Connecting People to Business Strategy: The Advanced Course (Part 4/5)

What should you strive to work on in the first 12 months to successfully connect your team with your business strategy?

In the fourth part of the interview, Chris Bates, founder and managing director of Checkside, answers this question. Checkside is an HR and recruitment consultancy business that helps companies connect people to business strategy.

• Part 1: 
• Part 2: 
• Part 3: 
• Part 4: You are here.
• Part 5: 

The following text is an edited transcript of the interview.

JC: We work together, so we’re obviously a fan of what you do. You helped us connect our business strategy to our people, and it’s something we’ve worked on for almost a year together. So, get a couple of wins and alignment — I hear you loud and clear. If someone wants to go to the next level and truly create that step change, if you will, and is willing to go on the journey, where does it start, and what are the types of things the organisation would look to achieve over the next year or so to connect people and strategy together?

CB: As you know, at the outset of what we do, and probably going on to my former point, is running our 3 Lens Diagnostic.

JC: That’s right. We’ve done that.

CB: Yeah. So obviously with 3 Lens, we’re looking at strategy, all the people systems that exist currently, and the profit impact. The numbers are vital in this whole thing, and again, that’s all about keeping score and telling people how they’re going to win.

In the first year, lining those three things up is the most important first step — looking at the workforce structure; looking at the habits; and making sure that the habits, systems, and rhythms around people and the business actually line up to the numbers and how we’re going to win it at the end of the day, and keeping people focused on objectives. That is a fair body of work in terms of getting people tuned into that system of connecting people to strategy. That’s where you start during that first year.

The other big thing is making sure you’re getting your recruitment strategy right because as I said before, there are probably new people that need to come into place, and there are people that leave businesses. What you always want to be doing is upgrading, right? So the more A-graders you get in your business, the more you’re going to win. An A-grader versus an average employee, there’s, like, 400% differential for certain roles alone.

Photo by Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash

Chris Bates is the Founder and Managing Director of Checkside. He’s responsible for setting the vision and driving the strategy of the business. He guides clients through operational succession planning, business structuring, remuneration design, and the management of senior executive recruitment projects.

Jeff Cooper is Step Change’s Founding Partner. Jeff learnt his most valuable lessons in strategic thinking by spending his own money. His entrepreneurial pursuits began back in 2004 when he started his first business, designing exhibition spaces and running events, eventually giving birth to an interactive event concept later adopted by the likes of Big Day Out and other major festival organisers. A decade later, in 2014–2015, startups Jeff was involved in raised over $1m in investment, and Step Change — which he co-founded — became a multimillion-dollar strategy consultancy, serving clients across five continents. He’s a true generalist, with ownership and Board interests in businesses from retail solar to beauty and beyond, at life stages from startup to over $150m revenue annually.