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Values As Infrastructure. Not Marketing Copy.
3 Plays2 months ago
Most companies treat values like marketing copy. Polished, framed, and quietly ignored when decisions get inconvenient. We didn’t build STRATIVIS that way.
Values were the infrastructure first. Everything else came after.
People First, Always isn’t a tagline we added to sound good. It’s the standard we operate against, moment to moment, decision to decision. It shows up in the teams we’ve built, the leaders we’ve challenged and the calls we’ve made when it would have been easier not to.
In this episode, we break down what values are actually supposed to do: hold weight under pressure, guide decisions when there isn’t a clear playbook, and shape the kind of company you become, whether you planned for it or not.
Because values aren’t what you publish. They’re what you prove.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Show and Hosts
00:00:12
Speaker
Our take on talent, people trends, and the reality of building up businesses in an economy that keeps rewriting the rules.
00:00:19
Speaker
I'm Amy Crook, founder of Strativus.
00:00:22
Speaker
And I'm Erin Todis, managing director of talent delivery, which basically means I live in the universe of finding the right people to make an impact for our clients fast.
00:00:31
Speaker
Around here, we talk about the real side of HR and talent, what works, what absolutely doesn't, and how to build teams that can carry a business, not drag it down.
Purpose and Focus of the Show
00:00:41
Speaker
We'll break down trends, share the behind the scenes of scaling a consultancy from zero, and probably overshare a little because that's where the good lessons live.
00:00:49
Speaker
So whether you're building, hiring, leading, or just trying to keep your company profitable, you're in the right place.
00:00:56
Speaker
This is Fractional Frequency.
00:00:57
Speaker
Let's get to it.
Reflections on Company Values
00:01:04
Speaker
good had a good day it's good to have you in town this week it was amazing i'm the trip just flew by in the blink of an eye but i'm also happy to be home seeing my kiddos and in nice warm north carolina weather
00:01:22
Speaker
But it was so cool as we were just chatting, I think on Wednesday, about our values.
00:01:30
Speaker
And it sort of occurred to us that we hadn't really talked a lot about that publicly.
00:01:36
Speaker
They're on our website and all that stuff, right?
00:01:39
Speaker
But we haven't sat down to really share where they came from.
00:01:43
Speaker
And I think that matters.
00:01:45
Speaker
And so I'm super excited to take some time and chat a little bit about that so that we can share it with
00:01:51
Speaker
our connections, our customers, our followers.
Creation and Importance of Company Values
00:01:54
Speaker
Yeah, totally.
00:01:55
Speaker
And the thing I think I love the most about our values beyond what they are, which we're going to get into, of course, is how we built them.
00:02:05
Speaker
I'm thinking back to Strativist launching in August, me coming on board in September.
00:02:12
Speaker
And I remember you flew out to Raleigh the first week of September.
00:02:14
Speaker
And I think it might've been the first exercise we did.
00:02:18
Speaker
We sat down to do
00:02:20
Speaker
strategy and planning.
00:02:21
Speaker
And the first thing on your mind, on our minds was who are we going to be and how are we going to operate?
00:02:26
Speaker
How are we going to treat each other?
00:02:28
Speaker
How are we going to treat the people around us?
00:02:31
Speaker
And so I think it's so core to who we are and how we make decisions.
00:02:36
Speaker
It's not just a marketing tactic for us.
00:02:40
Speaker
It's how we live and breathe Strativus.
00:02:43
Speaker
And so this episode is about how our values were formed and why they hold.
00:02:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to talk about this.
00:02:53
Speaker
I think both of us have, you know, a ton of experience in, you know, corporate
HR Challenges and Decision-Making
00:03:00
Speaker
America.
00:03:00
Speaker
So we saw...
00:03:02
Speaker
First hand, what happens when businesses either are in high growth mode or markets are shifting and the people systems just can't support what the business needs and who pays the price?
00:03:17
Speaker
Well, everyone.
00:03:20
Speaker
So the gap that I guess I felt like and you agreed that we could fill was
00:03:28
Speaker
was that we have the experience in growing companies and companies that are going through shifts or changes, making those decisions while still keeping things
00:03:46
Speaker
the people experience in mind.
