Solving people debt with a product mindset

Sofie Nasbeth

Business Development Manager

Startup life rarely allows the time to plan people operations. More than just the HR function, 人员运营关注组织内人员的管理和发展. 但是，当你在默认情况下而不是按照设计创建一个组织时，你就有可能造成“人员债务”。.

从服务交付到产品设计，重新构建人力资源和人员运营——将用户需求与业务目标相结合的过程——为快速发展的公司提供了增长的机会. No one knows this better than Matt Bradburn.

Matt is the founder and CEO of The People Collective. With experience spanning Primer, Vestiaire Collective, and Multiverse, 他帮助了120多家初创公司和规模扩大公司发展他们的人才战略. We asked Matt about the concept of people debt, how fast-moving companies can avoid it, and the essential skills for a product-focused CHRO.

This conversation has been edited for readability, actionability, and clarity. AI helped us transcribe and research this piece.

The what, why, and how of people debt

What is people debt, and how does it affect companies?

人民债务是允许人民运营在默认情况下而不是在设计中增长的结果. In practice, it looks like poorly-defined core values, opaque people processes, or a lack of career development.

这些定义不清的过程导致未开发的潜力不断增加, internal comms errors, and unclear expectations. 这些问题会导致决策速度变慢、员工敬业度降低等行为. These are the ingredients for a subpar culture. 如果不加以控制，员工债务会导致高员工流动率和更差的商业成果.

Why is people debt a problem in so many fast-growing companies?

Companies that need to prioritize speed often skip core processes. 早期公司并不总是有时间来定义和推广文化, org design, or employee experience.

这是可以理解的——当每个人的注意力都集中在紧急问题上时，人们的行动处于次要地位是很正常的. You can’t ignore product and engineering, sales strategy, or growth. But this lack of attention leads to a gray zone which creates people debt. For example, when expectations aren’t communicated clearly, or compensation rates aren't set and applied strategically, your employees are rightfully confused. And this confusion impacts employee satisfaction.

Read: How to start with People Analytics

But every company reaches a point of needing to pay better attention to HR, to grow their people ops by design. 产品思维使快速增长的公司更容易避免这些问题.

采用产品思维是有帮助的，因为产品团队会系统地从想法到产品. 这个系统使客户更容易成为决策的核心. Teams can center user experience, keep learning more about users, and apply an MVP (minimum viable product) mindset. This helps teams to ship products and iterate faster, based on user feedback. They keep agile.

Embracing the product mindset in practice

How can an HR team start thinking with a product mindset? Can you break it down for us?

转向产品思维模式使人力资源部门能够推动以商业为导向的人员运营战略的创建. Employees experience problems and pain points just like consumers. They get frustrated. 他们不明白为什么事情进展如此缓慢，或者为什么他们不能做出决定. The only difference is that the pains are happening at work.

Product teams usually start with an MVP. 这是一个具有足够功能的产品版本，可以让早期用户使用. They in turn provide feedback in exchange for early access. Product teams make assumptions–what users want, how it should work. Some assumptions will be wrong. 测试你的假设的唯一方法是尽快将你的产品放在真正的用户面前. Here’s how it can work in people ops.

Step 1: Understand the problem

Humans love jumping to solutions. But unless we start by probing the problem we’re trying to solve, we may end up creating the wrong solution. 这就是为什么我们必须与我们的客户，或者，在这种情况下，我们的员工交谈. Whether it’s understanding job titles, how equity is calculated, or annual leave across markets, the same rule applies. You’ve got to find what’s causing confusion or frustration. And you’ve got to bring your employees on the journey. Do they understand why you’re building these strategies? Do they agree with the approach? When you’re talking with your colleagues, you're talking with your customers. This is important.

Read: How L&D can today's solve business problems

Step 2: Identify customer-centric solutions

一旦你掌握了员工的痛点，就该开始制定解决方案了. 在这里，您需要将重点放在客户和用户体验(UX)上。. What will your product look and feel like when people are really using it? Say your workforce is hybrid, and employee benefit uptake is low. Does that mean your employee portal should be mobile-first? Or maybe you need more remote-friendly benefits? 在员工旅程中探索解决方案将带来更全面的体验.

Step 3: Set your goals and create the first MVP

通过调整人员运营战略和整体业务战略来确定目标的优先级. Ask your commercial or business development team to share their goals, and then adopt the MVP approach.

假设您的销售副总裁想要创建一个新的入职计划，以减少生产时间. 而不是花3个月的时间制作所有的材料和安排所有的课程, 问问你自己:如果我们走在正确的轨道上并创造价值，我们可以创造的最少的东西是什么? Start there. Then release that MVP to your next round of new hires, and ask for feedback. Use that feedback to inspire the next round of improvements.

Step 4: Test and learn

Problems and products change. You can’t assume your product will always fit for purpose. 因此，确定一个对你公司的阶段有意义的审查和迭代节奏. It could be when your staffing has grown by about 20 people, or you’re opening your first overseas office. 重要的是，你要回到产品流程的起点，开始与你的客户交谈. 然后与其他已经经历过这一阶段的人的经验进行对比. What common problems did they see and how did they adapt? What HR tech helped them scale efficiently? 向其他行业的同行学习可以帮助您构建敏捷且有针对性的人员运营策略.

The product-focused CHRO

Moving to a product mindset is quite a shift! What are the skills that the aspiring Series C or D CHRO should be building?

走向IPO的首席执行官需要将敏锐的商业思维与同理心等权力技能结合起来. And, of course, a product mindset. In my experience, 前两项技能实际上增加了开发产品思维肌肉的机会. A commercial mind optimizes for outcomes and impact, 同理心的人会寻找并理解客户的需求和痛点. These are the key ingredients for the product mindset.

Demonstrate commercial thinking

对商业广告的深入了解使CHRO能够在C-Suite中占有一席之地. By aligning people ops strategy with core business goals, HR shows the board how people ops supports core business strategy.

Read: Learn how to interview your employees

为了交付这些商业广告，CHRO必须能够定义一个成功的结果是什么样子的. 假设营销部门要求增加预算，因为他们计划向新市场扩张. They need new staff to deliver the company’s goals. A CHRO needs to understand the business case for the new strategy, the goals, and how the CMO will prove success. The CHRO is clear on what those metrics look like. They’re confident to report progress to the board.

Leverage power skills

Power skills are the essential human skills for the digital workplace. 同理心是所有高级领导者的基本技能，它将产品思维带入生活. 以产品为中心的CHRO足够谦虚，能够分析问题的真正所在——即使这意味着要推翻之前的假设.

Let’s take talent drain. 想象一下，尽管在领导力培训上投入了大量资金，但一家规模扩大的公司正在流失顶尖人才. And that training’s had high completion rates. 在这方面，CHRO需要做好深入挖掘和诊断真正的潜在原因的准备. That means showing empathy and curiosity when talking to employees. And creating a safe environment for them to share candid feedback.

权力技能和商业思维对于准备好领导公司跨越市场的CHRO至关重要. At Series D or IPO, this is a typical growth motion. And from an HR perspective, it brings significant policy challenges. Say you have staff in France, the UK, and the US. As the CHRO, 你需要在各个市场制定公平的产假政策，提供截然不同的法定休假权利和法定支持. But your employees are your employees, wherever they are based. Solving this problem requires advanced problem-solving and power skills. It requires HR to liaise with legal and commercial teams, internally and, potentially, with external consultants.

Next up:

Unlocking learning beyond the corporate LMS

Learn more about the future of knowledge