Is it a great company culture or just a collection of great talent?

Lots and lots of folks like to push 'culture' as the primary driver of organizational success. I have written and presented pretty extensively on why I think that's wrong. Check any of my 'Rock-Paper-Scissors' posts in case you are interested.

One of the many reasons I get a little skeptical about this 'cult of culture' is that by its very nature culture is hard to define, to measure, and hard to draw any kind of a direct (or even a dotted) line from culture to actual results. I'm not saying it's impossible, but just really, really, tough.

But another reason why culture gets too much emphasis is how easy it can be to confuse a great culture with what is really just a collection of great talent. This challenge was discussed, I think very effectively, on of all things an NBA podcast I was listening to recently, by ESPN writer Kevin Arnovitz on the July 6 episode of The Lowe Post Podcast.  Lowe and Arnovitz were discussing the recent decision by NBA star Kevin Durant to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors - a team famous for their 'culture'.

Here's Arnovitz' observations on culture v. talent, then some comments from me after the quotes:

On an NBA team is culture permanent? Or is it really just transient? Is it this fancy word people like us to describe what is really just a concentration of good talent, but it seems like culture? But actually what it is is just really good basketball players there? Which is why they (the Warriors) win, it's not because they have any special connection to the community of San Francisco like people like to talk about. 

Steve here - I think these observations are spot on, especially in a business setting like an NBA team where individual talent and excellence plays such a critical role in organizational success. Said a little differently, it is almost impossible to achieve the highest level of team success in the NBA without at least one superstar player, and one or two other All-star caliber players. You simply can't win without that talent level no matter how fantastic your team's culture may be.

And I know that I get a fair bit of heat from folks for trying to make these kinds of HR/talent points using sports analogies, as some folks think that an NBA team and its dynamics offer little to us to learn from, back here in the real world. But I continue to think that they are valid ones to make, especially as more and more organizations and work teams have to rely on ideas, innovation, creativity, and quite simply talent, in order to succeed in a hyper-fast, hyper-competitive world.

Ask yourself some of the questions about your organization that Arnovitz hints at.

What would really drive increased performance at your shop? More talented people? Or a somehow 'better' culture?

Which one of those levers is easier for you to influence? To measure? To replicate?

This isn't about me trying to convince you that culture = bad and talent = good.

It's about making sure we keep both in mind, (along with Strategy, if we really want to get back to my Rock-Paper-Scissors take).

When you put 4 of the best 10 or 12 best basketball players in the world on the same team you are going to win A LOT of games. If at the same time you have a great culture, you may win one two extra games.

But the great culture without the great players? Good luck in the draft lottery next year.

Have a great week!  

PODCAST - #HRHappyHour 245 - Talking Talent, Culture, and Technology (on the Radio)

HR Happy Hour 245 - Talking about Talent, Culture, and Technology (on the Radio)

Recorded Friday, May 6, 2016

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane

Listen HERE

This week on a fun twist on the HR Happy Hour Show, we are replaying/reposting an appearance Steve made recently on the Win-Win @ Work Radio Show that is broadcast weekly on WSCA FM, 106.1 in Portsmouth New Hampshire,

Steve was interviewed by Win-Win @ Work host Kristi Baxter and Michael Cameron, (who are fantastic), and the conversation touched upon innovation in the HR technology marketplace, how technology is helping HR leaders and organizations with talent management, succession planning, and career development, and finally, on the ongoing debate of hiring for culture fit vs. hiring for raw talent.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE or using the widget player below:

This was a really fun and interesting conversation, and we thought it would be a great idea to share this interview with the HR Happy Hour Show community as well.

Big thanks to Michael and Kristi for having Steve on the Win-Win @ Work show!

Reminder: You can subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on iTunes, or on all the major podcast apps for iOS and Android (I like Stitcher Radio). Just search for 'HR Happy Hour' to add the show to your subscriptions and you will never miss a show.

Revisited: Talent vs. Culture in Hiring Philosophy

Let me be very, vet clear about this: If you only have time for one podcast in your life that podcast should be the HR Happy Hour Show. We are closing in fast on 250 shows in the HR Happy Hour archive, and Trish McFarlane and I have lots more great stuff to come this year and beyond.

 But if you are like me (a little bit of a podcast nerd, admittedly), you like to mix up your podcast diet and sprinkle in some other choices. For me, one of the podcasts I almost always catch is the Bill Simmons podcast, which is probably 85% about sports, but mixes in enough other topics (pop culture, politics, tech and business), to make it a good listen even if you are not a massive sports fan.

Recently, Simmons did a show with Silicon Valley investor Chris Sacca, most well known for being an early investor and advisor to companies like Twitter and Uber. Prior to his pivot to investing in startups, Sacca was a relatively early employee of Google, (from about 2003 - 2007), helping the search giant build out its data center infrastructure. 

In the podcast Sacca talks about life at Google and what makes Google so different as a company and a place to work. The most interesting part of the discussion starts at about the 13:30 mark, where Sacce talks about the hiring philosophy at Google, and why that was imporant. Have a listen, then some quick comments from me.

In case you didn't catch the key comment, I will repeat it here.

Sacca: 'One of the things they (Google) did that is kind of like an NBA team, is that they hired just for sheer capability, not necessarily for culture fit. And so they were just like 'If we get the smartest, most driven, ambitious people in the world all to work here and we will see what happens. 

