Oksana Lukash
Ex. CPO
Avid Bioservices
Episode 391
Your Company's Secret Sauce: How to Engineer an Unstoppable Culture.
Current chapter: This podcast is sponsored by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees
Built By PeopleNovember 7, 2024 · 14:30
Thesis
“The foundation of an unstoppable company lies in its uniquely cultivated culture and empowered people, which must be intentionally co-created, ingrained in every decision from the top, and continuously nurtured to align personal and organizational values.”
Show notes
Fostering a People-Centered Culture: Insights from Oksana Lukash In this episode of the Built by People podcast, host dives deep with Oksana Lukash, owner of People Culture You, to explore her 23+ year journey in HR. Oksana shares pivotal moments from her career, emphasizing the importance of building a strong, people-centered culture that starts at the top. They discuss specific strategies for hiring based on culture and values, the significance of continuous learning and development, and the critical role of middle managers in fostering individual growth. Oksana also outlines the need for personalized leadership and the impact of a successful organizational culture. Sponsored by Predige, this episode offers valuable insights for HR leaders aiming to enhance their workforce's well-being and performance. 00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast 00:19 Sponsor Message: Financial Well-being with Previ 00:46 Guest Introduction: Oksana Lukash 01:00 Oksana's Career Journey and Pivotal Moments 02:48 Building a People-Centered Culture 04:22 Fostering Culture Through Specific Practices 07:25 Uncovering and Supporting Employee Superpowers 11:33 Defining and Measuring Successful Culture 13:28 Parting Advice for Chief People Officers 14:28 Conclusion and Farewell
What you'll take away
- 1Culture is a company's 'secret sauce' and must be a top-down initiative, with the CEO and executive team defining core values.
- 2Values should be co-created, integrated into all corporate decisions (hiring, promotions, rewards), and fostered as a collective ownership.
- 3Prioritize hiring for 'culture add' and 'value add' over just skills, as skills are more easily taught than fundamental beliefs.
- 4Support employee growth through a partnership between individuals (who drive their destiny) and managers (who create opportunities and guide).
- 5Adopt a 'feedforward' approach over traditional 'feedback' to proactively guide employees in a safe learning environment before outcomes are set.
- 6Define culture by how all stakeholders (employees, customers, vendors) genuinely feel and describe their interactions with the company.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Challenges the 'treat others as you want to be treated' adage, advocating instead for 'treat people the way they *need* to be treated' to cater to individual circumstances and career stages.
- •Contends that hiring for 'culture add' and 'value add' is more crucial than skill-based hiring, as skills are teachable, but personal values are deeply ingrained.
- •Pushes back against the expectation that managers should dictate an employee's career path, emphasizing that individuals should be the primary drivers of their own growth and destiny.
In Oksana's words
“the only secret sauce that any company has is its culture and its people.”
This concisely states her core belief about the unique competitive advantage of any organization.
“It's again, a lot harder to hire for that culture add, and I would say the value add, than it is, you know, to be enticed by everything that the resume might offer. But at the end of the day, every skill that every single one of us has, we learned at some point in our lifetime. But it's very difficult to make a person somebody that they're not. Or again, have them believe potentially into values that are misaligned with their personal values.”
This explains her perspective on prioritizing cultural fit and values over pure skills in hiring.
“I personally disagree. I don't want anybody else to be in charge of, you know, my destiny. So I think it's each one of us needs to be encouraged to figure out and define what does growth look like?”
This highlights her belief in individual ownership of career development, contrasting with a manager-driven approach.
“let's engage together and partner together on something that hasn't happened yet and talk through all the various ways that potentially that project can be approached. So again, you're learning in that safe environment, and you, let's say if you're my manager, you're helping guide me and have that, again, incredible learning opportunity versus watching me potentially fail and come in and give me feedback where there's nothing I can do about it now.”
This elegantly describes the 'feedforward' concept and its benefits for employee development.
“I think we need to treat people the way they need to be treated. Because if you have an employee that's just starting out in their career journey, their needs and the leadership that they need from you is going to be very different versus potentially somebody that is towards the end of their career or a single mom that is, you know, has very different needs from somebody else.”
This is her strong contrarian take on individualized treatment, emphasizing empathy and tailored approaches.
“What happens is, I think all of us, and usually the people team is the most understaffed department within the organization, don't make this a nice to have. I think this needs to be at the forefront.”
This is her urgent call to action for CPOs to prioritize culture and HR as a strategic imperative, acknowledging common challenges.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Companies struggle to define and genuinely embed their unique culture, resulting in generic values that don't become the organization's 'DNA.'
- •Organizations often prioritize skills over cultural and value alignment in hiring, leading to less successful and unsustainable talent acquisition outcomes.
- •Middle managers are frequently overburdened, lacking the necessary time and support to effectively partner with employees on individualized growth and 'feedforward' development.
- •HR departments are typically understaffed, making it challenging to drive strategic cultural initiatives that are often perceived as 'nice-to-have' rather than critical business imperatives.
- •Employees can feel disempowered regarding their career trajectory, passively expecting managers to dictate their growth instead of actively owning their development.
- •Measuring the true impact of a successful culture is complex, requiring a holistic understanding of how all stakeholders (employees, customers, vendors) describe and feel about their interactions with the company.
In this episode
This podcast is sponsored by Previ. Covering monthly expenses is the number one concern for employees
Built by People
Talk to me about your career journey and some of the pivotal moments
Pivotal Moments in Your Career
The only secret sauce that any company has is its culture and its people
How to Build a People-centered Culture
How do you support employees at the individual level and drive culture success
How to Build a Successful Culture
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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