Why you should learn sweet fuck all about People, Culture & Talent
The People Paradox
TL;DR
The most effective and innovative People functions do HR, unlike HR.
I’m fascinated by the Matthew Effect–a psychological phenomenon I liken to compounding social advantage.
And just like compounding interest–they who understand it, earn it; they who don’t, pay it.
In short, where you start decides where you finish.
Imagine a strong, athletic but technically average teenage striker scoring goals for fun against school county rivals.
Her pace offers plenty of goal-scoring opportunities.
Her strength bullies defenders off the ball.
It’s impossible not to notice this gal. She’s brilliant.
Before long, the eye of several WSL football academies are keen to sign her; before Bristol City snaps her up and twelve years later she’s playing for England at the World Cup.
She worked hard. Sacrificed everything. Dedicated her life to the sport.
But where she started opened early doors to world-class coaching, facilities and training that compounded into curling it top bins from 40 yards against Brazil in the World Cup Final.
Now translate this to your career as a People-person.
Whether you’re twenty years into your career post-HR degree or an accidental People-person like me, you joined the least sexy function in business.
Naturally, as People-people, you and I disagree. We’re fucking sexy, mate.
But to the rest of the world?
Sales, Marketing, Engineering and Product are ten outta ten’s 😍
They get the recognition. The adulation. The budget and resources.
They also make it to leadership positions far sooner than HR–who are often last to the table.
Believe it or not, this isn’t a woe-is-us victim cry.
I’m of the perhaps equally controversial and contradictory opinion that it’s our fault.
HR folk of old have been making our bed for decades.
Operating as a supportive, administrative, boring bunch of Kens and Karens that offer no value beyond policy or procedure–existing only to protect organisations from tribunal, bad press and uniform violations.
My first experience of HR was a written warning for violating Health & Safety regs.
😱😱😱 what on earth did you do, Charlie!? I hear you cry.
Did you paraglide from the office roof?…
…Tokyo Drift your company car to client premises?
…abandon exposed live wires for an unsuspecting member of the public to stumble upon?
Not quite.
I was drinking Lucozade at my desk.
Because y’know, keyboards don’t much like Lucozade.
So is it any surprise today’s People & Talent folk aren’t taken seriously by so many founders, leadership teams, managers and team members?
We spent decades pissing everyone off and wonder why no one’s listening.
Compound social advantage has hardly worked in our favour, has it?
I’m fairly confident assuming that People & Talent folk want the world to see HR differently.
Continuing to do things the HR way won’t get us there.
HR is a microcosm of its wider organisation–it has been for decades. It just hasn’t been operationalised as such until recently.
The most effective and innovative People leaders, People-people and People teams understand this fact; applying new operating models, ways of working and philosophies to their People & Talent approach by learning from the functions they serve.
We take HR from the doldrums of support and bureaucracy by doing People, Culture & Talent unlike HR.
By doing sales, doing marketing, doing Customer Success, doing Product, doing Engineering, doing–you get the idea.
The Matthew Effect isn’t a constant truth.
It’s possible to change the trajectory of People & Talent’s social advantage but here’s the kicker: exponential growth starts where learning about People, Culture & Talent ends.
Before you are, you must be.
That’s riddle for: before HR is equal, HR must be equal.
Is being objective, be being subjective.
Start learning sweet fuck all about People, Culture & Talent.
Because this is how it’s always been done thinking has plagued HR since birth; compounding into the perceptions and narratives we fight so hard against.
