Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development: A Practical Guide to Transforming Talent Management Strategy for Business Results

by Sally Bibb

Overview

Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development explains how and why strengths-based recruitment (SBR) is having a transformational impact on performance in top companies like Saga, Gap, Starbucks and SABMiller. By shifting the focus from what people can do (competency-based recruitment) to what they naturally enjoy doing, or SBR, these companies have reported results which include a 50% drop in staff turnover, 20% increase in productivity and a 12% increase in customer satisfaction within a matter of months. It is no wonder that organizations in many sectors are adopting this new and powerful approach to improve performance, customer satisfaction and competitive edge.

Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development includes case studies and interviews with executive board level leaders. These provide rare insight into how they implemented strengths approaches in their organizations to improve the bottom line and performance. The book shows how strengths-based talent management goes beyond simply recruiting the right people to creating a strategy and culture that has a transformational effect on organisational culture and results. Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development will be the go-to book on strengths-based talent management for HR professionals and managers. Online supporting resources include bonus frequently asked questions about strengths-based talent management.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780749476977
Publisher:	Kogan Page, Ltd.
Publication date:	05/31/2016
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Sally Bibb is a consultant, speaker, award-winning author and director of Engaging Minds, a strengths consultancy. She carries out organizational change work in Europe, USA and Asia, and has a track record of transformational work in organizations. In the corporate world, she held senior roles at The Economist Group and international development roles in the telecommunications and media sectors.

Table of Contents

** Chapter - 00: Introduction 1 * Section - ONE: A practical guide to implementing strengths-based recruitment and development 5 ** Chapter - 01: An introduction to strengths-based recruitment 7 ** Chapter - 02: Why do organizations implement strengths-based recruitment? 30 ** Chapter - 03: How does strengths-based recruitment work in practice? 54 ** Chapter - 04: Successfully implementing strengths-based recruitment 71 ** Chapter - 05: Strengths-based development and performance management 95 ** Chapter - 06: Putting strengths at the heart of your talent management strategy 120 ** Chapter - 07: Well-being and happiness 138 ** Chapter - 08: The future of strengths 149 * Section - TWO: Real-life insights and stories 161 ** Chapter - 09: Interviews with senior leaders 163 ** Chapter - 10: Interviews with managers and recruiters 198 ** Chapter - 11: Interviews with people who transitioned from the wrong job to the right job 216

Editorial Reviews

"I found this book extremely interesting and more importantly, useful and practical. Strengths-based talent management... makes for a truly high performing and motivated team!"

Ian Carter

"Whether you're looking to improve the efficiency and profitability of your business or you're an ambitious graduate looking for a job that's the right fit, Bibb's book makes compelling reading."

Susan Debnam

"If you want to make a profound change to the performance and wellbeing of your staff and organisation, then this book is for you."

Professor Dame Jill Macleod Clark

"I'm always looking for more effective ways of enhancing performance and improving productivity. This book provides compelling evidence as to why using a strengths based approach to recruitment and development helps to achieve this."

Jo Kelly

"Successful people are good at what they do. So why not build the talent in your organisation by putting your people in positions they enjoy doing? Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development shows you how to do just this.... A must-read for business leaders, HR professionals and academics alike."

Company Director and Former CEO of Morgan Stanley David Buckley

"Great careers and great performance result from playing to strengths and ensuring you have "round pegs in round holes". Sally Bibb explains what strength based talent management is all about, offers guidance on how to do it, and provides plenty of ammunition for leaders needing to persuade sceptical colleagues of the case for change."

Chairman of West London Mental Health NHS Trust Tom Hayhoe

"Sally Bibb explains convincingly that traditional recruitment based on technical competence too often produces square pegs in round holes. Her advocacy of strengths-based recruitment, identifying what recruits actually want to do and how to liberate their strengths, is supported by evidence which I found compelling."

Vince Cable

"This is the most refreshing book I have read about recruiting and retaining talent.... If I could get every hiring manager in our matrixed organisation to read and apply just three or four things from this book our business would see remarkable outputs."

Emy Rumble-Mettle

"This book is a must read for anyone involved in talent management.... Making sure that we identify the personality of the candidate and of the role and ensuring a good fit, is a strength-based approach, but rarely done. This book highlights the how and why...excellent read."

Professor Sir Cary Cooper

"Sally Bibb...demonstrates successful strengths-based talent selection, development and management for the 21st century. Her advice is holistic, systematic, and both rational and practical. It's hard to imagine leaders not following her approach and integrating it into their agendas."

