From Hiring to Thriving

Talent Playbooks & Hiring Excellence

Share Your Voice

A dedicated hub for frameworks, guides, and best practices to help leaders and teams design and execute winning talent strategies
Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Employees Are Interviewing You Back

The smartest candidates aren’t just preparing answers. They’re preparing dossiers. Think about it, journalists create dossiers on political candidates before writing an exposé. Investors build dossiers on startups before committing capital. And shrewd candidates build dossiers on specific companies before accepting an offer. Before they ever say yes to an interview, they’ve already built a point of view on: Your leadership credibility Your investor pressure Your cultural signals Your growth trajectory Even your past controversies (yep, you read that right). Most companies have no idea how deeply they’re being evaluated by the candidates they’re interviewing. Where Candidates Actually Go 1. LinkedIn deep dives They read your hiring manager’s posts from 3 years ago. They check tenure patterns across your exec team. They look at who left after brief stints at the company. 2. Investor research They look up firms like Sequoia Capital or Andreessen Horowitz to understand the type of pressure you’re under. Are these blitzscale VCs? Long-term capital? Known for aggressive growth mandates? 3. Crunchbase + funding trails They track how much you’ve raised, when, and at what pace. Flat growth between rounds is a signal. So is a quiet down round. 4. Reddit + Blind They search “[Company Name] culture.” They read unfiltered threads on forums like Reddit and Blind. They pay attention to what former employees complain about. 5. Glassdoor patterns They don’t just read ratings. They look for consistency in themes like micromanagement, chaos & dysfunction, lack of strategy. 6. Press + Scandal history They Google “[Company Name] lawsuit” or “[Founder Name] controversy.” And if you think silence means safety, it’s not. It just means they’re digging deeper. The power shift is real. The best candidates aren’t impressed by brand decks and carefully manufactured social media posts. They’re pattern matching your leadership, your investors, and your behavior. The question isn’t whether they’re researching you. It’s whether what they’re finding aligns with what you’re selling. Welcome to the information age where nothing is truly hidden, and I know because I've worked at many of these companies and had to prepare to speak to some of the issues I speak of here. I also coached the hiring managers to prepare to answer - transparently - what was going on at the company that socia media doesn't tell you. So I'm curious about your take, either as a hiring manager or as a candidate. Does this sound famiiar?
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Communities ask for help

Hey everyone, don't forget that this community was built for all of you, and we all know that the BEST communities don't have all the answers - we ask for help and we shall receive. That's what I love about In Good Company - you can ask for the simplest things like a template, a policy or a basic question from someone out there who's done it before. You don't need to type up a white paper or share a 50 slide deck. Just ask for help and I'm certain this community will deliver. That includes me - anytime you need help with anything, feel free to reach out! 😀
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Sofia Lim-Oliver
Sofia Lim-Oliver
Bobber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Inside HiBob’s Leadership CODE: Part 2 - Activate

