HR Leader on People Management

Introduction

Patty McCord, HR business leader and author of the Netflix Culture Book, is an expert in building strong leadership through effective people management. Understanding human psychology is often seen as an essential skill for HR practices, but as Patty explains, there’s even more to be gained from understanding how great culture brings people together.

Redefining The “Human” in Human Resources

I have never been a psychology-based HR person. When I think about people management, I am fascinated with cultural anthropology. I enjoy understanding how people come together and make them click as a collective group.

I enjoy observing how small teams become large teams or how companies become corporations. More specifically, the dynamics that bring people together to make products for other people are interesting to me.

When you think about “work” as an HR leader, it’s important to think about it as a growth process as opposed to analyzing every employee as a person. Work is a team effort and people come together to create something. Furthermore, this is very different than the dynamics of your personal life.

One of the most critical elements of great leadership is being truthful. I like to describe this as promoting “radical honesty” within an organization. Many people think this means that they should go to work and argue with co-workers. Said differently, people think that I support a hostile workplace.

However, it’s more about telling the truth that you have always known to be present. Simply put, being truthful in people management is just more efficient.

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