Reactive HR Practices and Their Impact
00:03:50
Speaker
Because we've all seen it where, you know, leaders who are well-intentioned, but they get overwhelmed and they just don't know what step to take next, or HR being super reactive instead of strategic,
00:04:08
Speaker
And it's, it's never a good thing for your business to treat the people implications of decisions as an afterthought, because it's so damaging to engagement and productivity, which ultimately, yeah, impacts impacts everyone.
00:04:26
Speaker
And then, of course, talent decisions being rushed, unclear, misaligned with goals.
00:04:33
Speaker
And then, you know, people are running in one direction and then it's all changed to run in another.
00:04:39
Speaker
These patterns have a real impact.
Leadership and Communication Stories
00:04:48
Speaker
I wonder, Erin, like for you, like, is there things that you've specifically observed, like,
00:04:55
Speaker
when these people systems or leadership don't take people into consideration.
00:05:04
Speaker
Of course.
00:05:05
Speaker
I mean, there are so many examples flooding my mind right now of what I think most people, the word that would come to mind is like toxic environments.
00:05:16
Speaker
And if you really sort of peel back the layers on what you feel like is a toxic environment, I think a lot of times it comes down to leadership sort of operating in a way where they're not thinking about those implications and
00:05:29
Speaker
Maybe I'll tell one story just to sort of illustrate where my mind is going.
00:05:34
Speaker
I was working in a middle management position at a large enterprise.
00:05:38
Speaker
And so, you know, functional team of over 100 people with many middle managers.
00:05:45
Speaker
And the leader of that function, I learned, had this like really poor practice of having a problem to solve or a special project in mind.
00:05:57
Speaker
And he would sit down separately with maybe three or four managers or senior individuals on the team and assign them the problem to solve or assign them the project.
00:06:10
Speaker
But the catch would be that they didn't know that others were also running towards that work.
00:06:16
Speaker
And so, you know, imagine like you think that you have like this special opportunity to go
00:06:21
Speaker
And solve something and then you uncover maybe as you're seeking feedback from peers or doing research that other people have also been charged with this as well.
00:06:31
Speaker
It just made people feel it made them feel less than it, particularly on the heels of something they were really excited about and a great opportunity for their career.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, no one likes to feel like they're getting played.
00:06:43
Speaker
And, you know, there's nothing wrong with crowdsourcing ideas, but like it's the transparency piece that's just a mess.
00:06:52
Speaker
And then your brand with those people that probably looked up to you and felt like really great about being trusted to help with something, then that's just totally tarnished.
00:07:07
Speaker
And I don't think...
00:07:11
Speaker
I don't think people realize the full like implications of
00:07:15
Speaker
of their interactions sometimes.
00:07:17
Speaker
Like I think they're just like, oh, well, you know, onto the next thing.
00:07:21
Speaker
As soon as we're having story time, I'll tell you a little one too, where I think, you know, people systems not being what they should be.
00:07:32
Speaker
I have found that senior leaders particularly have kind of struggled to have like honest conversations
The Role of Communication in Business
00:07:42
Speaker
in certain environments.
00:07:42
Speaker
And I think it's this,
00:07:45
Speaker
this need to be liked maybe, or just, you know, when you're used to being like top of the tree, your feedback is maybe delivered between like somebody else, you know, and so you're not necessarily as used to having the direct conversation.
00:08:08
Speaker
But I have an experience where I've been
00:08:13
Speaker
a while, you know, years ago, I was put up for a promotion.
00:08:17
Speaker
And two people on the senior executive team kind of blocked it.
00:08:25
Speaker
And, you know, I had other people that were on the senior exec team that I had a closer relationship who, you know, they were kind of confused.
00:08:32
Speaker
They were like, I'm, you know, we were for it, like,
00:08:35
Speaker
Don't really, you know, know, but good luck with your conversations, because what I decided to do after that was, you know, set some time up with these leaders to kind of get the feedback.
00:08:45
Speaker
And when I got on the call with both of these leaders, both of them danced around it.