And so other teams were like 'Well, I don't know if this guy is going to work well with this other guy, you know a lot of raw talent but, if you look at Eric Schmidt and Larry and Sergey the owners and general managers, they said 'Let's just get the smartest people in the world here and then see what happens.'

In the podcast Sacca goes on a little more about what the focus on talent and raw capability above this idea of 'fit' meant for Google, but I think you can get the idea from the excerpt above.

Looking back through all the posts I have done on this topic over the years, I would say at least philosophically that I come down way towards the Google/Sacca point of view on this. I think raw talent, the ability to assemble enough of it at one time and in one place will have the most significant impact on organizational success, certainly when a company is smaller and growing.

Focusing solely on talent and ability may result in hiring a few bad apples, and Sacca admits as much in the podcast, but in the end whether its the NBA or a tech company, the team with the best talent almost always wins.

Have a great week, and make sure you check out the HR Happy Hour Show too!

PODCAST - #HRHappyHour 239 - The Human Jukebox Project, #EntryLevelBoss, and Other Stories

HR Happy Hour 239 - The Human Jukebox Project, #EntryLevelBoss, and Other Stories

Recorded Friday, March 18, 2016

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane

Guest: Alexa Schoen, Founder, EntryLevelBoss

Listen to the show HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour, we welcome Alexa Shoen to the show.  We are thrilled to have Alexa on the show because of her diverse background.  Whether in her role as a freelance Content Strategist & Communications Advisor in Berlin, her newly released album The Human Jukebox Project, or her highly successful #EntryLevelBoss movement, Alexa is on the move.  She uses her creativity to inspire others, not only her fellow Millennials, but a whole new generation of people who are looking for inspiration in their careers.  

We chat with Alexa about the impact of music and how it's possible to collaborate via social using that medium.  We also talk about the ways the #EntryLevelBoss movement is training people to think about work differently.  Please  join hosts Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane and our guest, Alexa Schoen, this week for what will be an interesting and important topic.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, or by using the widget player below:

This was a fun and interesting show, and I hope you check it out.

Be sure to listen to and subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on iTunes, or via your favorite podcast app. Just search for 'HR Happy Hour' to download and subscribe to the show and you will never miss a new episode.

HRE Column: Rethinking Talent and Technology

Here is my semi-frequent reminder and pointer for blog readers that I also write a monthly column at Human Resource Executive Online called Inside HR Tech and that archives of which can be found here.

As usual, the Inside HR Tech column is about, well, HR Tech, (sort of like I used to write about all the time on this blog), and it was inspired by a recent HR Happy Hour Show that we did with Cecile Alper-Leroux from Ultimate Software, and that focused (primarily) on three major trends and challenges that Ultimate Software is seeing their customers wrestling with in 2016. This was a great conversation on the HR Happy Hour Show, and I encourage you check it out.

On the show, the big trends that Cecile talked about were the concept of the 'Employee Experience', the evolution and transformation of performance management, and finally, the need for HR technology and technology providers to make predictive and prescriptive analytics more meaningful and actionable.

Since I thought the show was so interesting, and the product incredibly interesting, it was the topic of my latest column for HR Executive.

Here is an excerpt from the HRE column, Rethinking Talent and Technology:

I recently spent a few days at the Ultimate Software Connections customer conference in Las Vegas, an event that continues to grow in size along with the company itself. And while the Ultimate executives shared several interesting insights around specific product-development initiatives, their perspectives and points of view on the most important challenges facing their customers -- by extension, HR leaders -- were far more interesting. Since I like to have my own opinions validated -- who doesn't? -- I was pretty pleased to hear that many of the themes and ideas being presented sounded a lot like some of the ideas I was writing and speaking about earlier this year.

Based on what I heard and saw, there seem to be three main themes that are emerging as top-of-mind for HR leaders this year: a change in the conversations around employee engagement, moving toward a concept of "employee experience"; the evolution and transformation of performance management; and a kind of "moment of truth" about the use and efficacy of predictive and prescriptive analytics in HR and talent management.

I'd like to break down and expand on each of these themes, and suggest some ways HR technology can be leveraged in each area.

From Employee Engagement to "Employee Experience"

One of the enduring truisms about work and workplaces is that, no matter what organizations have tried to do to improve employee engagement, it has generally remained at consistently low levels since the concept was first discussed. Despite significant time and effort spent in the last decade-plus to raise these levels, most of the traditional efforts and interventions have not been effective. For this reason, many organizations are attempting to change and reframe the discussion from focusing on a measurement that is really an outcome and to thinking about how they can improve the overall experience that employees have in their interactions with the organization.

From an HR-technology perspective, HR leaders can impact the employee experience by challenging their technology providers to create solutions that deliver positive experiences from a usability and capability perspective. HR-technology solutions should be designed around the people and should serve to make their jobs easier, help them to be more productive and, crucially, help them to discover and unlock their potential. Not until the person is the focus of the technologies can positive experiences with the technologies abound, leaders at Ultimate stressed.

 Read the rest at HR Executive online...

Good stuff, right? Darn right it is. Ok, just humor me...  And be sure to check out the HR Happy Hour Show where Cecile Alper-Leroux from Ultimate Software talks technology, talent, and putting the 'human' back into HR.

If you liked the piece you can sign up over at HRE to get the Inside HR Tech Column emailed to you each month. There is no cost to subscribe, in fact, I may even come over and take your dog out for a walk or re-seed your lawn if you do sign up for the monthly email.

Have a great day and rest of the week!