Want to hire great talent? You have to ask the right question.

Every company says they want to hire and retain the best talent.

They want the best people working for them. Yet, it is still a struggle for so many.

The question I often hear is “how do we find great talent? How do we get them to work here?”

I believe this is the wrong question to start with. The first question asked should be:

“What kind of culture and environment do we need to create that the best talent finds appealing and would want to work for?”

This question creates a subtle yet profoundly different line of thinking than the previous questions.

There is a huge difference between trying to GET someone to work for you, and having someone WANT to work for you.

When you approach it from the old point of view, you begin to think that perhaps the issue is the job description. Or your website. Or salary. Or that you are picking the wrong people.

While these may have an influence, if the culture and environment aren’t intentionally created to allow great people to do their best work, it’ll be hard to succeed.

Culture and environment are more than just what the office looks like. There is more to the answer than the physical environment. It’s not ping pong tables. It’s not stand up desks. Culture and environment are more tied to the feeling each employee gets the moment they park their car and walk in your doors each morning.

Instead of blaming your hiring practices, one-page marketing piece, or even ‘Millennials these days’, take ownership on the company level and decide to level up.

Be a culture that empowers your people up, not micro-manages them down.

Create an environment where employees feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves, not a cog in the wheel.

Be a company that lives its mission and holds employees accountable to the values and behaviors you have set, not a company where the only place the values are held up is on the nail that holds the ‘Our Values’ poster in your lobby.

You want great talent? Learn what the type of great talent you want is looking for in a workplace, and then create it.

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