00:08:53
Speaker
Didn't really want to say anything.
00:08:55
Speaker
And then the line, and it's so funny because they both near enough said the same thing.
00:09:00
Speaker
It was like, you know what?
00:09:01
Speaker
Like the things I'm thinking about were like two years ago and I don't think they're really relevant now.
00:09:10
Speaker
And I was just like, but you thought they were relevant enough in calibration to block a promotion that I had worked my butt off for.
00:09:21
Speaker
And so,
00:09:23
Speaker
I understand that they didn't feel like it was going to have any value.
00:09:30
Speaker
So think about that, like when you're in calibration, like if this is not something that's either relevant right now, or something that you would be comfortable sharing directly with the individual, like, is it based in fact, or is it just a feeling?
00:09:47
Speaker
And I think that's,
00:09:49
Speaker
where the the myths can go because it obviously there was nothing that they could draw on to tell me and so and I've seen it myself in calibrations where you know people maybe just haven't interacted with somebody a lot or maybe they've had like one situation that didn't go too well and then it stays with them you know I'll just tell another quick story somebody who was on my team
00:10:16
Speaker
a couple of companies ago had said or done something way before I started.
00:10:21
Speaker
They'd been with the company a long time, but they said or done something maybe three years before I joined.
00:10:27
Speaker
And then I had been managing them a year.
00:10:30
Speaker
And in calibration, I couldn't get them a pay increase because of this weird thing that happened three years ago that was not anything to do with the quality of the work or anything.
00:10:42
Speaker
you know, and it was a real fight to get it.
00:10:45
Speaker
And I, I shouldn't have been shocked that like, that would be the, that would be the hinge, you know, three years ago, three years ago, it happened.
00:10:55
Speaker
So I don't, you know, that's not a good, that's not a good system.
00:10:59
Speaker
Like calibration needs to be set up in a way where we're looking at fact, we're looking at impact and ability and, you know, rewarding it accordingly.
00:11:08
Speaker
Anyway.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:09
Speaker
The old tapes, the old tapes drive me crazy.
00:11:13
Speaker
I won't go down that path because I think I could take us on a whole podcast episode about that.
00:11:18
Speaker
But, you know, I think it's so much of it is it boils down to courage.
00:11:23
Speaker
In communication at every level.
00:11:25
Speaker
And when you do that right and you think about the ripple effects that communicating or not communicating will have on the various people involved, maybe not the most important person to you, but anyone who's involved, you know, that's just such a critical part in doing business.
00:11:43
Speaker
And you don't have to choose between smart business decisions and doing right by people in that capacity.
00:11:50
Speaker
100%.
00:11:51
Speaker
100%.
Strativist's HR Philosophy
00:11:52
Speaker
And that's really why, you know, people first always was the first value that we really honed in on.
00:12:02
Speaker
Because people first is how we've led teams for years.
00:12:13
Speaker
Thinking about the implications and especially when you're in a function that sits in HR, you know,
00:12:18
Speaker
I always think about interactions and how we present ourselves is that we are the example.
00:12:29
Speaker
So being really thoughtful and understanding the business goal and wanting to make sure that we get there and understanding
00:12:41
Speaker
doing right by people.
00:12:42
Speaker
You know, that is what an HR function is there for, to make sure that we are enabling the business and that the workforce is treated well, you know, treated fairly, feels good,
00:12:58
Speaker
has purpose, feels valued and set the tone.
00:13:05
Speaker
Not in a kind of, you know, weird way, but just an example of like good communication, rolling out change correctly, making people feel supported when there is big changes.
00:13:19
Speaker
Like that feels like it matters, right?
Values During Tough Times
00:13:23
Speaker
It does.
00:13:24
Speaker
And anyone who says it doesn't, I think maybe just hasn't been on the receiving end of one that wasn't handled well.
00:13:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:13:34
Speaker
And the always part is, you know, just as important because it's not conditional on, you know, if you're having a good day or everything's going well.
00:13:45
Speaker
It's even more important to be considerate of who you're communicating with, what the message is, what the, you know, how you make a decision when it's hard.