Most leadership models/frameworks fail – not because they’re not right for the company – but because they never make it off the slides. I’ve seen it happen too many times, and I imagine you have too. Months of thoughtful design meetings, a polished slide deck (TBH probably version 36.5), a big internal launch… and then, crickets. Very little actually changes. And we wonder why it doesn’t stick. When we built and launched Leadership CODE at HiBob – our compass for exceptional leadership – we wanted to make sure we didn’t fall into that trap. Our goal wasn’t to introduce a new model. It was to bring it to life. That means helping every leader connect to it personally and collectively, and build the confidence to live our CODE habits IRL (see my previous post for the habits!) So instead of a typical announcement, we ran a global activation — over 20 workshops, reaching 300+ leaders across every level, from Team Leads to our C-level. Here’s what made the difference 👇 Senior Sponsorship from the Start: Every CODE workshop was co-facilitated by a C-level or VP, alongside a People & Culture Partner and a Talent & Learning facilitator. That sent a powerful signal that CODE isn’t a HR initiative — it’s our shared compass. We even provided senior leaders with Leadership CODE soundbites — sticky phrases for culturally important moments like team meetings, 1:1s, hallway chats, and more Practical & Engaging Workshops: Each workshop followed a simple flow: 💡 Why CODE matters — what’s in it for you and for HiBob 🎯 What CODE looks like in real life — stories of leadership in action 🧭 How to grow — self-assessing strengths and stretches, using CODE cards (more on this below) 🚀 What’s next — how we’re making it stick Every workshop was also a listening opportunity — helping us learn what’s resonating or not with our leaders, and how we can better support them Synced with Performance & Development: We intentionally timed the launch of CODE to take place 3 months before HiGrowth, our people process for Bobbers and leaders to review performance and development at HiBob. This was another critical activation point – leaders self-reflected and received feedback from their manager/others on how they’re living our Leadership CODE. This meant that early on, CODE was embedded into how we talk about performance and development, and not a separate concept. Getting Creative with CODE Cards: To reinforce learning, we even designed Leadership CODE Cards. Each deck had four categories of cards: Habit Definitions, Habit Red Flags, Habit Reflectors (thought-provoking questions), and Habit Builders (microtips and hacks). We used these cards during the activation workshops, and gave them to every leader as a tool for self-reflection and team reflection. So after all that, what was the early feedback? “The Leadership CODE workshop was a massive hit! The energy was incredible, everyone leaned in, embraced the CODE, and kept using it throughout.” “It didn’t feel like two hours, it just flew by - so much rich conversation in the room.” “Thank you again for last week’s workshop on CODE habits. This was incredibly useful. I don’t remember a workshop I’ve learnt so much from in such a short time .” “We’re already using the CODE cards to help leaders think about how they can tackle everyday leadership situations differently.” “Straight away we've incorporated much of the Leadership CODE with how we work with each other and our teams. Really clear takeaways on areas of improvement for myself and how I show up with my team.” “I’ve seen leadership models before and this really is the next level.” The biggest lesson for us? Don’t launch a leadership model — activate it. Let people see it, feel it, and make it theirs. For those of you leading similar work: How have you helped leadership model come alive in your organizations? What’s worked — and what would you do differently next time? ➡️ Next up in this series: Stage 3 — Make It Stick. I’ll share how we’re embedding CODE into our leadership journeys, talent practices, even AI Coaches — and how we know it’s working.
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Sofia Lim-Oliver
Sofia Lim-Oliver
Bobber
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Inside HiBob’s Leadership CODE: Part 1 - Co-create

Curious about how to create a leadership model that truly reflects your company’s DNA? Let's be real: many behavioral models don’t land. They look great in a deck, they get launched with energy… then they quietly disappear into the background noise. Leadership CODE is HiBob's leadership model — our compass for exceptional leadership. When we realized that we needed a leadership model, we made a choice to do this right, or not at all. This meant there are three stages to Leadership CODE — all equally critical: 1. Co-create 2. Activate 3. Make It Stick Stage 1: Co-create Let's start with co-create. Co-creation is messy. It takes time. It means hearing things you didn’t expect (or always want) to hear. But it’s worth it. We say that our Leadership CODE is “crafted from the inside, built from where we’re going next.” This meant: - C-level conversations that pushed us all to think about where HiBob is going, not just where we are now. - VP discussions that were honest and insightful about what leadership for scale truly requires. - Dozens of interviews with other leaders around the world who opened up about the realities (and frustrations) of leading in a fast-growing company. - People & Culture Partners sharing what they see on the ground every day — the patterns, the pain points, the leadership moments that matter. - Diving into better understand our mission, strategy, market, values, culture, context, and challenges And here’s the part I didn’t expect: Each time we refined the model, it got simpler. Clearer. More human. Less “competency framework”, more “this is how great leadership actually looks like at HiBob.” It also meant being deeply humble and letting go of my/our own assumptions. Let's just say that MECE went out of the window pretty early. Humans are messy, not MECE. So what does CODE stand for? Connect, Own, Disrupt, and Evolve — and each of these pillars has two habits. For example, Connect has Build Bridges Break Fences (connecting across teams) and Zoom Out & Zoom In (connecting the dots between strategy and execution). Why call them habits? We believe leadership is about showing up consistently in the small moments, and practising intentionally until those behaviors become second nature. To bring it to life, we also created examples of each habit in the day-to-day of each level of leadership — from C-level and VPs to directors, managers and team leads. The result is both aspirational and practical. 🦄 I’m curious to hear from others in this space: Have you tried co-creating leadership or behavior models? What made it work? 🔥 Next up in this series: Stage 2 — Activate. How we brought the Leadership CODE to life, helping leaders connect to it personally and collectively.
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Matt McFarlane
Matt McFarlane
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Building a lightweight leadership development program

