How Clarity of Expectations Can be the Secret Sauce for Building Elite Teams

Dr. Jim: [: 00:00:00

And the person that's going to teach us why that's so important is joining us today. He's an HR professional with over 20 years of experience. He's been involved in the service sector, in the manufacturing sector, and in a lot of other industries as well. His experience is wide ranging within HR.

So he's done everything from talent acquisition through HRBP and also management and people leadership within the space. He's currently an HR manager at Delta Dental of Wisconsin, Joe Arnold. Welcome to the show.

Joe Arnold: Welcome. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you sharing my experience

your trajectory so that the [: 00:01:00

Joe Arnold: I'll give the short version of it because the long one could be, we could be here for a while, but started out in HR by getting into recruiting and really focusing on talent acquisition and working for a small boutique firm in Milwaukee. A lot of light industrial more technical skilled industrial as well as engineering type roles things like that.

And then got to a point where because it was a small company, wanted something more and studied on my own to get my PHR. Once I was able to get that, I had moved on to a. Marketing firm. And the marketing firm did live event marketing. It was a great experience. But when it came to talent acquisition it was really about making sure that the the people that were involved in those programs were a good fit for those brands, but not necessarily about what I consider as talent talent from a marketing perspective.

hose up through their career [: 00:02:00

With some stops at Generalist along the way had a lot of really good experience there, had a great mentor and really was able to get my career headed in the right direction. And have been in professional services and manufacturing at a couple of different stints

since. but I have settled into a job where I've been doing both HR business partner type roles. Then I got into total rewards. And now I'm managing the HR business partner function and total rewards for Delta Dental

Dr. Jim: I really appreciate you sharing that career trajectory. You've spent a lot of time in a lot of different industries. You've done both the high volume side of HR and talent acquisition, and then also the professional services side of talent acquisition and HR.

When you look at your career [: 00:03:00

Joe Arnold: When I started my career HR was fighting for a seat at the table. So to speak. And that was all that you would hear about in industry trade magazines and things like that. What I found is that by moving from industry to industry, what you really need to do is take the time to get to know the business.

It's so essential for an HR person to know how the business operates, how the business runs, what the the profit and loss looks like how those types of things come about. You really need to be able to dig in and be a strong business partner by knowing the business and knowing how you can impact the business.

Dr. Jim: Did you pick that up organically? Or did you have a mentor as you were navigating through these different different sectors that kind of clued you in on that being one of the best practices?

reer. Brenda, who was one of [: 00:04:00

I, when I had questions, she was always there to answer them. And that was really, how I could provide the most value as an HR business partner was to make sure that I was in line with operations and making sure that we were understanding what was going on on both sides of the business when it came to those things.

So that was probably where I really got most of my, my insight in there, but. It really became more important, especially as you change industries, right? When I went from professional services to manufacturing, right? I went to a company where I had not been in a production environment before.

a piece rate product for for [: 00:05:00

Dr. Jim: Based on your experience, if somebody is following your trajectory, moving from industry to industry, what would your best advice be for? from a 30, 60, 90 day perspective for somebody that's pivoting into a new industry that they need to get done within a very short amount of time to position themselves for success.

Joe Arnold: Get in and ask questions. Start peeling back those layers of the onion and understand exactly where the the product is coming from. Where is it going what is the trajectory of that. That product or that business that you're on to make sure that you understand not only where you are, but where you're going because that's really where HR is able to make the biggest impact.

if you want to build a high [: 00:06:00

Joe Arnold: A lot of this came from understanding expectations and when it comes down to it we spend a lot of time working on projects, working on various aspects of our job. And we think we know what the expectations are, and I think we talked a little bit about asking questions, understanding where we are, where we're going but having those conversations both as a, an individual contributor and understanding where we are and where we're going, as well as having a conversation as a leader and being really clear about what those expectations are. I think one of the biggest things that you can do. We look at like employee handbooks and things like that, that we design and we expect people to read, but we also expect them to understand the whys and things like that.

And sometimes [: 00:07:00

Dr. Jim: One of the challenges that I'd be curious to get your input on is that a lot of leaders Put an emphasis on quote unquote, hitting the ground running.

n. How do you navigate those [: 00:08:00

Joe Arnold: I don't think it necessarily has to slow you down. It does mean that you need to walk before you run and hitting the ground running is something that we always want, right? From a from an HR, from a business perspective we want people who are going to be able to see what's going on and be able to take it to that next level.

But depending on the the role and exactly what they're charged with. There may be times where they really need to have that opportunity to to figure things out. And I think having a good 30, 60, 90 day plan as people come in and making sure that first 30 days isn't about, Hey, what can we change or what needs to be different, but how can we make sure they get to know everything they need to know about that role?

And spell out the expectations that we have, not only as an organization, what do we have as a department? And what do I have as your specific leader to say, here's what I need from you. Here's what we're expecting of you. And here's where we're going. So now you're ready

Dr. Jim: I like what [: 00:09:00

If you've spent your entire career in the same industry, that doesn't mean that if you go from company A to company B, that you can just turn key it and just run it on autopilot. So I like the idea of regardless of circumstances, says. You take those first 30 days or so to understand what's the requirement or what are the requirements so that everybody's on the same page.

Joe Arnold: There's a lot of opportunity for people to understand how it works at your business too. And when we talk about cultures and what company culture is just because someone has been able to do something and do it effectively in another organization doesn't mean they can do it the exact same way walking into this organization.

ure that they have the right [: 00:10:00

Dr. Jim: I'd like you to take this a little bit further and point out some of the things that can go wrong if you're not clear on setting the proper expectations on mapping out the direction that we're going. What are the goals that we need to hit? What are the experiences that you've had in your career where this wasn't done and how did that impact your ability to drive results?

