evolved into more senior roles and has the attributes, traits, and characteristics you’re looking for, for example, promoting them into a leadership position can be a savvy way to acquire burgeoning talent that will drive your business forward.

Grow Your Business with the Right Leaders

Whatever your commercial objectives are, you will need the right leaders in place if you want to achieve them. From rebranding and global growth strategies to market penetration and brand positioning, the best marketing leaders can transform your business and enable you to fulfil your goals.

As marketing is so vital to securing sales and generating revenue, acquiring the right Digital & Growth Marketing Leaders should be a top priority for every business.

If you want to drive change and shape the future of your business, find out how Acquire can help. Contact us on +44 (0) 7583 648 612 or email Alex Marriner (Founder & Leadership Search Consultant) at [email protected] and start planning for success today.