Where should you start when it comes to building leadership practices in your startup? I just wrapped up an incredible interview with Shelley Johnson (Founder of Boldside) on this very topic. We talked about how startups can get lightweight leadership development practices in place. Starting small, without budget and with something thats made for you. Here's what we covered: First: Define what “good” looks like Name 3 north-star behaviours that represent what you want to see your leaders live. Under each behaviour list 2–3 observable actions managers must do (eg. monthly one-on-ones; regular feedback; pre-empted pay conversations). Second: Start small. Curate micro-learning and peer coaching, not courses. Run a monthly 60-minute manager forum and set the following agenda: Discuss one podcast/article, Surface one insight, Agree one action. Small group coaching beats big annual workshops when it comes to creating insight. It doesn't have to be some huge offsite or full day retreat. Third: Make it measurable and local. Ask managers to self-assess against the three behaviours quarterly; use examples, not adjectives. Track simple signals: One-on-one coverage Promotion discussions Pay-conversation cadence. Bingo. You've got a leadership development program. You don't need to boil the ocean when it comes to getting something simple and effective in place. What's one thing you would add to make something like this right for your startup? (and don't worry, I'll share the full interview here once it's live!)
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Give a realistic job preview to hire authentically and ethically.

I've been recruiting for 20+ years and I know that recruiting often requires some level of selling - you're selling the opportunity to candidates and showcasing what they get out of it. But for anyone who's ever worked at an early stage startup (that no one has ever heard of), it requires you to sell what the candidate can look forward to without sugar coating the job itself. We all know that early stage companies can't offer the most competitive salaries, but they CAN offer high upside in equity. Educate the candidate on what that means. They also get to work alongside the founders, move really fast, avoid bureaucracy and red tape and experience what a true rocket ship feels like. These things are rarely available at large, corporate environments. However, there's also a dark side to startups. You will likely work more than the average 40 hour week, get interrupted emails / slack messages / phone texts on your vacations and be required to provide updates on weekends or evenings. These are realistic expectations that every TA hiring for startups should be sharing candidly with the candidate. Providing a 'realistic job preview' isn't just the right thing to do, it's what any hiring manager should be focusing on to ensure they bring on the right talent, not someone who will jump ship once they realize they've been sold something that they didn't bargain for. What have you done to ensure you attract the best candidates without sheltering them from the realities of a startup job?
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DEIB Across Generations

Share Your Voice

Challenges, successes, and questions about building truly cross-generational DEIB practices.
Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Belonging Without Accountability Is Just Comfort

HR has spent the last decade obsessed with belonging - a word that shows up in every engagement survey, every culture deck, every leadership workshop. While belonging matters, it’s becoming a shield for avoiding hard truths. When people feel safe but aren’t held to high standards, you don’t build inclusion. You build complacency. Belonging without accountability leads to consensus-driven decisions, decision paralysis, and eventually stagnation. Research backs this. Teams that balance psychological safety and high standards outperform those that over-index on safety alone. A recent article in Harvard Business puts it plainly: psychological safety must be paired with high expectations to fuel innovation, not soften it. I particularly love how Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, shares easy ways you can promote high quality conversations as a leader like asking “Who has a different perspective” to promote debates and new ideas. If your culture prizes comfort over candor, you’re not creating belonging. You’re preserving the status quo. Real belonging is earned through trust, and trust is built when performance, not politics, drives opportunity. Next time you celebrate “how safe people feel,” ask if they also feel challenged.
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Leaders Set the Example with PTO

