“If you’re trying to convince the CEO to invest in a new talent programme or trying to recruit someone to your company, you’re selling,” he said. “The denomination is just different – it’s not pounds or dollars, it’s time, effort, attention, engagement or zeal.”
He added this selling takes on a new dimension in a world of “information parity”, where potential employees can research a company on websites like Glassdoor before joining. “We have moved from ‘Buyer Beware’ to ‘Seller Beware’,” he warned.
Pink, who was recently ranked top in HR’s Most Influential International Thinkers list, was giving the closing keynote speech at the CIPD Annual Conference.
He also urged the audience to get on top of analytics to become more influential in their organisations. “Hunches are good, but data is better,” he said.
To become more effective at selling and influencing in the organisation, Pink offered a model of three key qualities: attunement, buoyancy and clarity. “This is the new ABC,” he said, playing on the infamous sales mantra ‘always be closing’.
Attunement means seeing things from the others’ perspectives; buoyancy relates to resilience in the face of potential rejection; and clarity means “distilling and curating information and identifying hidden problems”.
“HR is in the position to coach people above and below to be more ABC,” Pink said.
“HR is at the white-hot centre of the organisation. It has the potential to make organisations a lot more successful and humane.”
For an interview with Dan Pink, look out for HR’s Most Influential supplement app, which will be available to download from 25 November.
