How C-Suite Can Create People-First Organizations

One of Illoominus’ investors and advisors is former Jamba Juice CEO and Anti-Racist Leadership author James D. White. He serves on multiple corporate boards including The Honest Company and Affirm, and he joined us for our October 2023 community event to talk about how c-suite leaders can foster people-first organizations.

“Foundationally, this work has always been about creating the space and opportunity for every single employee to do their very best work,” said James. “If we can create environments that attract and retain the best talent, empower that talent to do their best work, that will have a positive impact on culture.”

James emphasized the need to track HR data and use this data to develop better business strategies. Many companies treat people initiatives as separate from their core strategies, which is a mistake. The shared responsibility for putting people first rests on all c-suite leaders' shoulders.

4 Steps to Use Data in People-First Organizations

1. Evaluate People Programs

James stressed that C-suite leaders need to show up with empathy and action as well as measure people initiatives. C-suite leaders must listen to that HR data and respond with strategies to deliver the best ROI.

How? Assess the success metrics of different initiatives before, during, and after launches. Use integrated data to track participation rates, performance review outcomes, sentiment, and representation data to identify correlations and drive impactful changes.

These insights help organizations to truly understand their people and create initiatives that are preemptive and responsive, rather than reactive.

2. Share Data to Share Responsibility

Democratize access to aggregated, anonymized HR data for people managers. Empower them with insights for talent development and promotions, aligning data analysis with business goals for informed, data-driven decisions and improved retention.

Companies must move beyond performative commitments and empower middle managers to spearhead culture change. Leadership development, incentives, and consistent measurement of DEI initiatives will ensure accountability at all levels.

Boards should scrutinize workforce demographics, policies, and programs with an inclusion lens, insisting on comprehensive strategies with progress metrics. Culture cannot be delegated but must be woven throughout an organization's operations.

3. Measure the Employee Journey for Business Impact

Use data across the employee journey to monitor hiring, engagement, attrition, and overall sentiment. Understand this sentiment data to uncover different experiences and address factors affecting morale.

This approach will allow c-suite executives to answer questions such as: are managers consistently scoring lower on employee engagement surveys losing high performers on their team and costing future leadership pipelines?

4. Benchmark Your Workforce

Regularly analyze demographic data to assess workforce representation. Benchmark against industry standards to identify diversity gaps and address inclusion issues leading to turnover. While it's important to see how your organization is progressing internally, it's also important to see how your organization compares to high-performers in your industry.

Learning from those benchmarks can help your c-suite evaluate all policies and programs that touch the employee journey and make sure they’re driving high performance.

James encouraged all leaders to take concrete steps to embody antiracist principles. We are amidst generational change, and forward-thinking leaders will play to the future by promoting diverse talent and modeling inclusive behaviors.

This is not merely a moral imperative, but a strategic advantage for innovation, financial performance, and talent acquisition.

Becoming an antiracist leader and a people-first organization demands strategic and data-driven decision-making, not just good intentions. By leveraging HR data platforms, companies can measure, track, and iterate on HR initiatives to foster company cultures where employees feel valued, engaged, and empowered.

To learn more about how your organization can use the Illoominus platform to become people-first, click here and schedule an intro call today.