Joe Arnold: There was a point in my career that I had a opportunity that I was given a a chance to make a new role in the organization for myself. They had seen some of the things that I could do on a talent acquisition side and was given the opportunity and kind of some some open road, if you will.

the activities that we were [: 00:11:00

That I wanted to, nor did I have the support from the organization. When I look back on it now, I look at it and say, I don't think we were able to get from where we were to where we wanted to be because we didn't have a solid roadmap. It was a, Hey Joe, you do what you want. But when I tried doing a few things, it was like, Oh, but we think we need to go a little bit different direction.

I like what you're thinking, but it's a little bit different. So it never was really. Take it and run with it, but it was a little bit of, trial and error. It was a little bit of, hey we have an idea of where we didn't know where destined, going from A to B as we talked about, we didn't know where B was and we didn't really talk about it.

timately, it led to the fact [: 00:12:00

Dr. Jim: What's the big thing that you learned with how that turned out that can be broadly applicable to anybody that's in a situation where. They're tasked with a new initiative where they're tasked with launching a new idea.

What are the things that you drew from that experience that would be useful for somebody that's out there listening to this conversation?

Joe Arnold: It starts with figure out a destination and you may not necessarily know, especially if it's a new position, you might not necessarily know where do I need to be? three years, five years from now, but what does success in the next year look like? What do you want me to do? What should I be doing?

I don't think we really had [: 00:13:00

What am I driving to?

Dr. Jim: A lot of what we've been talking about centers around the practice of building clarity, gaining agreement removing ambiguity from from any number of circumstances. If somebody is trying to build a culture where they're trying to accomplish the things that you learn from through trial and error, what are some of the pitfalls that they need to be watching out for that can really steer them the wrong way as they work on trying to build this sort of high communication, high clarity culture that you're talking about?

B, that they can really have [: 00:14:00

Here's where we are. Here's where we need to go, right? And be able to communicate that vision with a level of clarity, but also to have that vision for themselves with enough clarity that they're able to communicate that effectively as well. And then I think going back to the culture portion that I talked about is just generally how do we get there?

When I was working for a previous organization, I had gone to our insurance agent's office. And one of the things that impressed me the most is that on the wall, they had I think it was about 25 or 30 kind of tenants of working for the organization. What is it that we stand for?

And that really helps inform the culture, but it also informs, like, how do we do business here and what should you expect from the other people on your team? What should you expect from the other people that you're working with here? And very similarly, when I went to Delta Dental in Wisconsin, we have those, we have what we call our 30 fundamentals.

And [: 00:15:00

But there's ways to share them, and there are ways to be. Helping getting from point A to point B. And if you have those ground rules laid out, it really helps set the stage and helps people understand exactly how you're going to get from point A to point B

Dr. Jim: I like the fact that You pointed out that there's an operating contract or rules of engagement within Delta Dental. I've never heard of a place that has 30 of them. That seems like a lot.

that joins the organization [: 00:16:00

Joe Arnold: What's interesting is that it probably base boils down to five basic tenants that you could really focus on. But there's different nuance to them, and because of the nuance between those tenants, it's really about, saying similar things, but in a slightly different way that help get at exactly, how how specific we can be with how we expect people to work with each other.

When it comes down to 30, it's not easy to remember all those kind of things. But we have a little booklet that actually just like a little fold out pamphlet that you can put like a stick in your wallet that, that goes through those. They gave it to me during my interview.

I loved it. We also have it reinforced every week. So we actually have one fundamental each week that gets emailed to us at the beginning of the week. We have a an app that actually helps reinforce those that gives... Videos, there's coaching tips for leaders on if somebody's struggling with this, how do we help them with it?

There's a lot of different pieces.

Dr. Jim: Regardless [: 00:17:00

What are the things that you want them to take away that you feel are critically important for them?

Joe Arnold: There's probably a couple of things that I think would be critical. And number one is to get clear on expectations. Make sure that from start to finish, where you're going whether that's as an individual contributor needing to know that from your leader, having the conversations there, whether that's as a leader talking to your individual contributors and people who report to you, how are we getting from point A to point B?

? I think those are a couple [: 00:18:00

I understand what we're trying to do. I understand why you want to make the move that we were trying to make here. And then, like, how do I help navigate that from an HR perspective? It's not necessarily always a yes or no. Are you getting permission here? It's a, how do we help you achieve the business objective that you're trying to do?

Dr. Jim: Where can people find you?

Joe Arnold: You can find me on Twitter or X now, I guess it is. I haven't been on Twitter as much lately, obviously. LinkedIn at Joe H. Arnold.

eginning, don't be afraid of [: 00:19:00

I think one of the big lessons is for people to you. Not make assumptions about anything, regardless of how deeply entrenched they are within an environment. And if we're thinking about the building out a rules of engagement in terms of how you navigate an environment, here are the things that stood out in the conversation.

When I think about Joe's four keys, one, understand the business. So take the time to do that when you get into a new environment. Two, make sure you get clarity around the key outcomes that you and the team are expected to deliver. Three, you need to make sure that you're defining the milestones and timeline.

towards the goals that we're [: 00:20:00

I appreciate you hanging out with us. For those of you who have listened to this conversation, if you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review and then tune in next time where we will have another great leader joining us to give us their game changing realizations that help them build a high performance team.