“Work with the knowable”

Leadership interviews: Mark Dorman, SThree 

In times of uncertainty, decisions that would normally be months in the making often have to be made overnight. In the conversations I’ve been having with recruitment business leaders I have been interested to hear how different organisations have been managing their response to the coronavirus crisis - and how the professional expertise and experience of various leaders has played a part in shaping that response. 

In the first of our interview series with industry leaders, here I speak to SThree CEO Mark Dorman about his experiences with crisis management.

After working for 20 years in the industry, I know SThree very well. I’ve heard a lot about you from mutual connections and colleagues, but it would be great to hear a bit more about your background in your own words. Also, what attracted you to the recruitment industry? 

Yes, I’m actually fairly new to the recruitment industry. When the UK government was about to announce the lockdown it was my one-year anniversary! I’ve spent the past two decades in leadership roles in information, software and services, most recently in the education sector. I’m a purpose-driven person. I think what we do as an industry is very important, our purpose is about bringing skilled people together to build the future - something I think has never felt more relevant. At SThree, we’re focused on people with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills. If nothing else, this crisis has proven the real-world value of focusing our energy in these areas. We work with some of the most critical talent helping pull us through this, from the people keeping society moving through manufacturing, infrastructure and food tech, to the life scientists on the front line - those doing the research that will ultimately help us find a vaccine. The main similarity when it comes to the other industries I’ve been in is that you have to deeply understand the needs of the customer.

You’re clearly very purpose-driven in business and with the organisations you lead - I’d love to know what drives and motivates you from a personal perspective. 

Playing a small part in making a difference in the world motivates me in both my personal life and my professional life. I believe that business can be a force for good in moving society forward. Throughout my career, I have always tried to create opportunities for people to engage with mission-driven organisations. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do - and because people who turn up to work with a mission and a passion tend to be more engaged than those who are just turning up for a pay cheque. And of course, my three kids drive me - in fact, they drive me a bit crazy with e-learning right now! I’m actually supposed to be on college tours with my 17-year-old at the moment. It’s been an interesting experience during what is a pretty critical year for him academically.

Yes, I was talking to one of my managers about this the other day. Predictive grades, not being able to sit exams, it’s certainly an interesting time. In my conversations with CEOs, many say that it is challenging converting a purpose into true action that lives and breathes at all levels throughout the organisation. You’ve obviously got a clear vision to galvanise and connect the right people. How are you embedding this purpose throughout your organisation?

Our strategy is the lens through which we take all of our actions. Having a purpose allows you to centre on what’s important, which in turn dictates what decisions you make and ultimately how you behave. What we care about is bringing skilled people together. What this means in practice is that we are able to focus in on talented STEM candidates and we’re driven to providing them with meaningful work. It makes good business sense, if you’ve got talented candidates doing meaningful work, the retention level is much higher than simply doing a deal. 

You’ve already mentioned how technology is as important as ever, do you feel that that’s given you a competitive advantage? How far are you down the digitalisation path with SThree?

Clearly, getting data and data insights will be critical in helping guide all businesses going forward. For businesses like ours, digitalisation is about understanding where the demand patterns are, specifically what roles are available and how we can match supply with demand - especially in volatile markets, and what future trends will be. We’re certainly on that journey, I’m not sure it’s a journey that’s ever really completed, but we’re on it. 

I’d like to switch the conversation back to 2008 / 2009. While perhaps not quite the immediate economic shock we’re facing today, I remember that sense of there being a deep impact in every corner of the industry. What do you remember of the recession we faced ?

At the time I was working for Wolters Kluwer, a legal business. Many of our primary clients at the time were law firms dealing with big corporations, so you can imagine the impact there. Companies were shedding close to 1000 lawyers a week at its peak, with revenue streams drying up and zero financial transactions happening. As you say, it might not have been the economic shock we’re potentially up against now, it certainly felt like that at the time.

How did you approach that difficult situation? What action did you take?

You’ve got to listen to your people, after all, they’re the ones closest to the ground. You’ve also got to stay flexible in your approach, allowing you to add value for your customers in the short and long term. Over time we made some adjustments to the products, services and contract terms we were offering. We tried to show our customers we were in it with them, we weren’t just a supplier to them. This paid off, and in the end, we performed quite well in the 2008-2012 period. 

It can be challenging to balance the financial health of the business whilst looking after being there for your customers as a true partner. What were the key learnings you took away from that experience? Are there any that can be applied in this current crisis?