No matter what type of PTO policy your company has, if your leaders don't take time off, they are showcasing to their employees that neither should you. Taking time off reduces burnout and allows people to recharge and come back energized. We all have significant others at home, whether that's your spouse, your children or your pets. If your leaders have a PTO policy, even an unlimited one, but they showcase to employees that they are heroes for never taking time off, they are indirectly making employees feel shamed for taking time off. Startups work harder than any other organization out there but if they aren't allowing their teams to recuperate and they're romanticizing no time off, this will not only burn out your teams but also create a work culture that is unsustainable. I have worked at startups for over a decade and I never gave up any of my PTO vacation days because I knew that I would come back more energized and patient than if I never took time off at all. Leaders need to set the example straight from the top. That starts with the founder/CEO and then trickles down to the executive team. What do you think?
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

What Gen Z Wants at Work (That Boomers Didn’t)

It seems that every generation brings new expectations into the workplace. That’s probably because each generation grows into a unique identity that’s influenced by their environment and what they saw growing up. Boomers valued stability and loyalty. Gen X prized independence. And Millennials? They pushed for work-life balance and flexibility. Now Gen Z has arrived and their demands are reshaping the way companies need to operate. They are this generation. Purpose Over Paycheck For the Boomer generation, a steady paycheck and good benefits were the ultimate goal. That’s not what drives Gen Z. They’re looking to join companies that align with their values and have a strong moral compass. They care deeply about purpose, impact, and working for organizations that stand for what they also believe in. Mental Health on the Table Talking about burnout or mental health was taboo for older generations, Gen Z not only expects open dialogue but they also expect employers to provide resources and normalize support. They see mental health as inseparable from performance and retention. Careers Paths Are Not Linear Boomers often stayed in one company for life (remember the golden watch they wanted to receive upon retirement?). Gen Z views careers as fluid and often project-driven. They’re not afraid to switch jobs or whole careers quickly if growth stalls or if the culture doesn’t align with them. For HR leaders, this means career frameworks need to evolve beyond traditional ladders of the past. Flexibility as a Non-Negotiable. Millennials cracked open a door on flexibility, but Gen Z is pushing it wide open. Hybrid/remote work, asynchronous schedules, and autonomy in how they work are seen as baseline expectations, and companies clinging to rigid structures really risk losing top talent. The Call to Action If HR leaders and executives design policies for yesterday’s workforce, they’ll miss tomorrow’s. Gen Z is the fastest-growing segment of the labour market, and they’re willing to walk right out the door if organizations can’t keep up. The companies that win won’t just accommodate these expectations but instead, embrace them as competitive advantages. How is your company adapting to what Gen Z wants and which companies are winning here?
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Angela R Howard
Angela R Howard
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

The Kids Don’t Want to Work

Let’s set the record straight: It’s not just Millennials or Gen Z who are questioning outdated workplace norms. What we’re seeing is an intergenerational shift- people across age groups responding to cultural forces that demand something different from work. I call this group genWHY? (not to be confused with Gen Y). It’s not about age - it’s about mindset. genWHY? are workers who: Aren’t content with the status quo Want more than a paycheck See their professional lives as an extension of their values Demand dignity, flexibility, equity, and impact This isn’t laziness. It’s evolution. Work is being redefined- not by one generation, but by all of us who are asking deeper questions about what work should mean in our lives. So, community: Do you identify with genWHY?? What’s the biggest “myth about work” you think needs to be challenged?
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Angela R Howard
Angela R Howard
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Let’s Co-Create a Workplace Every Generation Has Been Waiting For

