1/ Was recently talking to a founder and she asked what we do to attract & retain talent. It was purposefully broad.
These were my thoughts.
To be clear we have a ton to learn. We have made lots of mistakes and iterated on our process too many times to count.
These were my thoughts.
To be clear we have a ton to learn. We have made lots of mistakes and iterated on our process too many times to count.
2/ “If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t get there”.
I have found that the best at attracting & retaining talent are great at 1st defining where they are trying to go. That means org structure along w/ cultural elements like mission & values.
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra
I have found that the best at attracting & retaining talent are great at 1st defining where they are trying to go. That means org structure along w/ cultural elements like mission & values.
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra
3/ Mission- It is the DNA of the company. IMO this should change the least (if at all). Ours is written on the walls in office. It has never changed and I have found it to be helpful in attracting & retaining people that believe in that mission.
Meaning it is self-fulfilling.
Meaning it is self-fulfilling.
4/ Values- Memorable, short, unique and authentic to you. Like the mission, values likely wont come from committee- they come from the founders.
Ours are:
Do It Right
Be Brave
Be a Solution
Here is the best article i’ve seen on company values.
firstround.com/review/draw-th…
Ours are:
Do It Right
Be Brave
Be a Solution
Here is the best article i’ve seen on company values.
firstround.com/review/draw-th…
5/ We had debates - endless debates with everyone - when we first rolled out the mission and values. I regret those debates as they led to people feeling not heard. But IMO these things are not done by committee, something that I now wish I had realized sooner.
6/ Org Structure- I think startups can and should change their org structure a lot. The company grows in size & performance, strategy & tactics evolve, the tech and competitive landscape changes.
7/ All of those changes influence changes to how the teams are structured to accomplish goals. We’ve changed something about the org every 12-18 months.
I think a mistake we’ve made is not doing that more often. Our hesitancy has often been out of fear of change.
I think a mistake we’ve made is not doing that more often. Our hesitancy has often been out of fear of change.
8/ Note that I think changing reporting structure does not necessarily have to follow team restructuring (but it can- and is more painful). We haven’t figured out how to change reporting structure without that being more painful. [Ideas welcome]
9/ Hiring traits- We have tried to define what matters to us most (role-agnostic) in hiring while making it short enough for everyone to remember. For example, I believe Integrity, horsepower and work ethic in our opinion are more important than Experience, Network and Humor.
10/ But more important for us has been clarifying what we want. I remember a VC asked me what I look for in hiring very early on. I had a vague rambly answer. He passed.
foxbusiness.com/features/5-att…
foxbusiness.com/features/5-att…
11/ Vision - I have found that laying our vision has been helpful to align the team, but also to help attract teammates that are inspired by that vision. We did it in a Medium blog. If we had a consumer internet biz w/ millions of MAU , we would have done it on the site.
12/ For years I fought the need to differentiate the vision from the mission. I regret that- it caused the team to spin a bit more than we should have.
It was clear in my head but I wasn't listening to their request for clarity.
medium.com/@ryancaldbeck/…
It was clear in my head but I wasn't listening to their request for clarity.
medium.com/@ryancaldbeck/…
13/ The frameworks above allow the entire team to operate more effectively and efficiently. The frameworks help them fill in the gaps that inevitably come up in the recruiting process and in their day to day jobs. They ensure greater alignment.
14/ Recruiting - Phew….ok now we start recruiting. Know that “give me 6 hrs to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first 4 hrs sharpening the Ax” quote from President Lincoln? I think of all of the work above as sharpening the ax.
15/ OK back to Recruiting- IMO recruiting starts at the top with a #s driven funnel. Using clear, trackable metrics allows the company to evaluate performance over time and more effectively predict recruiting performance.
16/ We have tried benchmarking recruiting funnel stats (LI/email outreach, first calls, onsites, offers, acceptances are KPIs). We’ve found that the stats vary enough by role, company, year and geography, that what matters more is understanding your own funnel for specific jobs.
