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FIRST PRINCIPLESUSING DESIGN THINKING TO
TRANSFORM PEOPLE STRATEGIES
PRESENTED TO
SILICON VALLEY HR NETWORK
by AJ Thomas

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AJ THOMAS
Vice President, People & Culture
AUCTION.COM
Twitter: @itsAJThomas

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GREAT TEAMS ARE BUILT ON THE
FOUNDATION OF A CLEAR
MISSION AND VISION.

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RELATIONSHIPS
To make progress on this, it takes an inspiring vision.

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RESULTS
To make progress on this, it takes a compelling mission.

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To make progress on both – it takes the intersection of both form and function.
HIGH PERFORMANCE+ =
High Performance lives at the intersection of
Relationships and Results.

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THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION
What kind of HR organization does your business need?

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What Kind of HR Organization Does Our Business Need?
ORGANIZATIONALVALUEADD
HIGH IMPACT
MEDIUM IMPACT
BASELINE
TRANSFORMATIONAL
DIFFERENTIATED
FOUNDATIONAL
Progressive, world-class HR teams. Forward thinking in
investments for people. Typically plans people
strategy 18-24 months in advance.
Future-proof infrastructure that typically runs in
parallel with strategic business objectives.
+ below
Best-in-class HR teams. Steady operational
infrastructure. Moderate thinking in
investments for people. Typically plans people
strategy 9-12 months in advance.
Current State infrastructure that runs in
parallel to tactical business objectives.
+ below
Process and transaction driven
(reactive) HR teams. Volatile
infrastructure with a major focus on
tactical execution and minimal
strategic focus on people investments.
Business
Strategy
Change and
Organizational
Design, High
Potential Talent
Development
HR Program Policies,
Performance Management, HR
Products, and People Analytics
HR Business Partnership, Risk Mitigation,
Talent Growth & Development and People
Enablement
Legal & Compliance Policies, HR Process Design and
Administrative Services, Pay, Benefits, Talent
Acquisition, Job Training

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DEFINE THE EXPERIENCE
Design your optimal outcome through a journey map.

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NEEDS&
EXPECTATIONS
PHASE 1 (Describe in customers’ language) PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4
• Customer needs
• Customer expectations
• Customer needs
• Customer expectations
• Customer needs
• Customer expectations
• Customer needs
• Customer expectations
VOICEOF
CUSTOMER
• “Customer quotes”
• C-SAT, NPS
• Social Media Sentiment
• Metrics / KPIs
• “Customer quotes”
• C-SAT, NPS
• Social Media Sentiment
• Metrics / KPIs
• “Customer quotes”
• C-SAT, NPS
• Social Media Sentiment
• Metrics / KPIs
• “Customer quotes”
• C-SAT, NPS
• Social Media Sentiment
• Metrics / KPIs
PERSONA NAME
Short description of this persona
Descriptive text that explains a little bit about who the persona is.
This will provide background context for the information below and
help your audience develop empathy for the persona.
Step title
Step description, which can be
a bit longer. What is
happening at this point in the
journey? Be sure to use
customers’ language.
Step title
Importance to Customer
Step title
Typical Journey
Alternate Journey
If desired, use callouts to
connect text boxes to dots
ATTRIBUTE #1Low High
ATTRIBUTE #2Rarely Always
ATTRIBUTE #3None All
If desired, use callouts to
connect text boxes to
dots
If desired, use callouts to
connect text boxes to dots
“A quote for persona that
demonstrates emotion and/or job to
be done. Make sure it sounds like
something a real customer would
actually say.”

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MODIFIERS
Scalability Y/N
Build core delivery operations; be ready for what’s next
Team onboarding/off-boarding
Define processes and training
Rotation & Stretch Assignments
Deep knowledge and skills where complexity and risk are significant
Budget
Flexibility Y/N
Continuously balance % of FTE:RPO assets able to meet both
planned and unplanned business needs
Define processes and training
Accelerate capability and ability to flex to business needs.
Decrease time to productivity and time to effective transition
KEY CRITERIA
Customer Focused Y/N
Strategic Alignment (strategic drivers)
Primary: Accounts (Operations, Technology, Client
Management, Marketing, G&A)
Secondary: Functions/Specialties
Designed around Impact and Experiences Y/N
1. HR Centers of Expertise
Talent Acquisition, HR Systems and Policies, Total
Rewards, Talent Engagement, Enablement and
Development
2. HR Technologies, Process & Experience
3. Products
LOOK AND LISTEN FOR KEY PERSONAS
Design for the optimal experience by persona

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Lean and Agile Team Design
HR Agile Pod
Auction Support, Operations
People ProductsHR Agile Pod
Technology
People & Business
Enablement
Grow &
Develop
Org Effectiveness Workforce Analytics & People Product Metrics, Internal Comms, Employee Engagement
Total
Rewards
Mgr./Ee
Training
Career
Growth
& Dev
Perf.
Mgmt.
Grow &
Develop
HRIS
TA Ops
and
Programs
Products & EnablementCustomer Engagement
Assess &
Hire
Empl.
Support
Assess &
Hire
Empl.
Support
HR Agile Pod
Sales, Marketing, G&A
Grow &
Develop
Assess &
Hire
Empl.
Support
PRODUCTIZE & DELIVER
TEST & REFINE
People & Culture: HR Strategy and Executive Business Partnership
CORE PRODUCTSPRODUCT IMPLEMENTATION & DELIVERY

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UNDERSTAND & SYNTHESIZE
Unlock the power of going back to “first principles” and anchor on a problem statement

