HR & Recruitment
People decide the success of every change. Your processes do not.
The starting point of good recruiting is not the open position, but the task that actually needs to be solved.
An organisation hires ten new employees. The job descriptions are professional, the application processes standardised, the contracts legally sound.
A year later, four of them are gone again. Not because they were incompetent. But because it was never clarified which task actually needed to be solved, what responsibility came with it, and whether the organisation was really willing to involve these people.
The starting point is not automatically an open position. It is the task that needs to be solved.
Why recruiting often solves the wrong problem
Many companies start recruiting with a job posting. That sounds logical, but it is often the second step before the first.
The real question is: which task needs to be solved? Only from that can the required responsibilities and competencies be derived. A competency gap can be closed through developing existing employees, changed responsibilities, recruiting, external specialist expertise, or suitable digital support.
Whoever automatically starts with a job posting skips the most important question.
People are more than their CV
In recruiting, a person is not reduced to a CV, individual traits or an automated score. Abilities, experience, motivation, willingness to learn and development potential are considered together.
People possess dignity and potential. Potential here is not a romantic claim, but the possibility of developing new abilities, perspectives and forms of responsibility.
We do not reduce people to their current state. Potential becomes effective through voluntary development.
Change requires willingness
Sustainable change in teams cannot be forced. Pressure can change behaviour in the short term, but it cannot replace inner willingness. Leadership may create clarity, name consequences and challenge people. But it may not manipulate people or bypass their freedom to decide.
This also applies to integrating new employees. An onboarding process that looks perfect on paper but does not allow real involvement in decisions produces turnover, not belonging.
The quality of collaboration
Whether a new team member becomes effective depends less on the recruiting process than on whether the collaboration actually allows honest exchange.
Can people respectfully disagree? Are they allowed to voice uncertainties? Do they have to hide mistakes? Is criticism of a statement confused with rejection of the person?
If these conditions are not right, no recruiting process will retain the right people.
What this means for you
If your turnover is high, it is probably not down to the wrong people. It is down to unresolved tasks, unclear responsibilities, or collaboration that does not allow honesty.
What is behind it when people leave your organisation earlier than planned?