Shelley Wells
VP (Visionary of People)
PeopleInk
Episode 218
Culture is Not HR's Job: How Leaders Build High-Performing, Values-Driven Teams
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleApril 24, 2025 · 18:57
Thesis
“Building a high-performing, people-centric organization requires a consciously designed, values-driven culture that is integrated into every aspect of the business, from hiring to accountability and customer branding, and sustained through continuous discipline with unwavering leadership buy-in.”
Show notes
A company's culture is not what its values wall says. It's what it tolerates — the behavior it allows when no one's watching, the performance it accepts from people it's reluctant to address. Shelley Wells has been helping organizations confront that gap for her entire career, and the most important thing she's learned is that culture change without the CEO is theater.
At PeopleInk, Shelley works with organizations to build intentional, values-driven cultures — not as an HR program, but as a business imperative. The distinction matters. When culture lives in the HR department, it gets the "flavor of the month" treatment from employees who've seen initiatives come and go. When it's owned by the CEO and senior leadership, embedded into how compensation is calculated (50% what you accomplish, 50% how you do it), integrated into hiring interviews, and practiced consistently in every interaction — that's when it becomes durable. That's also when it drives the numbers: her clients have seen 66% turnover departments stabilize through culture work executed with genuine rigor and executive commitment.
Her advice for HR practitioners is disarmingly direct: "When you think you're hot, you're not." The best cultures require continuous vigilance, not celebration. And the best HR leaders are the ones re-recruiting their A-players every single day — through attention, growth, and genuine care — rather than treating retention as a quarterly initiative.
- Culture is what you tolerate — why the gap between stated values and accepted behavior is where culture actually lives
- Why culture must be a CEO initiative, not an HR program — what it takes to make change durable versus decorative
- Integrating values into compensation — how tying pay to both results and behaviors reshapes organizational behavior
- Behavioral interviewing for cultural fit — peer-based, values-grounded hiring approaches that actually predict fit
- Re-recruiting your A-players daily — why retention is an ongoing practice, not a once-a-year conversation
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What you'll take away
- 1Consciously design organizational values with clearly defined behaviors to serve as the foundation for all business decisions and actions.
- 2Ensure CEO and senior leadership are fully bought-in and lead culture initiatives as business imperatives, not just HR programs.
- 3Integrate values into every stage of the employee lifecycle, including peer-based behavioral interviewing and performance management where 'how' work is done is as important as 'what' is accomplished.
- 4Maintain continuous vigilance and discipline in nurturing culture daily, recognizing that it is never a 'one and done' initiative.
- 5Shift HR's focus to retaining top talent, building personal relationships across all levels, and learning the core business to become a stronger strategic partner.
What most organizations get wrong
- •HR should move beyond rigid 'policy books' to 'guidelines' to allow for 'gray' areas, treating people fairly rather than strictly equally.
- •Rebrand 'HR' to 'team services' or similar to shed the negative stigma of being where employees go only for termination.
- •Prioritize re-recruiting and retaining A-players daily over solely focusing on talent acquisition, using AI to free up capacity for retention efforts.
In Shelley's words
“people need to be treated fairly, not necessarily equally. We need to insert gray into HR”
This quote challenges conventional, rigid HR policies, advocating for flexibility and fairness over strict equality.
“without the CEO and senior leaders, it's not going to work. It can't be an HR program. It has to be a business initiative led by the CEO and then partnered with people.”
This emphasizes the critical role of top-level leadership buy-in for the success and sustainability of culture initiatives.
“when you think you're hot, you're not.”
This short phrase captures the essence of continuous improvement and vigilance in maintaining a strong organizational culture.
“you are on the outside what you are on the inside first.”
This highlights the intrinsic link between internal company culture and its external brand perception.
“focus on retaining your A-players versus just the recruiting side of things. Re-recruiting them every day”
This offers a contrarian perspective, urging a shift from pure acquisition to continuous engagement and retention of top talent.
“50% of compensation was based on the what you accomplished and 50% of that compensation was based on the how, through the values and the behaviors.”
This provides a concrete example of integrating values directly into performance evaluation and compensation structures.
The problems this episode addresses
- •High employee turnover (e.g., department with 66% turnover).
- •Skepticism and cynicism from employees regarding new culture or HR initiatives ('flavor of the month').
- •Difficulty maintaining consistent values and culture during rapid organizational growth and across dispersed locations.
- •The negative stigma and perception associated with traditional HR departments ('human remains').
- •Challenges in finding talent with specific cultural fits (e.g., 'friendly people' in a difficult job market).
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave Miller started in the hotel industry in 1982 as an HR admin
Career Journey: Dave
You became passionate about creating values-based, people-centric cultures
The Passion of PeopleLink
Can you share a specific case where you implemented your 360 systematic approach in an organization
WSJD 360: The Process of Hiring A-Players
The biggest challenge was maintaining the values as we opened new stations
Challenges to Implement the Values of the Company
Shelley: defining specific behaviors around a company's values can impact performance
Developing a Company's Values
Integrating frontline employees in the values creation process can lead to meaningful change
Have We Already Changed the Way We See Our Employees?
Shelley, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Building a Built By People
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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