John Hofmeister

"Strengths-based recruitment is rightly here to stay and any serious recruiter can no longer ignore the benefits. Sally Bibb is the preeminent expert and has given us an interesting, practical and inspiring guide to everything we need to know."

James Darley

"Great careers and great performance result from playing to strengths and ensuring you have 'round pegs in round holes'. Sally Bibb explains what strength based talent management is all about, offers guidance on how to do it, and provides plenty of ammunition for leaders needing to persuade sceptical colleagues of the case for change."

West London Mental Health NHS Trust - Tom Hayhoe

"Sally Bibb has articulated the themes in strengths-based recruitment with such simplicity, clarity and conciseness in this book.  This is definitely a must-read for the organizations looking to implement an understandable and effective strategy for their talent management and resourcing."

Director of International Sales, Washington Post - Sam Kumar

"A very powerful and impactful book with practical application for any organization compelled to create sustainable performance in the 21st century, beginning with the recruitment process! In a very crowded marketplace of academic approaches to the challenges of talent acquisition, this book captures precisely what is now demanded for successful recruitment and onboarding.  A must-read for any HR practitioner who wants a seat at the strategic table!

President, HOPS International LLC - Charlie Walsh

"Recruiting the right staff can seem like a 'dark art' at times but this excellent book will inspire you to undertake strengths-based recruitment in your organization.  This book is an essential guide for all senior nursing and HR leaders who want to recruit the best using a tested and endorsed methodology.  I can highly recommend it."

Deputy Chief Nurse, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust - Sarah Rushbrooke

"Sally Bibb has been a keen observer of the development of management talent throughout her career.  She knows what works!
 
Her superb knowledge is encapsulated in Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development.  This book is a toolkit for managers and corporate coaches to motivate and get the best out of current and future employees.  If you want to build a great team and make sure that your company is a winner, this is the book you need!"

President, Global Leadership Network - Dr. Karen Otazo

"With solid intellectual foundations in positive psychology, Sally Bibb's Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development is a timely and welcome challenge to the current and outdated orthodoxies that bedevil how people in organizations are managed.  Sally's highly compelling book offers us a convincing case for how the strengths-based approach can make a positive difference and bring about meaningful change in organizations; moreover, with the aplomb of a highly skilled practitioner of the strengths-based approach herself, she shows us how we can all become more effective and fulfilled in our professional and personal lives."

Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Surrey Business School - Eugene Sadler-Smith

"As a marketing professional, it's fascinating to apply the concept of taking your best customers and analyzing them to find others who look like them to your working team.  Sally Bibb advocates the use of this concept to use the knowledge of what strengths make a team member excel and apply this to the recruitment process. 
 
The real-life insights and stories set this book apart from other business books.  This section provides interviews that allow you to start from a more knowledgeable starting point and take advantage of learning from other companies who successfully implemented SBR."

Marketing Director - Soo Son

"Imagine the competitive advantage that your organization would enjoy if you could maximize the potential of all your staff.  In this book Sally Bibb makes the business case for applying strengths-based practice in the workplace.  This book is the first of its kind to provide evidence-based guidance, insightful case studies and practical tools, tips and strategies to make strengths-based recruitment and development work for your organization.  Are you ready to join the strengths-based revolution?"

Positive Psychology Consultant, Workmad Ltd - Bridget Grenville-Cleave

"Successful people are good at what they do. So why not build the talent in your organisation by putting your people in positions they enjoy doing? Strengths-Based Recruitment and Development shows you how to do just this.... A must-read for business leaders, HR professionals and academics alike."

Morgan Stanley Bank International Limited - David Buckley

"For an HR professional, this is a must-read.  The strengths approach challenges the way many of us have thought about and done talent development and management for years.  In this book, Sally Bibb puts that challenge to us in a compelling, practical and evidence-based way."

VP, People and Organization, Technology, Projects and Drilling, Statoil - Kristina T.S. Vestbø

"HR is besotted with the pursuit of the latest big idea, irrespective of the needs of the recipient organization and the veracity of the bought-in solution.  Strengths-based recruitment is at the other end of the spectrum.  It is based on analysis of needs and proven technologies, which unusually for 'HR products' can generate substantial and tangible benefits.  Sally Bibb's book describes this brilliantly."

Founder of Corporate Research Forum and Strategic Dimensions - Mike Haffenden

"Packed with real examples, this book shows how strengths-based recruitment can help organizations to achieve ongoing success.  It is a must for everybody who cares about helping their organization to shape a successful future."

Author of "The Art of Strengths Coaching" - Mike Pegg