Culture - Strategy - Talent: Organizational Rock - Paper - Scissors - Slides presented by Steve Boese at Halogen Software's Customer Conference, Thursday Sept. 11, 2014

1. Culture – Strategy - Talent
Organizational Rock-Paper-Scissors
Steve Boese Sept 2014

2. Presenter Info
• Steve Boese
• Co-Chair HR Technology Conference
• HR Exec Magazine Technology Editor
• Co-Host of HR Happy Hour Show and Podcast
• Co-organizer HRevolution
• Blogger at Steve’s HR Tech
• Your New Best Friend

3. Prologue

4. So is that really true?
Does ‘Culture’ really eat Strategy for Breakfast?
And what does that even actually mean?
In the real world, not in a book or on Twitter.
Can we even understand let alone measure ‘Culture?’
And what about Talent, you know the actual capability of
the people in the organization?
Will this slide ever end?

5. Agenda
1. Culture
2. Strategy
3. Talent
4. Achieving Zen-like harmony
5. Wrap-up, Q&A

7. Culture
<We have an awesome culture! Yeah, us too!>

8. Culture Problem #1
<You are faking it>

9. <the employees don’t believe in it>

10. Culture Problem #2
<Everyone around here seems the same>

13. Culture Problem #3
<‘Fun’ doesn’t always equal ‘Functional’>

15. Why culture can’t be the sole answer
• You don’t really know what it means – Sure, we like to talk about our
companies using terms like ‘family’ and such, but at the end of the day
business is business
• You don’t ‘sell’ culture – Not separately anyway. You still have to have
a ‘real’ product/service that customers want. Zappos still better have
the Converse shoes I like and in my size or I am not buying no matter
how quirky they are
• Culture starts with ‘cult’ – I don’t need to tell you all the negative
connotations with cults, but just remember there is a fine line between
‘Hiring for fit’ and ‘Hiring people just like me’
• Productivity – At the risk of sounding like a ‘Get off of my lawn’ old
guy, having a great workplace culture is no guarantee of sustained
excellence or success. Sometimes ‘fit’ keeps low performers around
and chases away great ones

17. Strategy
<this is about to start sounding very hard>

18. Strategy Problem #1

21. Strategy Problem #2

23. Strategy Problem #3

25. Why a great strategy is not enough
• Some of the best strategies are
extremely complex, take years to
develop and might not work anyway
• Once you have a strategy, it can get
really easy to hold on to that strategy
for far too long
• Knowing when to adapt, pivot, or
reverse is an imperfect science at
best
• In the end, it might not matter
anyway. Customers ARE NOT
rational. (Pet Rock)

27. Talent
<We only hire ‘Top’ talent. Yeah, us too.>

28. Talent Problem #1

30. Talent Problem #2

31. Fun Fact!
97.8 percent of Wharton MBA
graduates in 2013 received job offers
within three months of graduation,
with median base salaries rising to
$125,000

32. Talent Problem #3

33. Every company is a Tech company

34. Why you can’t rely on just talent
You can’t find nearly enough of
all the talented, REALLY
talented people you need.
And you need the very best people
in order to win championships. And
all your competitors do too.
The most talented people have
almost limitless options. And
they know it.
Chasing talent, trying to keep
talent, poaching new talent is a
never ending, hard to win game,
(unless you are Google)

36. Harmony
<let’s all take a deep, cleansing breath now>

37. We’re conditioned to choose one

38. It’s not really a choice

39. The Circle
Culture
Strategy
Spock
Lizard Talent

40. The Circle
Culture
Talent
Strategy
Informs
Defines
Enables

41. Some ways to keep it balanced
Hiring – Make sure your ‘hiring for cultural fit’ gimmick isn’t driving too much of
your hiring decisions. Challenge your hiring managers to consider the value of new
and fresh ideas that often come from people that might not seem to ‘fit’
Technology – You can’t afford to spend time on the things that are not part of the
CST triangle. Outsource, automate, eliminate all the extraneous tasks you can to
focus on what drives results
Development – Give people opportunity to do more of what they enjoy, what they
are good at, and where they can develop adjacent skills. You have to get more out
of talent because chasing ‘top’ talent is a never-ending and frustrating game
Business – HR keeps getting told they need to ‘understand the business’, but
while true, that is not enough. We need to really understand how people/talent
directly and indirectly drive business outcomes and results. The closer you can
connect talent to strategy, the more balanced you can get

42. Four Closing Thoughts…
<Canada’s top export is?>

43. Or, what I should have said at the beginning
Culture – Pros: Unique/compelling, can’t be copied or stolen, binds people
together
Cons: Culture = Cult, lack of diversity, doesn’t scale or sell
Strategy – Pros: Drives decisions, comprehensive, unifies people/mission
Cons: HARD, Needs constant revision, can be copied
Talent – Pros: People are #1 asset, magnetic, increase in value over time
Cons: ALSO HARD, Needs constant attention, can be stolen, $$$$
Harmony– Pros: Allows flexibility, plays to strengths, keeps organization nimble
Cons: None really. Except you have to constantly tell the ‘Culture eats
Strategy’ folks they are wrong

45. Missing me one place, search
another...
steveboese@gmail.com
steveboese.squarespace.com
HRTechConference.com
hrhappyhour.net
Twitter: @SteveBoese
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveboese