Andrea Alexander
CHRO
Coterra Energy
Episode 289
Stop Chasing Comp: Learning & Development is the Real Talent Magnet
Current chapter: Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built By PeopleFebruary 25, 2025 · 14:36
Thesis
“Prioritizing employee learning and development over solely focusing on compensation is key to long-term talent retention and engagement, advocating for a balanced, data-driven yet human-centric approach to HR decision-making.”
Show notes
Navigating HR Leadership with Andrea Alexander: From Education to Energy
In this episode of the Built by People podcast sponsored by Previ, host welcomes Andrea, the Chief HR Officer of Coterra Energy, to discuss her unique career journey from teaching high school math to leading HR in a major energy company.
Andrea shares insights on the importance of learning and development over compensation for employee retention, the role of data and metrics in HR decision-making, and balancing the human element with analytics. She also provides valuable advice for aspiring HR leaders on leveraging Excel and other analytical tools and emphasizes the significance of flexibility and continuous learning in career development.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:16 Sponsorship Message from Previ
00:45 Andrea's Career Journey: From Teaching to HR Leadership
04:27 The Importance of Learning and Development
05:55 Using Metrics and Data in HR
09:02 Evolving Approaches to Employee Development
11:02 Advice for HR Leaders on Data Capabilities
12:31 Balancing Human Element with Data in HR
13:31 Parting Advice from Andrea
14:32 Conclusion and Thank You
What you'll take away
- 1Prioritize learning and development: Employees stay where they feel they are learning more than anywhere else, even if compensation is slightly less, once a baseline is met.
- 2Adopt a data-driven approach to HR: Start with a specific question, then leverage data (even basic Excel) to understand retention trends and evaluate policy impacts, collaborating with non-HR analytics experts.
- 3Balance data with human insights: Combine quantitative data with qualitative conversations and focus groups to confirm findings and ensure well-rounded, effective HR decisions.
- 4Tailor employee development: Avoid one-size-fits-all approaches; instead, understand individual motivations and provide both the 'skill and the will' for employees to succeed and grow.
- 5Embrace a flexible career path: Focus on being continuously challenged and learning, allowing for changes in career trajectory rather than adhering to a rigid endpoint.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Learning and development is more crucial than compensation for employee retention, assuming compensation is already at a competitive level.
In Andrea's words
“I absolutely do believe that learning and development is more important than compensation when attracting and retaining individuals. Now, your compensation has to be at a certain level first, but at the end of the day, people stay places where they feel like they are learning more than they could. Anywhere else.”
This is the core contrarian take and thesis of her argument regarding talent retention.
“So, I wouldn't say that every company should look at the same 5 metrics when it comes to HR. First, I would say, well, what problem are you trying to solve? Now, let's think about what metrics you need to have in place in order to know how you're doing in that dimension.”
Emphasizes a problem-first, data-second approach to HR analytics, promoting strategic thinking over generic metric tracking.
“One of the things that I learned in my first year of teaching is that no one wants to be a failure... And when I think about learning and development, my approach really has been, okay, what can I do for this group of individuals to get them excited about this thing that I want them to learn or the job that they're doing, and also make sure that they have the skills to do it. So it's the skill and the will.”
Connects her teaching experience to her philosophy on employee development, focusing on both capability and intrinsic motivation.
“Well, I think the importance is it's very important to have both. So I like to start actually with a question and then go to the data and then confirm it or let additional questions arise by having the human element there.”
Describes her balanced approach to strategic decision-making, integrating quantitative data with qualitative human insights.
“And I would just encourage everyone to make sure that you are challenged every day and you show up, um, as, as your best to demonstrate what you're capable of and have an idea of where it is that you want to end in your career, but also be very flexible about what that path looks like and be okay changing that endpoint.”
Offers personal career advice on the importance of flexibility, continuous challenge, and open-mindedness regarding one's professional journey.
The problems this episode addresses
- •HR teams struggle with employee retention when their primary focus is solely on compensation, overlooking the critical role of learning and development.
- •Organizations lack a structured, data-driven approach to HR decision-making, often relying on intuition rather than measurable, problem-focused metrics.
- •HR leaders need to move beyond generic L&D programs to tailor development opportunities that address individual employee motivations and skill gaps, fostering both capability and willingness.
- •Companies often fail to effectively balance quantitative data with qualitative human insights in their HR strategies, leading to incomplete or misguided decisions.
- •HR professionals may lack basic analytics skills (e.g., Excel proficiency) hindering their ability to leverage data for strategic decision-making.
In this episode
Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees in 2024
Built by People
Andrea Miller shares a little bit about her career journey
How Did Your Career Journey Begin?
Learning and development is more important than compensation when attracting and retaining employees
Employment Compensation and Learning and Development
I wanna switch gears and talk about metrics and data. I'm curious about your perspective on strategic HR decision-making
MSNBC: Metrics and Data in HR Decision-Making
Having worked across different industries, how has your approach to employee development evolved
Employee Development in the Global Market
What's your advice to HR leaders who are just beginning to build data capabilities
WSJD Live: How to Build a Data-centric Team
How do you balance the human element of HR with the increasing focus on data
How Do You Balance the Human Element of HR?
Andrea, what parting advice would you like to share with our listeners
A Few Words of Advice From Andrea Furnace
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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