Takeaways from 'Scaling NYC 2.0 - Talent'

Culture has become a central focus among every leading organization and this topic has been particularly relevant among the growth-stage start up community.  From a defined mission statement and set of values to filtering, attracting and motivating employees, culture plays a critical role in almost all of an organization’s value drivers.

Our panel featured Barry Marshall, VP of People at Axial.net, Noa Santos, CEO and founder at Homepolish, and Sara Patterson, Chief People Officer at Bonobos. In advance of the event, we asked all the members to thoughtfully consider their own culture: How do you define an Axialite?  Is every Bonobos Ninja marching inline?  Who can handle the daily rigors and rewards of Homepolish?

 “everyone is sprinting, but preparing for a marathon”

– Sara Patterson

Talent is every business’s largest expense and greatest resource.  Noa made it clear that establishing Homepolish’s core values during the very early stages (5  employees!) has been paramount to their success, becoming a framework for their whole recruiting and hiring practice.  This same sentiment was echoed by Barry.  In his early days, he discovered mix messaging among the Axial staff, where there was a disconnect between the executive and staff level regarding key cultural identifiers and mantras.  To improve the alignment here, Barry brought in a psychologist to help define the language of their culture, which then helped attract talent by providing a method for articulating what made Axialites unique.

Scaling a business is a race, though leadership can define the parameters of that race.  Preparing employees for a marathon when everyone is already sprinting has been an interesting challenge for Sara during her career. In her opinion, this is the role of culture, preparing and motivating your people for a long distance race that will involve a lot of sprints.  Goals must be articulated early and often, but note your employees are eager for direction and may even crave clarity on where they should focus. Millennials especially are driven by the need for purposeful work, many panelists noted.  Purposeful work can drive a business forward and/or influence a community’s perception of the brand. Be mindful that your business does not have to set out to change the world to have purpose, leaders can find and articulate purpose in number of ways – perhaps in a dedication to excellence or product quality, etc. 

“you can’t overstate the impact of a bad apple”

– Barry Marshall

Recruiting the right Talent for the race starts with defining the perfect fit or ideal candidate.  Noa is very proud of the near 100% retention rate in his service department, as turnover is a haunting concern for most leaders.  He attributes his success to a rigorous interview process, based primarily on behavioral interviewing and understanding how a candidate would react to certain scenarios. If the candidate can persevere during the interview process, they will likely stand up to the challenge of handling client needs day in and day out.

Another question all businesses face is whether to hire for skill or culture fit. Our panelists were unanimous that cultural fit is far and away the most meaningful metric.  According to Barry, you cannot overstate the negative impact of a “bad apple”, of those who don’t fit your culture.  This energy is unfortunately contagious and it will quickly erode collaboration and innovation.  Use your culture to attract talent that demonstrates upside potential and develop their skills and abilities to meet the needs of the organization as you grow. 

“things are scary for a generalist at a start-up”

- Noa Santos

Growth in itself also creates problems. For instance, the demands of a role grows faster than the person’s capabilities who occupy that role, or vice versa. Sara has faced this at Bonobos, where it becomes valuable for a function to specialize and narrow in focus.  The person in the role may feel that their scope of work is being narrowed or taken away, but in reality they are of much more value to the business.  Titles also get interesting. What constitutes a VP? Does VP mean the same thing now that we’ve brought someone on with years of VP experience?  Our panelists agreed that communication, and over communication, is the key. Organizational growth creates growth opportunities for your employees. With this in mind, a leader must periodically stop to level-set and ensure the right players are in the right places.

–In Sum –

We at Scaling.NYC learn so much from the community and every event that takes place. The overarching lesson is without question that people are everything in business – the source of stress and joy, innovation and disruption, setbacks and breakthroughs. Culture is the most powerful and dynamic tool box for your people. Be thoughtful about culture and you are one step closer to succeeding.