00:13:58
Speaker
It's so easy to live your values when things are great, right?
00:14:01
Speaker
Like when things are, when we've got great momentum and we've had, you know, wins, it's so easy for me to take some extra time with a job seeker proactively.
00:14:12
Speaker
It's so easy for me to follow up with people when I know I should be following up with them, even though I'm tired and I want to shut it down for the day and, and go downstairs and see my kids.
00:14:22
Speaker
All of that is easy.
00:14:24
Speaker
it's much harder when we've had misses or things are challenging and it really pressure tests if we mean it.
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, a hundred percent.
00:14:35
Speaker
And I think we just stick with operating in a way that just feels really authentic to us.
00:14:43
Speaker
I can, I've definitely been in situations where there's been, you know,
00:14:48
Speaker
bad news coming because as you know like good news does travel fast but bad news travels faster and so you know people and get a get a vibe and you know the communication from the decision makers is just silence you know there's no acknowledgement there's no um and i get it like sometimes you can't share the decisions um
00:15:17
Speaker
immediately because sometimes they're, you know, confidential and and very impactful to people.
00:15:26
Speaker
But don't disappear.
00:15:28
Speaker
You know, don't cancel town halls, don't cancel team meetings, don't cancel one on ones when this when something's coming around the corner that's going to be difficult, because all that does is isolate people and they're going to make it up anyway.
00:15:47
Speaker
And so you can't talk about it because you've signed an NDA fine, but don't disappear.
00:15:51
Speaker
You know, stick, stick around for your people, show up for your people.
00:15:56
Speaker
Cause that's when they need you the most.
00:15:58
Speaker
And sorry, I'm back on my soapbox.
00:16:03
Speaker
Just, just, it makes me think about the work we're doing now.
00:16:08
Speaker
And just the value of like long-term relationships rather than just like getting in there and taking on work that, you know, isn't a good fit for us just to, you know, get, you know, that quick invoice in.
00:16:23
Speaker
Like we don't want that.
00:16:24
Speaker
We'll keep the relationship going.
00:16:27
Speaker
And when there is something that, you know, fits with what we do, like then, then we want to step in.
00:16:34
Speaker
You know, we'll trade like a right now opportunity that's not right for us and carries risk for them and carries risk for us to build the foundations that we need, target opportunities that are likely maybe a year or further away.
00:16:54
Speaker
But we stay true to our values and we'll
00:16:57
Speaker
Certain conditions in organizations have to be true for us to feel good about partnering
Long-term Relationships and Values
00:17:03
Speaker
with them.
00:17:03
Speaker
And I'm super proud of us for that.
00:17:06
Speaker
Me too.
00:17:07
Speaker
And I think that, you know, as I think about how this shows up, it's amazing.
00:17:13
Speaker
our vision statement really resonates too.
00:17:16
Speaker
And that when people thrive, businesses thrive and everything really ladders up to that.
00:17:22
Speaker
And I think too, you know, we've been talking a lot about people first always, and I want it on a hoodie.
00:17:27
Speaker
I love that tagline value statement.
00:17:31
Speaker
It's just, it's so us, but it's not the only thing.
00:17:34
Speaker
I think there are a couple, there are two other values that we've spent a lot of time really fleshing out and committing to that sort of flank that.
00:17:41
Speaker
And so I thought,
00:17:43
Speaker
I'd spend just a minute on those.
00:17:45
Speaker
First is relentless drive.
00:17:48
Speaker
And I think for me, this is that, you know, people first, I think...
00:17:53
Speaker
you could jump to the assumption that it means soft or slow and it does not, um, at least not for us.
00:18:00
Speaker
It means high standards, taking ownership and continuously improving.
00:18:06
Speaker
I mean, I learned something big or small or both every single day, every day.
00:18:12
Speaker
And, and it's, it's pushing through to, to just embrace your growth mindset in all seasons and
00:18:21
Speaker
and continue down the path to build something really great.
00:18:25
Speaker
The other is results that matter.
00:18:27
Speaker
And this one, I think we had a lot of laughs around just being in, you know, more structured kind of enterprise environments where sometimes, sometimes this gets lost.