You work with the knowable, versus the unknowable - and right now, there’s a lot of unknowable. Work out what the boundaries are in terms of what you can and can’t do. The normal mode of financial metrics sort of goes out of the window when there’s that level of volatility, your key assets are your customer relationships and your people - so make sure you listen to them. 

I have heard the phrase that you need to plan for the worst and hope for the best a lot in the past weeks. How are you approaching planning decision making in this moment?

There’s no point in taking action for the sake of it. Flexible scenario planning is key. When your timeline shortens, think, Do I understand the range of scenarios that could play out? and Do I have signposts that can be adapted to these scenarios however they unfold? Then your inputs are largely what’s going on in the market and what you’re picking up from your people and customers.  

So here you are, 1 year into leading SThree as CEO and we’re now all managing a global pandemic. What were the immediate actions that you took to protect your team, business and clients? 

Like many businesses, we set up a crisis response team back in February, when it first became clear this was going to have a major impact. We called it our G16 team, because we were getting input from 16 countries, helping us get information and make decisions quickly. This ensured we were best-placed to respond to policy adjustments across the globe. Next we put a framework in place to define how we think about crisis management. Broadly speaking, crisis management falls into three phases: immediate response, ongoing management, then recovery. At its core, this is a health crisis - which makes it a little unusual. Unlike 2008, this time, the economic impact is a secondary issue. Our first response has to be the safety of our people and customers. What do we physically have to do to protect them? How do we respond within the boundaries of government responses - because that’s another thing; people in different countries will be subject to different guidelines, all of which are changing all the time. Then we think about our business continuity plan - how do we make sure our operations continue to run and keep the business viable throughout the cycle so we can deliver on everything else? Finally, there’s the economic impact. You have to set out your structure and priorities, understand the consequences of those three component parts, then react accordingly. 

From an economic perspective, how does recruitment compare to the other sectors you’ve worked in? Are there differences in keeping things viable?

Broadly speaking, many of the sectors I’ve worked in share the same concerns. How are we going to be affected by the crisis directly? How do the economics of our business model play out relative to our exposure to it? If I think about recruitment against say, the airline industry, there are different levels of exposure. But again, because of the STEM area that we work in, what we do is very important at the moment, especially as three-quarters of our business is temporary and flexible staff.

People are understandably anxious at this time, and there is to some degree information overload - which can be distracting and time consuming. How do you separate valuable information from all the clutter? 

For the 33 years of the history of SThree, everyone has worked in an office. In 15 days, we went from that to 98% of our workers working from home. The logistics involved in that transformation was an effort in itself - and I must say the team did remarkably well. We invested in IT, ensuring everyone has the right tools to work remotely, but also training and development around how people can adjust to working in a new environment. We find that little and often is the best approach to support through information, starting with key information and policy changes that apply globally and tailoring it to different countries and personal circumstances. Some good examples of that include information about parental leave that applies while schools are closed, and increases in our paid volunteering leave that fits with the purpose-driven aspect of our organisation. The world as we know it has changed. Things that would have been unthinkable five weeks ago are now normal. Communication doesn’t always work in broadcast form, instead, we try to maintain an open and honest dialogue - always in a culturally-sensitive way. Q&As, social videos that encourage discussion, sessions with me, and so on...

We are facing a material shift on how we engage our teams. How are you educating and coaching your leadership team to adapt to remote working as opposed to presenteeism? 

There are practical, technical things - sharing successes and so on, but then there’s the cultural aspect. We’re going through a trust revolution. It’s gone from how do we manage our people - to how do we support them? We need to make sure our people aren’t getting “Zoom fatigue”, or working too hard in this virtual environment. We do Pulse surveys on a weekly basis just to get a little feedback from staff members, then use that data to explore what’s working and what’s not. 93% of respondents think we are doing a great job so far. To return to my central thesis, it’s all about really listening to your people.

 Reflecting on this very challenging time, has anything surprised you?

 Just the level of engagement we have in the organisation. Everyone seems to be invested in our purpose, and you can really feel that they’re connected to making a difference. I’m personally very proud of that.

 One last question. How have you been leading by example?

 Looking after my own health, staying open and honest with my colleagues, and making sure to balance our internal discussions with lots of talks with clients and those with an external view.

Does Mark’s experience resonate with yours? Has purpose been core to the decisions you and your company have made? How have you experienced the trust revolution? If you have any thoughts, questions or your own experiences to share I’d like to hear them – please share in the comments below.   

#TalentVoices