A People Ops Veteran on Navigating the Gnarliest Conversations

Climate Corporation's Chief People Officer Meg Makalou has been the human resources leader for startups big and small. Here, she tells of the three most daunting conversations people ops executives face — and recommends routes to resolution.

THE THREE THORNIEST PEOPLE OPS CONVERSATIONS

Delayed terminations. Companies outgrowing senior leaders. Compensation rumor mills. These challenging scenarios can perplex even veteran HR leaders. While it may sound basic, the key to all of them is to find the entry point to bolster relationships because the harder the situation, the more challenging it is to find it. “I find that I get the best results if I come from a place of support and candor,” says Makalou. “I encourage anyone in an HR role—whether you’re the first people ops leader in a startup or a founder who’s pinch-hitting for now—to focus on building trust.”

Get Ahead of the Problem

It’s a lot easier to avoid this scenario than to fix it. Makalou’s first piece of advice for navigating this conversation is to do everything you can to keep it from happening:

Crack what’s sugarcoated. Underperformance is often a matter of overstated—or misunderstood—experience. Mitigate that risk by defining expectations more explicitly than you think you need to from the moment you engage with a job candidate.
Onboard your people into your industry — not just company. You probably know the basic elements of good onboarding: integrating new hires into their team, introducing them to people who will have helpful institutional knowledge, sharing your company’s values. But it’s also critical that you teach them the ins-and-outs of the space you serve.
Be visible. To spot performance problems before they erode team morale, you need to stay engaged and observant.

When Problems Arise, Troubleshoot First

Realistically, though, it’s not always possible to avoid performance issues before they start. So what do you do when a more advanced problem lands in your lap?

Initially, Makalou recommends patience—which is hard in early days. “I find that in Silicon Valley we're quick to give up on people. When you're in hypergrowth or startup mode, it can be really hard to take the long view on people.”

Three questions to diagnose the root of the issue:

What’s not working, specifically?
Is there another role in which this person could be successful?
Do you think that there's something we could do for or with this person that would help?

End Things with Care

At the end of the day, termination can be inevitable. Critical steps to walk through include:

Assess your risk: Is this someone you are afraid might do something violent or disruptive during the meeting?
Choose the timing thoughtfully: Have the conversation either first thing or at the end of the day.
Keep it brief: This is a decision that's been made.

Define Your Compensation Philosophy

Compensation is often shrouded in mystery. Setting and managing it is a skill set not everyone can master. A coherent strategy for how employees will be remunerated should be added to every startup’s list of crucial founding documents. Address questions like:

How competitive do we want to be?
What behaviors are you trying to drive and reward?
How do we feel about shoring up a gap in salary with more equity?

Fight Frustration with Education

Once the comp philosophy is in place, educate the rest of the company about it, starting with managers.

Create a cheat sheet.
Anchor to the market.
Zoom out from job to career.

Establishing a culture of honesty and transparency is often more demanding but can free your organization to pursue both individual and collective goals candidly.

Bringing it Together

Don’t postpone a potential termination. Get out in front of it with more immersive onboarding to the industry — not just the company. Appeal to reluctant senior leaders’ contributions and encourage them to adopt a legacy mindset rather than holding onto titles.

"People operations. Talent. Human Resources. No matter what you might call it, the function takes care of the engine of any organization: its people," says Makalou. "With the right parts and frequent check-ups, it can handle obstacles on the road and each hairpin turn."