Our current definition of work won’t last another generation… Headlines scream about strikes, talent shortages, “quiet quitting,” and generational clashes. But those headlines? They’re just symptoms. The real story is much deeper. Today’s workforce is shaped by pandemics, racial uprisings, economic volatility, climate anxiety, and tech acceleration AND by rising demands for justice, autonomy, and purpose. This isn’t just burnout. It’s a redefinition of what work should be. Younger generations (and many older ones too) aren’t rejecting work. They’re rejecting work that doesn’t work and there’s a realization that hasn't been working for some time. They’re demanding dignity, equity, flexibility, and impact. And for the first time in modern history, a critical mass is saying enough. This is bigger than a trend, and we must pay attention. It’s the most significant intergenerational transformation of work we’ve ever seen. The question isn’t if work will change. It’s how we’ll respond. So, community: What’s one outdated workplace belief or myth you think we need to leave behind for good?
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Angela R Howard
Angela R Howard
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Hi, I'm Angela Howard.

"The kids don't want to work anymore..." What are your thoughts?
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Delegation & Career Growth

Share Your Voice

Swapping stories about learning to delegate, let go, and grow—whether you’re a new manager or a seasoned pro. Ask for advice on how to level up, mentor others, or set boundaries for sanity’s sake.
Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

The Talent Density Conversation Most Companies Avoid

Everyone says they want high performance but in reality, very few are willing to build for it. “Talent density” sounds straightforward on the surface. It involves hiring extremely talented people and setting a (very) high bar. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. In reality, it’s one of the most uncomfortable and misunderstood concepts in scaling a company because talent density is not just about who you hire. It’s about who you keep, who you promote, and who you ultimately let go. And that’s where most organizations hesitate. As companies grow, standards often become inconsistent. Early hires are kept longer than they should be. Leaders avoid tough calls in the name of stability. “Nice to have” roles start to accumulate. Over time, the bar quietly lowers, even while everyone continues to talk about excellence. You start to feel it before you can measure it but hindsight is 20/20 and if you look back, you see it immediately. Decisions slow down. Accountability softens. High performers begin to disengage and that’s when a company is really in trouble. Your most valuable asset is letting go, and it’s not because they can’t handle the work. It’s because they can feel the shift in standards. This is the tension HR leaders sit in. On one side, there’s a desire to create fairness, stability, and a strong employee experience. On the other, there’s the reality that high-performing organizations require clear expectations, differentiated performance, and at times, difficult exits. Avoiding that tension doesn’t preserve culture. It quietly lowers the standard. Across every company I’ve worked in, founders and CEOs all wanted the same thing when it came to culture: talent density. They understood that a high-performance, talent-dense environment becomes a real competitive advantage. But wanting it and sustaining it are two very different things. Talent density isn’t built through intention alone. It’s maintained through consistency, clarity, and difficult decisions over time. And this is where many organizations fall short. HR doesn’t own culture or talent density. Leadership alone doesn’t either. It’s a shared responsibility, and without true alignment between the two, standards begin to drift. The strongest companies aren’t the ones that talk the most about talent density. They’re the ones that operationalize it. That requires a tight partnership between HR and leadership to keep the bar high and consistent. They define what great actually looks like and enable leaders to make decisions with speed and conviction. They also address misalignment early, before it spreads. And they treat maintaining standards as a continuous discipline, not a one-time hiring effort. For HR leaders, this means shifting from protecting harmony to protecting standards because high performers aren’t looking for comfort. They’re looking for environments where excellence is clear, expected, and upheld. Have you ever worked at a company where they started off with talent density, but then faded into the status quo? What do you think went wrong?
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

The one you can't keep

HR leaders - this one's for you! You've all worked with that high performer, that employee that you literally cannot keep. You know what I'm talking about - they're the high performer that salary bands will never solve for. They operate several levels above their role. Their value grows faster than your leveling system. You can't give them enough scope fast enough. So how do you engage them? Motivate them? Retain them? The truth is organizations are designed to reward progression, not acceleration, and these high performers are already functioning like owners (sometimes more than the founders themselves). Eventually, they want autonomy, upside, control that you can't offer them because we're all constrained within a system. I cherished the time I worked with them but when it was time for them to move on, I didn't try to restrain them. I truly believe that would have killed their mojo. I know this isn't what HR leaders are supposed to say, but I don't think most companies are built to manage people who can probably build their own companies, and dare I say, better? It's not that people within companies are the "status quo," but companie were built to keep the majority inside the box. Thoughts?
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Say the Quiet Part Out Loud

