McKinney Consulting, an executive search, human resources, and coaching consultancy, has revealed its distinctive approach to business, drawing on President and Founder Steve McKinney's extensive business career. Its clients also benefit from the decades of experience as an American executive in the South Korean market, serving as a bridge between East and West.
Prior to founding McKinney Consulting in 2001, McKinney was a professionally trained singer, with a bachelor's degree in music. He later held senior leadership positions at one of the largest athletic apparel companies in the world, including global head of footwear product development and testing. Based in Korea for more than 20 years, McKinney is uniquely positioned to help multinational companies looking to strengthen their Korean operations.
McKinney Consulting's primary offering is executive search services to companies from all kinds of industries that want to expand their leadership teams in one of the most technologically advanced markets in the world. McKinney says the search begins by working with a client to identify the unique skill sets required for the position. He also asks the client to come up with a description of an ideal candidate, which he calls a “superman” or “superwoman”, to fill the role, as well as a target salary range. To McKinney, skill based recruiting is superior to more conventional degree based hiring. Rather than simply ticking boxes, a recruiter’s focus should be on skill based interviews based on the performance objectives of the role. By analyzing the necessary traits for the role and utilizing a variety of interview techniques and assessments, Mckinney is able to find the best fit for the position that can adapt to the corporate and country culture.
McKinney Consulting is the South Korea partner firm for Kestria, the world's largest alliance of boutique executive search firms. In addition, McKinney Consulting is a member of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), the international body that sets quality standards for the industry.
Given the different work culture, labor laws, and market conditions in Asian and Western markets, McKinney Consulting leverages its expertise in the Korean market to ensure that its clients are able to adapt and follow the necessary regulations to ensure smooth operation.
McKinney Consulting also provides leadership, executive, and team coaching services, with McKinney, a master coach, being able to diagnose an organization's needs and take appropriate action. In one case, McKinney handled a case of an executive who was quite polarizing in their organization. Some people believed that they would become the next global CEO, while others wanted them fired. Looking into the issue, McKinney uncovered that it was a problem with shareholder management, and he was able to create a plan of action to remedy the problem.
As a bridge between cultures, McKinney also does cross-cultural coaching to ensure harmonious business relations. This is especially important because Korean culture, like most Asian cultures, is a high-context culture. These cultures place more importance on indirect communication, conflict avoidance, collectivism, and hierarchy. This is opposed to European or American cultures, which are low-context, which is more individualistic, communication is more direct, and there is less emphasis on hierarchy.
“We always look at each client as being different, and we do not put them in a cookie-cutter approach. We always keep in mind that we're dealing with unique people, and we always want to find out what makes them tick in order to make them succeed, which we call 'success factors'. Yes, there are global best practice standards that we follow, but it's important to create a bespoke approach to help each client achieve their goals. This is the main driving force in our work and the service we provide our clients,” McKinney says.
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