167 - Testing team performance reviews & insights from survey sent to 61 first-time CPOs: David Hanrahan (Chief People Officer, Flare)
Mar 22, 2024
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David Hanrahan, Chief People Officer at Flare, shares insights on testing team performance reviews, lessons from a survey to first-time CPOs, and the value of seeking mentorship from executives outside HR. Topics include rebuilding culture, AI emergence, handling layoffs, and actionable feedback from reviews.
Importance of seeking mentorship from executives outside of HR for personal and professional growth.
Implementing innovative team performance reviews to drive company success and employee development.
Value of prioritizing team performance over individual high performers for organizational success.
Deep dives
Transitioning Careers and Sabbatical Experience
After leaving his role in 2021, David embarked on a sabbatical to recharge mentally and physically. He explored activities like mountain biking and film classes, reflecting on his 20-year career and considering a return to the people world. During this transformative period, he consulted with CEOs and ultimately joined Flare, a software company focusing on revolutionizing family law.
Impact of Layoffs on Engagement and Organizational Culture
David highlighted the significant drop in engagement following layoffs, citing a 15% decrease supported by research. Drawing from his experience at Eventbrite, he emphasized the need for transparent communication, aligning layoffs with the company's business plan, and ensuring humane treatment of departing employees. David advocated for ongoing engagement efforts, underscoring the importance of understanding and addressing the morale impact post-layoffs.
Innovative Team Performance Reviews and Continuous Improvement
In response to challenges at Flare, David led inventive team performance reviews experimentations. Inspired by a transformative mindset, he purposefully strayed from traditional reviews that lacked impact on company performance. Having learned from past experiences, David sought to develop a review process that would genuinely benefit the company's bottom line, promoting higher organizational performance and employee growth.
Importance of Team Performance Over Individual Excellence
Team performance has been emphasized as crucial for the success of a company, with the focus shifting from individual high performers to high performing teams. The podcast discusses the impact of team dynamics on overall outcomes, using examples of orchestras and baseball teams. By prioritizing team excellence, organizations can shift their direction and achieve winning designs. The notion of stack ranking teams and fostering a culture of team success is highlighted as a strategy for organizational improvement.
Transition to Business Acumen in HR Leadership
The podcast delves into the evolving role of modern people leaders, stressing the importance of business acumen alongside traditional HR functions. Insights from surveys reveal a shift towards valuing business leadership skills over specialized HR knowledge. The discussion underscores the need for people leaders to connect business strategies with people plans, mastering relationships and credibility. The focus on building relationships and understanding P&Ls emerges as a key trait for successful modern people leaders.
David Hanrahan, Chief People Officer at Flare, joined us on The Modern People Leader.
We talked about how he’s testing team performance reviews at Flare, the learnings from a survey that he sent out to 61 first-time CPOs, and why you should seek out mentorship from executives outside of HR.
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(1:45) Good news stories
(5:30) What David’s been up to since we had him on in 2021
(11:02) What Flare does
(13:11) Why we should be jealous that David gets to work at Flare
(16:11) Rebuilding culture after a great period of change
(22:16) The emergence of AI & how constant change is the new reality
(25:20) Advice for People Leaders out there that are going through layoffs
(29:50) Sharing the plan coming out of layoffs
(31:30) Team performance reviews
(37:03) The actionable feedback that’s come out of team performance reviews
(43:00) Learnings from the survey that David sent out to first-time Chief People Officers
(47:30) Seeking mentorship from leaders outside of the HR world