00:18:38
Speaker
And, you know, for us, like, what
00:18:42
Speaker
impact did we make?
00:18:43
Speaker
That's the question we're asking all the time.
00:18:45
Speaker
It's not a vanity metric activity for activity's sake.
00:18:51
Speaker
It's not a polished slide deck.
00:18:53
Speaker
I mean, our slide decks are pretty polished, but that's not the point, right?
00:18:56
Speaker
That's not the deliverable.
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah, there's good work behind it.
00:19:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:19:01
Speaker
I mean, I've been in meetings where setting OKRs for the quarter and, you know,
00:19:08
Speaker
it's the message from, from above is make them aspirational.
00:19:13
Speaker
It doesn't matter if you don't achieve them, but like, let's make sure that when we roll it up, like it looks, you know, really ambitious.
00:19:20
Speaker
And I'm like, okay.
00:19:24
Speaker
You know, and I, I really loved when we first got together and we set our goals
00:19:31
Speaker
that they were grounded in what the outcomes wanted to be.
00:19:35
Speaker
And they were realistic.
00:19:37
Speaker
You know, it's thinking through, okay, what activity do we need to do to get to this result?
00:19:46
Speaker
And so, you know, we started at the left side of the page with where do we want to be?
00:19:52
Speaker
And then we worked our way back and realized what activity needed to take place
00:19:56
Speaker
to make that happen.
00:19:57
Speaker
And that was the goals.
00:19:59
Speaker
There was no like outlandish, even though you did try and throw one in with the revenue target.
00:20:05
Speaker
Like I loved your, I think we should go for like millions of dollars in year one.
Setting Realistic Goals
00:20:11
Speaker
And I'm like, I think you need to calm down.
00:20:16
Speaker
But, you know, there was none of that.
00:20:19
Speaker
It was because we don't have to play that game.
00:20:23
Speaker
But I think what other companies need to or should maybe embrace is that they don't need to play that game either.
00:20:30
Speaker
You know, don't set aspirational targets for teams that over the last couple of years have been slimmed down, work has increased,
00:20:46
Speaker
Budgets haven't necessarily been there for, you know, high bonuses and reward systems.
00:20:53
Speaker
So keep that in mind, you know, when you're setting your goals and think about the implications on your team, because what looks really great in a slide deck also needs to translate into impact and outcome for the business and for your people to feel good about what they contribute towards those goals.
Client Relationships and Solutions
00:21:16
Speaker
and so I guess it makes me think about like how our values show up in our work you know in in how we um operate as a as as strategists and you know I think I think about like the support that I've provided um for the clients over the last six months um a lot of it has been
00:21:44
Speaker
that I want to help give them steady ground.
00:21:48
Speaker
I want to help give them a foundation of knowledge so that when challenges arise, they are better equipped to deal with them.
00:21:59
Speaker
You know, I don't want to go in there and just
00:22:02
Speaker
band-aid a situation so that you know i go in fix it okay you're done see you i want to help enable people to have that foundational knowledge and expertise that when difficult situations arise they have this like internal playbook of what those core things you need to think about um as they're dealing with the challenge and so they can deal with it independently um
00:22:32
Speaker
And I think the way that we approach our thought leadership work in terms of the things that we share, this podcast, we wanna talk about real experiences, real things that have happened, not just the theoretical.
00:22:53
Speaker
because that's where you know the lessons are is is the real the real challenges that we faced and how we've overcome them and you know the guests that we've had are having coming on and have had on like they they have the same real world experience and so you know I think that's that's a couple of ways that our values show up I don't know what about for you
00:23:21
Speaker
I mean, every day.
00:23:22
Speaker
And I think I say this usually in every first conversation with a new client and that what's different about us, about Strativist on the talent delivery side is that we've been on the inside.
00:23:36
Speaker
And so we're not, you know, for us, it's not about just building the profile and going and finding a candidate.
00:23:42
Speaker
A lot of people can do that.
00:23:43
Speaker
A lot of the tools can do that these days.
