Your Company is Never Too Small for a People Strategy - Your Career Intel

Your Company is Never Too Small for a People Strategy - Your Career IntelA few years ago, Netflix made headlines when its people strategy went public. In it, they unambiguously outlined what success for their employees looked like and what they were willing to do to attract and retain people who modeled their definition of success. They also made clear the outcome for people who fell short of the mark would bea generous severance package. The ears of leaders everywhere perked up, and discussions about the strategy permeated companies of all sizes.People strategies werent new at the time, but in many Boardrooms, they were regarded as high-minded, maybe even fluffy. So Netflixs people strategy illuminated for most of the corporate world what some of us have known for years Your people are your greatest drivers of success, and you better be clear about who you hire as well as how and why you keep them.The purpose of a people strategy is to define everything from what kind of talent you need to accomplish your companys work to what youll assess during the wertzuwachs review season and more. And people strategies are not just for behemoth companies, like Netflix and Google. If your business strategy is what youre going to do, your people strategy is how everyone is going to do it. The kinds of people you hire and how they work has a direct impact on your bottom line. So youre wise to put pen to paper on exactly who you want to work with, what you expect of them and how youll retain them. Because without a vision for this, youre left making the rules up as you go, and everything from your culture to your productivity could suffer.Your HR policies are not your people strategyMaybe youre reading this and thinking youre ahead of the game because you have an HR kollektiv. Theyve defined the processes for hiring and terminations, and they handle your payroll without skipping a beat. This is great, and its an important start. But if you dont have someone on your HR team wh os actively thinking about bringing your people strategy to life, youre behind the curve.HR practices and policies keep your company running, but a people strategy gives your HR team and their work higher purpose. They take the day-to-day tasks of recruiters, generalist and your learning and development team and frame them all together into a cohesive and consistent vision.The next time someone comes to your HR team asking for a pay bump for their team, you should have a clear explanation for how youre going to proceed and the answer is going to stem from your people strategy. How often do you review performance? What kind of performance do you incentivize? What are your pivotal roles? Some companies or departments, for example, are recruiting in a talent pool thats broad and easily sourced, while others are facing slim talent margins. The strategies for attracting, retaining and even compensating talent in these scenarios might be different, but your people strategy can help your l eaders and your HR teams get aligned in both cases.Its never too early (or too late) to get startedI realize this all sounds good on paper, but theres work to be done in your office. You dont have time to pause and ideate on who you want to hire and how youre going to retain and develop them. I hear this, and I get it.But every time I sit down with a small- or mid-size leader who is scratching their head about why theyre losing people or why their culture feels siloed or their companys work product is inconsistent, I ask if they have a people strategy in place. Usually, when work starts to feel unreliable, its because people have lost sight of the expectations for their work and their performance, theyve lost sight of whats in it for them or both. These are the kinds of problems a people strategy endeavors to solve. It gives clear context for what binds your company together from your values to your metrics for productivity.And while many leaders dont even start to think about their people strategy until theyre 500, even 1000 employees strong, imagine how much more cohesive work would be and how much stronger your culture could be if you had a people strategy in place from the day you hired your second or third employee.Id argue small- to mid-size businesses need people strategies just as much if not more than their large-business neighbors. In smaller businesses, theres a fluidity to work that can lead to a lack of clarity. You want gritty folks who are willing to chip in however you need. But this can lead to some people following their gut on performance, retention or other people management decisions. And you scale that grittiness without guardrails can look like chaos, and your engagement or productivity could suffer.This is why I always tell people theyre never too small to get started on a people strategy. It can be aspirational, but at its core, it should define who you need on your bench to get the work done. Having the answers to questions like this documented takes the guesswork out of a lot of the interactions that happen in your companys walls. Suddenly people arent following their gut when it comes to leading teams, theyre falling back on a carefully articulated and collective strategy.Has your company recently created or revised its people strategy? What did you learn about your work and your company? How has it improved productivity? Start a conversation in the comments below.