ScaleUp People Priorities for 2023

Last week Elevayte and Techspace gathered senior #scaleup people leaders to look ahead to 2023 and share their perspectives. Thank you again to Liz Afolabi , Lillian Bautista , Clara Ross-Benham , and Kim Stringer (and of course our own Phil Bolton MCC ) for being so generous in sharing their insights. And thanks to Techspace Venues for being our wonderful venue.

We’ve tried to keep this brief, but we covered a lot of juicy topics.? Below are our 5 key themes, and the highlights of what we heard from our panellists.

What are your People priorities for 2023?

• Challenging the leadership team – As People leaders, we need to be able to challenge our own leadership team to ensure people stay front and centre at a time when there are lots of competing priorities. Kim shared the DREAM model (develop, retain, engage, attract, motivate) as a framework for forming your people priorities for this year
• Driving efficiency – People teams should always be looking at how to remove barriers and fuel progression. It’s vital to ensure that people are clear on what they’re trying to achieve this year, and what could get in the way
• Wellbeing – It’s been a tough few years with lots of instability. ScaleUp leaders need to think about wellbeing holistically, which includes mental, emotional, and financial wellbeing
• Sustainable high performance – If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that we should be seeking to create sustainable high performance. People were often thought about too little too late when growth was sought after at any cost. This is the year to rethink what high performance means (more below)
• People as your strategic superweapon – The untapped potential in your people can drive huge amounts of value for the business. Now is the time for the People function to shine and showcase its strategic importance. When your people are trusted and empowered, the sky is the limit

Rethinking high performance

• No ‘one-size-fits-all’ – As Lillian shared, high performance looks different for every company. People leaders need to partner with Founders and Exec teams to get specific. Does everyone understand the role they play in achieving the strategy? And are there specific OKRs/metrics that mean that people are clear on what they’re aiming for? Even within a company, different departments may have different paces of growth. Clarity and transparency is key
• Don’t hide from poor performance – As Liz rightly pointed out, paying attention to the other side of ‘high performance’ is key. Leaving poor results or behaviour unchecked has a double whammy of maintaining low performance and driving away your top performers
• Get leaders & managers aligned – The layer(s) below the C-suite are particularly important in a) helping to shape what success looks like and b) in empowering and providing clarity to the rest of the business. Take the time to get your managers on the same page, and make sure they’re supported
• Have a (longer-term) plan – Too often, performance metrics are only focused on the very near term. The most powerful development is rooted in the long-term, strategic ambition of the business. ScaleUps need to be thinking about the skills that each individual needs for the business you plan to be in two to five years’ time
• Be more of a camel – The land of the unicorns feels a little way off, so be a camel instead (as Kim was recently told).? Be the leader or business that can weather the ups and downs, can store resources and then accelerate when needed
• SWOT your people – Most leadership teams run SWOTs on the business, but not on the people. January & April tend to be prominent flight risk times, but this is just one lens to consider. Get proactive in managing your people risks

Retaining key talent

• The importance of 1:1s – There’s no replacement for frequent, meaningful conversations with your people. Not everyone will be with you forever and that’s ok, but there shouldn’t be any major surprises
• Compensation is not the only lever – There are lots of other things that keep talent in the business (e.g. flexibility). Make sure you’re looking at every possible angle
• Personalise retention – Clara shared Olsam’s ‘pick-and-mix’ approach to benefit packages. Let your support be as agile as the rest of your business
• Be intentional about culture & purpose – Your people stay for lots of reasons, but one of them will be their commitment to the vision and purpose of the business. As Phil shared, every interaction is a moment to build your culture. Focus on building a stronger sense of connection and belonging in way that is congruent with the mission
• Bespoke experiences for your top people – You want your top performers to feel valued, heard and invested in. Lillian shared that she’s making sure she has a proactive and personal approach with top talent. It’s crucial to paint a picture of their long-term development, and the coaching and support they’ll receive to get there

Maintaining focus on development & DEI

• Development isn’t only in the training room – Most of our learning and growth does not happen on formal training courses. Educate your people on how to find development day to day (e.g. coaching, mentoring, learning from peers/customers, working on a stretch project, joining networks)
• Ensure development is strategic – Too often courses are run in isolation and have no real plan to create lasting behaviour change. All learning should be rooted in the values and the strategy of your ScaleUp
• Focus on feedback – Most ScaleUps say they want a feedback culture and yet still have quite traditional feedback mechanisms. Build feedback into 1:1s, team meetings, and other structures that happen everyday. Use a coaching mindset to always reflect, learn and iterate. Do not wait for half-year reviews
• Embedding inclusion – There are lots of cost-effective books, resources, and tools out there. You don’t need a big budget or a subject-matter expert to keep inclusion efforts alive. Consider setting up an employee resource group to better understand what your people need and want, and make it happen. Inclusion is created by everyone

Evolution of the People function

• Scale your skillset – People leaders have been through the ringer, supporting everyone through the last few years. The silver lining is a huge amount of agility and resilience. People leaders now have the chance to scale this skill across the business. A coaching mindset is ultimately a problem-solving mindset, and there’s a lot to tackle this year
• ‘People’ is not an HR-only topic – Managers are critical to all things people-related and yet many managers in ScaleUps do not have a wealth of experience in managing people to draw upon. Take the time & have a concrete plan to upskill your managers. Culture, values, feedback, inclusion, and development are integral leading a team, not nice-to-haves
• Put the humanity back into HR – As Phil shared (and the audience agreed) this is the year to bang the drum for humans. It’s the humans in our businesses that make everything happen. Looking after them and supporting their development should be your number one focus in 2023. The companies that get this right will soar
• Stay strategic – It may sound obvious, but if your people strategy is not fully aligned to the business strategy, it won’t be effective. Stay strategic, get aligned, and then have a detailed plan to get your people ready for the next evolution of your business. People leaders are often pulled in many different directions, which is why clarity is crucial
• Create a legacy – This era will be forging the next generation of senior People leaders. By staying strategic, Chief People Officers (and their teams) can make an enormous impact – and this can go well beyond the People function. As Clara put to the audience, wouldn’t it be great to see more Founders, CEOs, or COOs coming from a People background? Think about the opportunities you could be creating for yourself and others and the legacy of focusing on people

Thank you for making it to the end. There was lots to digest, and we could have kept going for hours. We hope that this summary is helpful and prompts some reflections and actions for 2023.?

We are hosting our next virtual roundtable on 23rd February on the topic of ‘Rethinking development for 2023’. Get in touch with Kusia Pell to stay in the loop with all our events, and to learn more about the work we do at Elevayte.