Now that I've jumped ship, can I poach my old team?

"I just started in a new VP Marketing role 4 weeks ago and I'm itching to bring two or three of my old team with me. They're brilliant, we work well together, I know they will show me respect, and they will help me settle and perform quicker. But I know my old boss in the States would see it as a betrayal, and she has a nasty streak. I don't want to torch a bridge I might need one day. How best to go about it?"

Mrs L, Edinburgh

Dear Mrs L,

Quite a lot to unpack here.

Start with the paperwork. Have a look at your contract, or contracts, i.e. what you signed when you joined your previous firm and what you signed, if anything, when you left. Most companies will have a non-poach rule varying for say 1 year after you leave, but I am forever surprised about the number of firms that have no non-poaching rule whatsoever. Enforceability varies wildly by jurisdiction and by the exact wording, so don't take my word for it, get it checked by someone who actually knows your contract and your local law. But my personal view, for what it's worth, is that plenty of firms lean on the fear of these clauses far more than the clauses themselves would ever hold up in front of a judge. Who are you, or your previous employer, to tell an employee who they can and cannot work for? American firms in particular are quite adept at creating fear to drive behaviours, even post-employment, that don't always survive contact with a lawyer, and plenty of firms import contract language from jurisdictions where it doesn't actually apply the way they think it does. For the most part, in my personal view, employers care about poaching relating to clients much more than they do employees.

If you advertise a role and previous employees apply from their own free will because they want to move employers, that's a much harder thing for anyone to argue against, but again, check your specific situation rather than assuming.

Then ask yourself if you actually need to. You've been there 4 weeks. Do you understand the company and context enough yet? Have you settled on your priorities now you understand the lay of the land? Having trusted lieutenants is crucial to building a high performing team. Knowing that you can trust people, knowing where their strengths and weaknesses are, knowing they respect you and will be loyal, knowing they will salute the flag, can be big plusses in helping you succeed. But it's also quite myopic too. The odds are that there are better people 'out there', that bring fresh perspectives, new skills, and new experiences to the table to not only improve your team but you as a leader. Doing the same things with the same people again and again could get dull, and out of date, really, really fast. Don't miss the opportunity to work with new, better talent. You'll find new work friends to have coffees with.

Weigh the effect on the team you're inheriting, too. From your existing employer's point of view, it is often seen as a good sign if 'good people are willing to follow good people' which is something I agree with. But they'd also like you to uncover existing talent, or 'gold', within your existing team and give them a chance and opportunities for growth. Bringing the right people in with you, the ones with the right attitude and skills, can level up your new team and set the right culture quickly. Bring too many, or the square pegs in round holes, and it could have an adverse effect as those people were not the ones your new team actually needed, or your new colleagues feel like you have created a 'previous employer Mafia'.

Consider what you'd be leaving behind. You shouldn't want to ruin the work you have done at your previous firm by ripping the heart out of them unnecessarily. You will have worked hard there, I am sure, and delivered results. That's why your new firm hired you. Don't get me wrong, a company will always recover from a talent drain, and their narrative will always be that the change is for the better once they are through it. But you don't need to be a saviour for your former colleagues either. Whilst your move is fresh and you, and the previous direct reports, are probably a little unsettled and yearning for each other and the familiarity, in time things will move on without you. They will mould to their new paymasters and forget about you soon enough.

It's also a risk taking people with you, into a company where you are not yet established, because you simply do not know if it will work out. So each hire needs to be very considered. You should be sure that there is a role for them to play, that they are the right fit from a capability and culture perspective, and they will survive and thrive even if things do not work out for you. You owe every hire that respect and consideration, rather than treating them like a comfort blanket. If you're not sure how many ex direct reports you need to bring with you, then that seems to suggest you're not entirely convinced yourself yet.

If you do go ahead, do it properly. Don't be silly and email your desirables from your new company address to their company address. Post the roles and take a whole of market approach. Let internal people apply, allow former colleagues to self-nominate, and see what the market has to offer. If after all things considered, you still plump for the former direct report, then fair game from my point of view. And morally it's fine.

Let your new HR team know your thoughts, in person or over a call. They will have their own philosophies and policies to abide by, and it's worth actually asking them for their honest view rather than just informing them of yours. HR will often have seen this play out before, good and bad, and they may know things about your new company's culture, its relationship with your old employer, or even live client conflicts, that you don't yet. Their read on it could change your approach entirely, so treat it as a genuine conversation, not a box to tick.

And, polite request, if a former colleague signs with you, don't bother playing the 'don't tell them where you're going' game. It's nonsense all round and puts your new hire in a very awkward position, harming their reputation and the manner of their exit. Have some balls. Let them tell their old boss they applied and want to leave. If that causes a stink, so what. Try and get in front of it on behalf of any person who has decided to jump onto your bus.

In my view, the people who get burned on this aren't the ones who poach. They're the ones who poach badly, then pretend they didn't.

Rich

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