17/ Hiring panel- A mistake we make often is having a big hiring panel. People hired tend to be those that have a lack of holes, rather than the presence of spikes in talent. Larger groups dilute process and identify gaps rather than spotting outliers.
cnbc.com/2019/04/17/her…
cnbc.com/2019/04/17/her…
18/ Diversity is critical in the hiring panel. Lots of data on that. I cant include all of the relevant articles/studies on it.
workingmother.com/diverse-interv…
workingmother.com/diverse-interv…
19/ Offer- how can you share the offer with the candidate in ways that are authentic to you? We have each person on the hiring panel send a note about why they are excited for the person to join. I’ve heard others who really like to send cupcakes or ask the candidate to dinner.
20/ IMO worst answer is copying someone else. The inauthenticity will shine through if it isn’t a culture match.
Early on we did some things that weren’t authentic to us. Led to cognitive disconnect when candidate compared those tactics to what they say in our culture.
Early on we did some things that weren’t authentic to us. Led to cognitive disconnect when candidate compared those tactics to what they say in our culture.
21/ Comp- We work hard to create hiring bands that are based on market data. Paying someone lower than market, even if they will accept it, will lead to more turnover and also hurts D&I initiatives. Ask a VC or other CEOs for comp data.
22/ We’ve received lots of feedback about our interview process that has changed what we do. E.g. candidates didn’t know who they were meeting with and felt confused- now we give them a clear schedule and a quick overview of each person to prep them.
23/ Before the start- We learned the hard way that having an onboarding doc with things like 30, 60, 90 day plan, key info about co. mission/vision/values, and some other info, really helps align new team members.
24/ In the early days we had teammates show up not knowing what time to show up, or what they were working on in the beginning.
Sitting by yourself for a few hrs on the first day is a great way to start rethinking whether you should have joined the company.
Sitting by yourself for a few hrs on the first day is a great way to start rethinking whether you should have joined the company.
25/ “Classes” - I forget who we stole this idea from, but I really like having “classes” about key topics like The Founding Story 101, Our Product 101, Comms 101, Compliance 101, etc. Helps discuss in greater depth some key topics with new team members. Helps integration.
26/ Buddy Program- We assign a “Buddy” for each new teammate. They go out to coffee for the first 6 months once a month and talk through whatever is on their mind. It is always someone not on the same part of the org.
27/ Don’t get me wrong.. Sometimes it is super awkward and doesn’t stick at all. But the point is simply to create structure to ENABLE different types of connection across the org. It won’t work every time.
28/ Coffees/Teas/Smoothies- Data says the first 14 days on a new job are a huge predictor of retention. Is the person absorbed into the org and creating cross team relationships? We try to have the person get about 10 out of the office casual meetings in 1st 14 days.
29/ My co-founder found research that found a really great predictor of engagement (and retention) is having a best friend at work. The logic behind the programs is to create relationships that hopefully blossom. Here is one article on the topic.
gallup.com/workplace/2375…
gallup.com/workplace/2375…
30/ 1:1s with manager -Getting feedback early and often about what’s working and what isn’t both for the company and the teammate, helps both sides to iterate. An analogy: It is like data from users for a product team. It helps both sides make a lot of minor (or major) iterations
31/ Reviews- About 84,000 people before me have said that if the other person is surprised in a professional development review, it means there was a communication breakdown.
That is a true statement.
That is a true statement.
32/ Daily culture- I have always found it hard to describe a culture succinctly. I start to just list things. Demonstrating a desire to grow and learn from one another, a thirst to build something bigger than themselves, being respectful in disagreement.
33/ Standing up for our mission/values. It’s taking ownership & accountability, it’s a desire *to be held accountable*. It’s getting to know small things about your teammates personal lives.
34/ Steven, our head of talent, says “daily culture is the key to retention and the ‘Inclusion’ part of D&I”. I like that concept. For us it isn’t about the food at the holiday party.
35/ In rereading my notes above I find none of it to be particularly novel or insightful. Many people have written about these things more effectively than I have done here. Yet I am still choosing to write. As CEO I sometimes needed to hear things a few times before I absorbed.
36/ ….kind of like this one about culture.