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:46
Speaker
And so the value is in listening a little bit deeper to the problems that they're trying to solve, asking bold questions when it's appropriate, challenging how they feel a certain solution will solve their problem because it doesn't always.
00:24:02
Speaker
And sometimes we have to have a conversation about what will.
00:24:05
Speaker
And so I think showing up with the courage to
00:24:08
Speaker
have those discussions, even if it doesn't benefit us in, in that decision moment, that's what's different about us because in the longterm, right, when you build, when you build trusting relationships through those moments of, I recommended something that's not good for me today, but it was good for you and it was the right decision, that person or that client is going to come back to us.
00:24:34
Speaker
And so that's sort of the root of it for me, where we are, and this is in our vision statement too, we're intended to be a catalyst.
00:24:42
Speaker
We're not the hero and we're not the crutch either.
Community and Partnerships
00:24:46
Speaker
And so I think that's why we're building the community that we are.
00:24:51
Speaker
We've spent a lot of time talking about this, working on this this week even, in not just clients, but founders who
00:24:59
Speaker
practitioners, business leaders in the market, in various industries that have all have a very similar passion for doing business in the way that we've been talking about.
00:25:12
Speaker
And we're working with people who are doing exciting things, who are challenging how the world operates, how the workforce operates, either through tooling or services.
00:25:25
Speaker
And at the core, they're striving to make things better.
00:25:28
Speaker
And those are the kind of people that we want to surround ourselves with.
00:25:32
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:25:33
Speaker
And it's so energizing to...
00:25:37
Speaker
interact with the community that we're building because everybody is on the same page we're all doing different things but we're all on the same page when it comes to the impact that we want to have um this sounds super cheesy on the world it is so true though i mean you think about the people you cross paths with and the world is increasingly smaller
00:26:07
Speaker
Yes, it really is.
00:26:10
Speaker
It really is.
00:26:11
Speaker
And, you know, I think with these values in mind, Strativist will keep, you know, building towards those good relationships, good partnerships, good advice, clarity and conviction in the work that we do.
00:26:28
Speaker
And, you know, we're really not trying to be like everything to everyone.
00:26:36
Speaker
Right.
00:26:38
Speaker
You know, we want to, we want to be, we want to be so helpful for the people that, that do trust us to, to partner with them on the, on the work that we're so good at.
00:26:51
Speaker
And so, yeah, I guess my, my final thought is just that, you know, people first always is, and you said this at the top of the call, like it's not aspirational, it's operational.
00:27:05
Speaker
It's part of everything we do and it's the reason that Strativist exists.
Reflection on Personal Values
00:27:11
Speaker
And so if you're listening to this today and you want to explore the deeper value definitions, they're on our website, which is strativist.io.
00:27:23
Speaker
And, you know, follow us.
00:27:24
Speaker
We've got Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages where we share a lot of our thoughts and, you know,
00:27:31
Speaker
insights.
00:27:32
Speaker
So if you're not already, please feel free to follow us and you will hopefully see that, you know, our values are core to who we are and they show up in everything that we do.
00:27:46
Speaker
And I hope that for anyone listening, I hope that this conversation has made you think a little bit about your values, both your own or the company that you run or the company that you work for.
00:27:59
Speaker
If your values were pressure tested tomorrow, which ones would hold up, especially in a tough situation.
00:28:06
Speaker
So I would leave people with that.
00:28:08
Speaker
It's worth taking some time to think through.
00:28:12
Speaker
Nice.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:13
Speaker
Good.
00:28:13
Speaker
Good thing to think about and sit with.
00:28:16
Speaker
All right.
00:28:17
Speaker
Well, that's a wrap for another one.
00:28:19
Speaker
It's Friday afternoon.
00:28:21
Speaker
So what have you got another 10 hours of work left in you?
00:28:27
Speaker
Just about.
00:28:27
Speaker
Maybe not after this week.
00:28:29
Speaker
Maybe we'll take it a little bit easy.
00:28:31
Speaker
Oh, I know.
00:28:31
Speaker
I wish you were in town every week.
00:28:33
Speaker
It was so fun.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yes.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yes.
00:28:36
Speaker
Okay.
00:28:36
Speaker
See you later.