Vander Thompson
Director of People Operations
Mangomint
Episode 165
Beyond HR: People Ops is Your Strategic Blueprint for Scalable Growth.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJune 2, 2025 · 11:18
Thesis
“People Operations is a strategic function that moves beyond traditional HR administration to build scalable, impactful programs that drive operational success and company growth by adapting solutions to unique organizational needs.”
Show notes
When Vander Thompson joined Mangomint as Director of People Operations, his job wasn't to implement someone else's HR playbook — it was to build one from scratch, at speed, without crashing the plane in the process.
Vander's approach to early-stage People Ops is grounded in a single idea he calls "first principles thinking": rather than copying what worked at IBM and retrofitting it into a Series C startup, you build from fundamental truths about what your specific company actually needs right now. That means spending the first weeks in listen mode — mapping SOPs, building relationships, identifying small wins that create trust — before attempting any significant program launch. His insight on why major change without context is "dangerous" is one that every HR leader joining a fast-moving organization needs to hear.
The other half of this conversation digs into performance management — arguably the People Ops function most likely to either galvanize a team or quietly poison it. Vander shares his "performance stages" framework, which calibrates development conversations to where each employee actually is rather than where HR thinks they should be. And he makes a case for keeping performance reviews "light and impactful": tight word limits, 20-minute completion windows, then a real conversation about what was written. The document isn't the point. The dialogue is.
- The "build the plane while flying it" mindset — and the critical distinction between moving fast and moving recklessly
- How to assess People Ops needs in a new organization — relationship-building, SOPs, and quick wins before big swings
- Getting leadership buy-in for a new performance review system — why the real obstacle wasn't the strategy, it was what people feared the strategy would do
- Performance stages explained — tailoring development conversations to where employees actually are, not where you wish they were
- Making reviews light and impactful — word limits, self-reviews, and why the conversation matters more than the form
- First principles thinking vs. best practices — why solutions from other companies rarely transfer without significant rethinking
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What you'll take away
- 1For early-stage companies, assess People Ops needs by building relationships, understanding SOPs, and identifying quick wins to foster trust while operating with a 'build the plane while flying it' mindset that aligns every action with long-term strategy.
- 2When introducing new people strategies, reframe their purpose around baseline assessment and development rather than immediate punitive outcomes to overcome leadership hesitancy and gain buy-in.
- 3Design performance management systems to grow with the company by implementing 'performance stages' that tailor development conversations to individual performance levels.
- 4Make performance reviews 'light and impactful' by imposing word limits on open-ended questions and focusing the process on meaningful, in-person conversations.
- 5Adopt 'first principles thinking' in People Operations, building strategies based on fundamental truths and adapting them to the specific company stage and needs, rather than blindly copying 'best practices' from other organizations.
What most organizations get wrong
- •The conventional view of HR as merely 'hire, fire, discipline' or dealing with 'company drama' misses its strategic role as an engine for scaling and growth.
- •Blindly applying 'established playbooks and best practices' from one company to another (e.g., IBM to a Series C startup) is ineffective; instead, solutions must be built from fundamental truths (first principles).
In Vander's words
“What inspired me to pursue my master's in HR administration was prior to grad school, all I heard about HR was hire, fire, discipline, right? That was the function, hire, fire, discipline. And what I started to realize was that the landscape of HR was changing.”
Highlights the historical perception of HR versus its evolving strategic role.
“Massive change without that context can actually be dangerous.”
Emphasizes the critical importance of understanding organizational dynamics before implementing significant changes.
“The real thing is the mantra of building the plane while flying it is what I really hold on to. And the reason that's important to me is because that there's an understanding there that everything doesn't have to be perfect. But building a plane while flying it means we can't crash the plane, right? We have to keep the plane in the air.”
Explains a pragmatic approach to prioritization and execution in fast-paced environments, balancing agility with stability.
“It wasn't about the strategy. It was about what people thought about the outcome of the strategy.”
Reveals a key insight into overcoming resistance to new initiatives by addressing underlying concerns about perceived consequences.
“If your performance review takes 20 minutes per employee, that's great. The real meat and potatoes of the program is to have the conversation with the employee about that, what you wrote, right? Have the conversation about what they wrote for their self-review, and that's how you make it impactful.”
Underscores that the value of performance reviews lies in the dialogue, not just the documentation.
“We make decisions and solve problems and build strategies based on fundamental truths rather than established playbooks and established best practices in quotes.”
Defines 'first principles thinking' and advocates for a customized, fundamental approach to strategy over generic solutions.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Early-stage companies struggle to assess foundational People Operations needs and prioritize urgent demands effectively.
- •Leadership often resists new performance review systems due to fear of negative employee outcomes, requiring careful framing and pre-alignment.
- •Developing performance management systems that scale with rapid company growth and remain relevant across different stages is a challenge.
- •The tendency to copy 'best practices' from large, established organizations to fast-growing startups often leads to unsuitable and ineffective People Operations strategies.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Mangoment is the head of people operations here at the company
Steve Mangoment on His Career Journey
When you walk into an early stage company, how do you assess what's missing
When to start in People Ops at an Early-Stage Company
Vanner had to get buy-in from leadership on a people strategy
Vanner on The First Performance Review
Performance stages and impactful performance reviews are two of Dave's favorite performance management practices
Performance Management: The Value of Performance Stages
Vander, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
Vander Banner on Startup SaaS
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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