Business
When recording this amazing episode with Wasim Benharch I was buzzing - and it wasn't only because of the caffeine I had that day. Meeting Wasim opened my eyes to Learning and Development in organisations and the role it plays for retaining the right talent. Wasim introduced an onboarding programme at Methods Business and Digital Technology that has seen attrition reduced from almost 30% to single digits in the space of 12 months! So that’s clearly a success, and a story I wanted to hear from him. He didn’t always work in L&D but gives us a good overview how he worked with retailers and partners over the years and started to understand the necessity for the role he has now. He filled us into a model called the 70-20-10 which looks at three areas. It holds that individuals obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events. Whilst we also discuss how many people use YouTube to find information, aside from Google’s search, and we used the example of repairing a washing machine, and finding a step by step instruction. What I liked about Wasim’s attitude is that he believes in having a good place to work makes all the difference. He is humble that there is no secret sauce to what he does, however I have seen too many companies not adhering to the basics. However, when telling his story, he outlines the buy in from the C-Level and the front-line staff. He is bridging the gap between what KPIs leadership wanting to meet, whilst on the other hand maintaining the work environment and matching the needs of the people doing the day to day work. He looked at pre-boarding, induction and probation. His task was to make each stage a huge success, e.g. engagement, for the individual. Every line manager involved in recruitment would be involved, and of course the leadership as described above. Further, he introduced a 2 day introduction programme which is relevant for everyone. Not, like many I have experienced, it was for junior or senior staff, or you are too busy in the job to actually attend it. And the product in his case are the people. We discuss the whole process in detail and I am sure you find many pointers there if you are in L&D or running a company. Given I have gone through a few redundancies and had different HR experiences from onboarding to ‘off boarding’, it was refreshing to hear Wasim’s approach. And it clearly works!!! When we discuss freelance workers and how they integrate them, Methods’ approach is long-term rather than short-term thinking, which is a testament again (!) as many freelancers join them full time. A great approach to integrate everyone and using recruitment and positive WOM as a recruitment tool, as a company’s responsibility is all about offering an opportunity to grow and have a career within an organisation. His approach, similar to mine, is all about developing staff, mentoring staff until they cannot progress further; good managers rise with the tide. Retention as its best. He defines success as finding happiness in what one does, and how he can be beneficial to others. If anyone wants to reach out to him, they can go and find him on Linkedin. Wasim inspired me so much, and we had so much fun recording it, I also wrote a blog post on the back of this podcast, as Wasim got me to think about my personal story of joining and leaving companies. You might enjoy reading that too. This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer. Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019. If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).