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ENGAGE
DEVELOP
RETAIN
TRANSITION
ATTRACT
Campaigns and
Hiring Events
Quarterly
Pulse Survey
Manager Development
& Training
High Potential &
Rewards Recognition
Programs
Alumni Transition and
Reduction in Force
GENERATE, THEME &
PRIORITIZE IDEAS
Keep your experience and key personas
in mind as you continue to design.
PEOPLE, PROCESS, SYSTEMS
Create products your people love

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A Point Of view (POV) is a meaningful and actionable problem statement,
which will allow you to ideate in a goal-oriented manner.
1. Capture the design vision by defining the RIGHT challenge to address in the ideation sessions. A POV
involves reframing a design challenge into an actionable problem statement.
2. Articulate a POV by combining your knowledge about the user you are designing for, his or her needs
and the insights which you’ve come to know in your research or Empathize mode.
3. Create an actionable problem statement that will drive the rest of your design work.
You articulate a POV by combining these three elements – user, need, and insight.
You can articulate your POV by inserting your information about your user,
the needs and your insights in the following sentence:
FORMULA
[User . . . (Managers)] needs [need . . . (better interviewing frameworks)] because [insight. . .
(it up levels the entire recruiting experience for interviewers and candidates)]

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LET’S PRACTICE
Let’s identify an audience
Let’s talk about a pain point
Let’s come up with a possible way forward
Let’s define desired state
Let’s pose it in a question: “How might we”
USER
NEED
INSIGHT
PROBLEM
STATEMENT

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LET’S PRACTICE
Take 5 Minutes to “Brain Write”
Take 5 Minutes to “Theme”
Take 5 Minutes to “Share Ideas”

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BUILD
RELATIONSHIPS
GROW TALENT
KEEP THEM
INSPIRED
GET READY FOR
NEXT SEASON
GET GREAT
TALENT
Open University People Insights
Rockstar Leadership
GameChanger
Talent Connect
Network
PEOPLE, PROCESS, SYSTEMS
Create products your people love
PROTOTYPE, FAIL, ITERATE
Transforming ”projects”
to true ”products”

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COLLECT DATA, TEST & REFINE
Unlock the power of going back to “first principles” and anchor on design

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MEASURE WHAT MATTERS

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TELL THE STORY
Let’s Do A Quick Exercise

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The purpose of the organizational health
index comes down to one question.
Do we have the right talent in place to build a strong
organization and culture that can achieve our goals?
revenue, EBITDA, sales rate, market share++
employee lifecycle
(people, process, systems)
why should we care about measuring
organizational health?
Measures key performance indicators
tied to specific employee lifecycle phases
Built on specific weighted components
that make up an overall target score
Components are modular
to flex to environmental factors and strategic direction
Will drive 10% of overall incentive target
and weighting can be customized by factor
Provides concrete metrics around people, process, and systems
that result in yielding higher performance and engagement
ATTRACT & HIRE | ENGAGE | GROW & RETAIN | TRANSITION
ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH INDEX
PRIORITIZE, ROADMAP
& EXECUTE
Establish key metrics that move the needle.

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2019 Gameplan Core Foundations Organizational Health Index 30-Mar NK High L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations TA/Hiring Process 30-Jul AF High M
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Offboarding (exit logistics/survey) 30-Apr RC High S
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Leave of Abasence Program/Policy TBD High S
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations HR Policies and Procedures 31-Dec AP Med L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Benefits Review and Stabilization (2019) 15-May AP Med L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Benefits for 2020 1-Sep AP High L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Open Enrollment (Q4) 31-Dec AP High L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Organized Operational Mechanisms (documentation) 30-Jul AP Med L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Pulse Survey 30-May NK Med L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations YiR / Bonus Process Salary Planning (DayForce Dependent / H2) AP Med L
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Employee Referrals 30-Jul AF Low M
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations Onboarding 15-Mar AF Low S
People Operational Raodmap Core Foundations New HR Intranet (ON HOLD) NK High L
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Core Foundations Transition (Front End & Backend) 15-Apr RC/AF High L
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Core Foundations Transition (Templates, Severance, etc) 30-May AP High L
People Operational Raodmap Performance & Talent Talent Review/Assessment RC Med S
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Org. Change Management Regional Structure Initiative 15-May AF Med M
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Performance & Talent Optimize Recruitment 1-Apr AF Med M
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Performance & Talent Bidder Services FTE Initiative 29-Jun AF Med L
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Performance & Talent Open University 14-Mar TG Med S
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Core Foundations AST Incentive Structure 1-Apr AP High M
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Performance & Talent AST Education and Development Program 1-Apr AP High L
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Core Foundations FTE Incentive 1-Apr AP High M
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Performance & Talent AST 30-60-90 Day On-Boarding, Training, Assessment 30-Jun TG Low S
2019 Gameplan Roadmap Performance & Talent FTE 30-60-90 Day Promotional Growth and Development 31-May AF Med M
Owner Priority Effort
Ownership Matrix
August Sept
Project /ConceptsOverall Category HR Roadmap Category
2019
July Oct Nov DecFeb March April May June
COLLECT HEARTBEATS

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FOCUS ON
FIRST PRINCIPLES
Define the
experience
Look & Listen for
key personas
Understand
and
Synthesize
Generate and
Prioritize
Ideas
Prototype,
fail, iterate
Prioritize,
roadmap and
execute
Collect Data,
Test & Refine

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To make progress on both – it takes the intersection of both form and function.
HIGH PERFORMANCE+ =
High Performance lives at the intersection of
Relationships and Results.