3Sixty Insights #HRTechChat​ with Randy Cooper, Founder of PeopleStrategy

Welcome to 3Sixty Insights’ latest #HRTechChat. Randy Cooper, founder of PeopleStrategy, joined us late last week. Having stepped down as CEO to become chief of strategy, Randy now focuses on longer-term goals for the company and our industry. This newfound charter of his aligns nicely with 3Sixty’s ongoing exploration of concrete and abstract HCM. In our conversation, we dove deeply into the following and related questions: What is soft HCM, exactly—and why, exactly, is it abstract? What are the building blocks of abstract HCM that get us to the apparent destination: a desirable, positive employer culture that results in greater productivity and staff retention? When’s the right time to start thinking about strategic goals for HCM—goals whose value may be abstract and lack the immediacy that reduced costs have to offer? What is it about abstract HCM that contributes to the durability of organizations? What’s the trinity of HR, and what’s the state of it today vs. in the aughts or ‘90s? How does the state of the HR trinity affect our ability to focus on strategic HCM, the type of activities that lead to abstract, but lasting, benefits to employers? Why and how are enterprise-size organizations predisposed to practice, or at least explore, abstract HCM? What are the challenges that get in the way of small businesses embracing abstract HCM? Why, paradoxically, are the principals of abstract HCM very much worth practicing when a company is relatively young and small? How can vendors of technology and services for HCM condition small businesses to internalize the concept that abstract HCM is useful to them now, not just in the future? How can a vendor help small businesses practice abstract HCM despite the obstacles?