C-suite roles are changing to help Fintech Start-up companies grow. How these companies approach the executive-hiring process can spell the difference between success and failure.
To secure funding for Fintech start-ups, transformative leadership matters more than ever. To manage the demands of the growth phase of the business, new skills are required within C-suite roles, and the job descriptions may have to change to accommodate this.
By updating their approach and understanding of how roles are changing, CEOs and boards can improve their odds of hiring the best talent for key positions.
Morphing C-suite
In response to new challenges and opportunities, some C-suite roles are morphing. There is a general belief that the role of the chief executive has become more demanding today than ever before. The need for transparency, authenticity and communication, as well as being focused on execution, is just a few of their job requirements.
The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) role has also changed lately. These executives are responsible for designing compensation and benefits plans, as well as implementing learning and development programs- they’re important! But now, they must coach their peers to excel in their jobs, too, especially when it comes to addressing employees’ needs that have grown with disruptive changes.
Other positions in the C-suite are gaining prevalence to tackle newer demands. For example, a survey of 3,000 global CEOs released last year from IBM found that Chief Technology Officer was rated most critical going forward after Chief Operating and Financial Officers. There is also a belief that relatively new roles investors and portfolio company leaders are increasingly hiring for include chief transformation officers as well as those roles with sustainability focus or with a diversity, equity and inclusion focus.
These situations raise tough questions:
- How can companies screen for and select the right candidates for them? What new competencies and personal qualities are required for demanding roles such as these? Executive hiring mistakes come with a high price tag. For example, a C-suite turnover can cost a massive 213% of salary. More qualitative costs include organisational instability, erosion of morale, and reputational risk. It is therefore vital to get executive hiring right the first time with smarter executive recruiting.
- How can companies implement and design a more effective and lower-risk executive-hiring process?
Here are three recommended actions to address this:
Clarify role requirements
The first step to defining requirements for new C-suite roles is reviewing your strategy. Why is the role critical now? Why will it be important in the future? To tailor this advice to today’s C-Suites, make sure you get broad input on a changing requirement before moving forward. For example, if hiring a Chief Diversity Officer for the first time, survey or interview members of employee resource groups and other stakeholders about what competencies are necessary going forward in that role – not just those that have been historically important.
If you’re hiring a Chief Transformation Officer for the very first time, then ask business and functional heads about their qualifications, including operational expertise as well as their ability to drive change (persuading hearts as well minds). Frequently, CEOs will select someone solely because they can operate effectively even though driving sustainable transformation requires having key people engaged too.
Assess candidates’ personality traits and cognitive abilities
It is crucial to assess each candidate’s personality traits and cognitive abilities because a lot of leadership entails flexibility, adaptability and the ability to work remotely with different employees. Emotional intelligence, including empathy, matters substantially in how much people can identify with leaders. This also includes having the capacity to live personal values while also embodying the organisation’s values
Evaluate past behaviour for insights into future behaviour
Behavioural questions are essential for predicting cultural fit and understanding the often lasting impact a leader will have on their employees. As leadership roles change, analysing candidates’ past behaviour to gain insights into future behaviour has become even more important. This is achieved by asking behavioural interview questions that catalogue major events throughout an executive’s entire career, such as how they react when faced with failure or loss of a job, or early promotion. Combined with other data collected during your interview process, you can gauge how that person might behave in the future.
A well-informed decision reduces turnover risk and helps leaders perform better once they are in place. Behavioural interviews also allow you to make decisions much earlier than traditional selection methods do. Making time spent recruiting executives less costly and avoiding “reactive hiring” due to sudden vacancies without warning from colleagues who leave unexpectedly – all crucial factors for maintaining company culture under changing times!
Behavioural interviews allow companies to save time spent selecting new hires by focusing on those who show resilience against negative life experiences like being fired or losing a job at some point within their professional careers – this goes alongside assessing whether someone would be able to handle different types of challenges down the line.
By following these three steps, staying close to the findings, and discussing them with trusted colleagues, you can better manage hiring risks and ensure that you are bringing in the best leader possible.
If you would like to discuss your current or upcoming senior hiring requirements, then click on the link to arrange a confidential discussion: Arrange A Call