Hot take: most ‘people problems’ are actually leadership avoidance problems. I’ve worked at multiple fast-paced startups over the past decade and every people problem I ever encountered was usually due to a leader who avoided the responsibility “now.” You’ve heard of that saying, “Easy now, hard later; Hard now, easy later.” Avoiding the responsibility now makes you feel better but oftentimes, it’s a problem that’s growing through your avoidance. It could be for a number of reasons. A leader knows that their direct report isn’t performing but they don’t want to have that frank discussion about expectations so they ignore it. Meanwhile, the team is making up where the poor performer is lacking. The leader loses credibility with the team and morale goes down. “Performance on this team isn’t taken seriously” is what the leader is indirectly saying. The “mostly male” sales team is starting to grow a reputation at the company as a testosterone filled locker room. The male manager knows it’s a problem but sales are really humming and he doesn’t want to lose the momentum so he allows the behaviors to continue. Meanwhile, a few new female sales reps join the team but they quickly realize they don’t feel comfortable in the all-male “bullpen.” Soon enough, the females leave and the negative reputation of the company is all over Glassdoor, as an unwelcoming “boys club.” A junior manager takes on their first leadership role but she doesn’t have any management experience, nor is there any budget for training. The HR leader figures she’ll “learn on the job” and the company saves a ton of money placing an inexperienced leader into the role. By the end of year, rumours run rampant that the manager manages through excessive micromanagement, and also has a tendency to hire extremely inexperienced team members to ensure she is the “smartest person in the room.” Sure, there are a lot of other problems at companies like chasing revenue, fixing bugs, improving NPS scores, etc., but as a seasoned executive once said to me, “Christine, when you’re really junior, 80% of your time is spent on fixing issues and 20% is spent on people problems, but the more senior you become in your ranks, you invert that so that 20% of your time is spent on fixing issues and 80% of your time is spent on people problems.” Easy now, hard later; Hard now, easy later.
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

The best companies have the best leaders

I'm a staunch believer that the best companies have the best leaders. The reality is that having bad managers can quietly cost a company millions. Their impact hides in attrition, disengagement and missed execution (think of that on a sales team). They can drive high performers away and create a terrible company brand that could take years to recover from. And let's not even think about bad managers who don't hold themselves accountable and ultimately become a liability to the company (i.e., litigation costs, scandals and discrimination claims). Anyone who claims "leadership" isn't all that important hasn't had the breadth of experience to see what poor leadership can do to a company.
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

Gaining clear AI adoption requires one thing from all companies

I learned some surprising facts while attending an AI adoption leadership roundtable last night! After reviewing some clear data and facts, there's one thing that every company needs to provide to their employees to truly adopt AI methodologies, workflows and practices. Can you guess what that is??
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Christine Song
Christine Song
Featured Contributor
·Posted in Talent Strategy

The silent killer of culture: Hidden underperformance

The biggest regret of any leader I've ever spoken with was that they held on to underperformers for too long. We're talking 12-24 months. The reality is that underperformance compounds faster than top performance. Now imagine every manager holding on to that "one low performer" across multiple departments. This is how you harm culture. You tell employees we tolerate under performance and you teach new hires that our company doesn't take performance management seriously.
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Talent acquisition and people development are at the core of every HR leader’s work. In this category, HR professionals and people leaders exchange frameworks, guides, and best practices to build effective talent strategies — from structured hiring processes and interview playbooks to mentorship, delegation, and multi-generational DEIB discussions.

Conversations also cover managing pipelines, onboarding experiences, and career growth within teams, helping practitioners learn what’s worked in real organizations and adapt those lessons to their own.

Want to explore more community topics? Head back to In Good Company to browse all discussions, learn about the community, or check the FAQs for curated HR answers.