In the new episode of Frog’s How to Scale podcast, we are proud to introduce Amanda Stainton, Frog’s new Operating Partner focused on People and Culture.
Amanda has spent the last 18 months contributing to due diligence projects and supporting some of Frog’s portfolio companies. She has over 30 years’ experience leading people and culture teams across a wide range of blue chip businesses and is now focused on the importance of people and culture in the growth stage.
The People and Culture function is a strategically important part of Scale-Up alongside Product, Sales, Tech, Marketing and Finance provided it is executed properly. Far from pink and fluffy. The critical success factor is how it is aligned and integrated with the business as a whole. Initiatives have to show value and benefit and be clearly linked to business objectives.
Amanda covers 3 key focus areas in the podcast to help Scale-Ups get the best out of People and Culture initiatives, which are:
- Culture – how do we design the culture, understand what it has been and what it needs to be – People and Culture teams are the custodians and ensure synergy and consistency, but leadership deliver it. Values need to be documented, explained, displayed and lived
- How to attract and retain people – robust processes are required. Recruitment can be very time consuming, and rightly so – businesses and talent need to choose each other and do it well. Investing time improves diversity, which is a catalyst for strong performance
- Performance management – managed fairly and consistently to help people achieve their potential and develop a sense of fairness across a business, not overly bureaucratic, but still robust. Set clear expectations, get and give feedback, and find opportunities to develop and grow
We cover these topics and many others extensively in How to Scale, Frog’s library of Scale-Up insights created over the last 5 years, including further episodes of the podcast and Scale-Up toolkits from our other Frog Operating Partners.
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