A top-down approach doesn’t work anymore.

The assumption is that culture creates the brand, and I think that's true to an extent. Your brand is the intentional and judicious selection of traits and ideas that highlight your culture. But can you go the other way? That is, can you use the brand to change the culture? Great article on the chicken/egg situation and some great ideas on how you can make an impact on the culture.

It feels reasonable to me that in a time of virtual/remote everything, the thing that will help bring people together and build connection and increase productivity is shared learning. What we learn together is what keeps us together. That holiday zoom class where everyone learned to make gnocchi in their own kitchens was the highlight of your Q4? Keep that in mind and start supporting shared learning experiences at work as a means of developing culture.

Anyone who has ever worked with sales and marketing teams knows how embedded data is in everything they do: how to collect it, how to make decisions with it, etc. And yet, data isn't really a core part of TA/Recruiting culture. Sure, we know our pipeline and TTF numbers, but that's just simple outcomes. I'm always thrown by how hard it is to get TA teams to think with data, but that's because the industry doesn't have a culture of using it. And if no one else in TA is using it, it's a great excuse to not use it. So if you're ready to change that culture, HBR has some good ideas.

In case you don't feel prepared, here's HBR's guide to Corporate Social Justice.

Sure, working from home, and the increasing likelihood that is it here to stay, might be great (for some of you). As many candidates want remote work, and remote work allows you to hire the best matching candidate from pretty much anyway, its a chance to really level-up your talent. But there’s a downside: management isn’t always comfortable with remote workers and are distrusting of their productivity. When one company proclaims its love of remote work, many people will see that as a red flag, an excuse to install spyware and implement “always on” expectations for remote. So how will you talk about your remote work brand when there isn’t always a lot of trust in the room?

Three ways leaders can adapt.

In fact, I think this HBR article is the other side of that coin when it says you should write down the unwritten rules of the company. Aside from pulling assumptions out from behind the curtain given them some sunlight, the exercise is a great way to reveal how you company really reacts to stimulus. I’d take it another step further and say that the unwritten rules of the company are more the culture of your company than what HR says it is, thus making it ripe fodder for employer branding architecture and narrative.

So, if you entitle your article ’7 Ways HR Can Build a Fairer, Data-Informed Culture,’ you are really asking for hurt. You know how I know? Because I have a brother and growing up, we each had a vastly difference sense of what 'fair’ meant. I have to imagine in your average 1,000-person company, you’ll be seeing dozens if not hundreds of definitions of same. It’s a tarpit, one which the article seems to acknowledge before skipping past it.

Three ways to make sure that job aligns with your values.