accelerate your workforce with an F1 approach.

what does high performance mean to you?

If you’re a fan of Formula One racing, it’s a combination of the engineering of the car, the skill of the driver, and the proficient team behind them. When it comes to high performance in your contingent workforce program, you need these same elements: a great leader, a highly competitive organization, and an expert, supportive team.

Since 2006 Randstad has been the official partner of the Williams Martini Formula One Racing Team. Both Randstad and Williams exhibit a history of innovation and success created by a remarkable workforce and share a similar commitment to developing talented teams that perform to the best of their abilities.

The 2015 Formula One season has showcased exemplary high performance from the field, including a strong showing by Williams Martini Racing. There have been great individual performances and podium finishes, significant advancements in technology and engineering, and dramatic finishes around the world. As the teams leave Europe and head to Asia and then the US, the sport continues to drive performance to new heights.

how can you take a lesson from the team’s playbook and apply it to driving great talent into your organisation?

Let’s look at the factors that have made Formula One unparalleled in achievements and how you can put the same principles to work at your organisation.

leadership.

The leaders for each team are tasked with a challenging role: bring together the talent, the technology, and the expertise needed to reach the pinnacle of their sport.

Their vision has been demonstrated again and again from the ever-improving race results worldwide.

Leadership understands that success can only come from continuous improvements and advancements.

In your organisation, are you also setting the pace for your team? Are you providing outstanding leadership necessary for building a winning workforce that will separate your organisation from competitors?

The successful leader will assemble the right pieces of the team holistically – looking to create an agile approach with the optimum balance of fixed and flexible talent.

This is an area where you can provide the most apparent evidence that talent acquisition can make a business difference — by delivering the talent that the business needs when it needs it.

expertise.

To surpass the competition in the sport, possessing the right expertise is essential. That means expertise in engine design, chassis build, exhaust placement, competitive capabilities, track conditions, etc.

Expertise enables Formula One teams to always chip away at the clock and gives them small but critical advantages.

If you had more excellent expertise in talent sourcing and engagement, what would impact your organisation?

If you had tremendous bench depth around organisational efficiency, supplier management, recruitment, and other functions, could you accelerate the fulfilment of business goals?

One of the strengths of Formula One leaders is their ability to identify deficiencies, develop the appropriate corrective actions, and bring their vision to life. Where gaps exist, the team principal seeks out the best-qualified resources to fix and anticipate the problem.

Today’s talent acquisition leaders must follow the same path and turn to the market for the expertise they need. It’s your job to find answers, not excuses.

winning talent.

It’s no secret that Formula One teams are constantly jostling for the best drivers in the sport. Those with proven skills and a record of success are always in high demand.

While salaries are one reason for talent mobility, other factors come into play.

The intangibles — team heritage and brand, personalities, and track record — all play a part in the decisions made by the best drivers.

You probably aren’t looking to recruit top race car drivers, but what is your impact on your organisation if you can quickly attract top performers to fill the roles you need?

The ability to win talent from direct and indirect competitors will give your company a distinct advantage to execute now and in the future. And as you build a reputation for attracting highly talented individuals, it will only serve to attract like-minded peers.

Assembling a championship-level Formula One race team is a unique challenge, but the approach and principles for doing so can be universally applied to developing your workforce.

By constantly looking to improve and considering available external solutions, Formula One teams demonstrate that you don’t have to go it alone to build a thriving organisation.

Similarly, you don’t have to shoulder all of the weight of managing your contingent talent.

The right market solutions can provide your strategies with the extra octane it needs.