Weaponizing Data: Building Authentic Elite Teams

CheeTung (CT) Leong: [: 00:00:00

Tony is the Chief Talent Officer at SciTel. SciTel is the largest provider of statistical software and advanced analytics for clinical trial design and execution. It's a real pleasure to have you on the show today, Tony.

Tony Cornett: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: So Tony, tell us a little bit more about what SciTel does.

Tony Cornett: Yeah, so as you said, we're the largest provider of stat software and advanced analytics in clinical trial design. So we work with, a lot of big pharma, other research organizations, things of that nature and helping biotech and pharmaceutical companies really just navigate.

ugh whatever the case may be [: 00:01:00

CheeTung (CT) Leong: So it's a little bit, almost like a Tableau or a Power BI for the big pharma.

Tony Cornett: Probably not in an application. We have a couple of software offerings. And then we also do what we call FSP or as we're starting to call it, like analytics on demand.

And what that is, we'll actually put our people out into big pharma or other clients to do Biostats, biostatisticians stats programmers, clinical data managers, people like that, and then we also run large projects from that as well. So it's multi tips of the spear that we go into that just to make sure that not only can we, from a software offering, manage control data for you, give you the ability to do that, but can also deploy experts in the industry to come out and actually lead that for you as well.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: So you're chief talent officer, what does your day to day look like?

ng in our talent acquisition [: 00:02:00

I look at it in three different ways. So three tier there's the strategy, then there's execution and there's delivery. So oversee the strategy and the teams that do the execution and delivery of those things across our enterprise. And, work a lot on talent strategy as well.

Like, how do we find these people? How do we attract them to organization? You know how we recruit them? What types of experiences do they have? Just anything you would probably take in the realm of talent acquisition, but just taking it up sort of one notch higher from a strategic approach.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: From what you're saying, it sounds like this is a pretty specialized talent market.

rk on pretty cool technology [: 00:03:00

We have a great team who's really great at research and understanding this talent and engaging with them.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: When we look at different aspects of building elite teams, we spoke a lot about culture. It's almost this kind of operating system for the team and having that be an environment that each of these very talented individuals can come to work and be the best version of themselves. So how have you thought about using data to support that goal.

or all intents and purposes, [: 00:04:00

So I'm a big believer that you measure everything. It doesn't mean you broadcast that to everyone, that you're measuring everything, you need to know as a talent acquisition leader, what your ratios are.

So those yield ratios, let's take time to fill. It's usually speed, quality, costs. They go straight to that time to fill, but there's so much more made up of that time to fill. In our culture, we look to use the data to solve a problem.

So in that instance, time to fill, let's say it's 56 days. And a lot of people will run to judgment. That's too long, or that's this, or that's that, and not really understanding what that's made up of. But when you dig deeper, like what's, time to apply, time to disposition, time to review, time to screen, time to submit, time to interview, time to offer, time to hire, time to onboard.

an running to choke a throat [: 00:05:00

So we could speed that up and maybe find where the root cause is. So our teams understand, our culture is not one overly assigned blame. It's a culture to really figure out where, hey, this is what's working. This is what's not. How can we be the best version of ourselves?

And we use data to do that.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: Having that culture of truth seeking right, everyone's just trying to understand and look for what the truth is. And we seek that truth in the data. On what the truth is, I want to pick up a little bit on what you said about data being emotionless.

st there, as a professional, [: 00:06:00

And that's where the emotion starts creeping in, depending on our individual biases and so on. How have you dealt with this in your team?

Tony Cornett: You have to get really good at interpreting the data, going back to that previous example, when you break things apart, you always ask why,? That's the number one question.

You don't rush to judgment, you ask yourself why is it taking 20 days? Why is it doing this? Why is it doing that? And it's a discovery process. The more you do that, the better you get at it. So you may see anomalies that we can't hire enough people, or we can't hire them fast enough, or we need them under these deadlines, and you may go and look at it and it shows all these yields, but then as you discover. And you're right. That's where the story is told in the interpretation of the data. So you take data, which has metrics, you turn those metrics into analytics, you interpret that data, and then you can predict then you have predictive analytics, or you have analytics that are, able to repeat.

ation scale, and you develop [: 00:07:00

I think it was something like 2800 interviews and, when you tell that to a hiring leader who says they want to do all this, they look at you and they're like we don't have time to do that. So what are we going to do ? How are we going to be more efficient around that? Then that's where your value comes because you've interpreted it.

You've used data, you've made a logical decision. You've explained it well, and then you get buy in from people to support and work with you on that initiative. So you don't have like recruiters going against HR business partners and HR business partners going against hiring managers and all these things.

You have this collective ecosystem where everyone can work harmoniously because you're focused on solving problems. Not assigning blame.

t giving back the schedules. [: 00:08:00

So the way to resolve that piece is actually the culture piece because that, the culture of looking at data to help identify areas to solve or what the key issues are in areas that need optimization only shine a light on the problem but the people are the ones that actually need to come together and solve that problem.

So how do you go about creating that culture where there's no kind of aha moments like aha. Gotcha. This is your problem, right? And it's not my problem.

Tony Cornett: You have to create a culture of transparency, and when I say that, it's good and bad. You've probably heard of you treat people like adults, they behave like adults.

what they're going to do and [: 00:09:00

So I think it creates a very safe place. Then also as a leader, leaders create other leaders. , they don't collect followers. That's why you have to be really careful with data in that culture. I think my team would tell you that I don't use it to hold them accountable for like micro types of things, for example, I will never ask them. How many calls did you make today? Or I never asked them, to do things that are just very micro based, to hit a quota. It's all about quality and understanding what it is.

So being transparent and telling them this is what we're measuring. And this is why that we're measuring. This is what we're trying to discover. And trying to find out. So we're focused on that. And then it creates a safe place because people aren't trying to hide things because they know that you just want to know the truth to help them.

you step into those greater [: 00:10:00

Again, transparency, empowerment of the team, allowing them, bring them into that. Teach them the data, show them what it is show them how we use it, let them start using it on their own. I think that creates the culture that you want, where people are unified. The last thing I'll say about that is it's been an anomaly for me, in these environments where, things get very... Contentious between, the recruiting department, the HR managers, and there's jokes, right? When all fails blame recruiting, if it's a great hire, the hiring manager did it, if it's a bad hire, you did it as the recruiter. We all know those adages and we laugh about those, but sometimes that's really true.

In talent acquisition or as a recruiter, you have the same exact goal as your stakeholder, your hiring manager. I think we lose sight. A lot of recruiters feel like they work for those hiring managers.

them. They're there to be a [: 00:11:00

You're not going to find that. Or, we want the best graduates from the best schools and we're going to pay, below this. No that's not how this works. So as a recruit, you have to build those things. I tell the recruiters on any team I've ever had, when you go into a meeting with a hiring manager to talk about this, you're the expert in the room, they're not, and you have to remember that and not in an arrogant, cocky kind of way, but don't bobblehead as I call it, like when they say those things, you just go okay.

And rush to action, like really understand what it is, help guide them. Then you'll find that, and that's where that culture comes in. Wow, our recruiting team is really top notch. They're really good at advising me. I really respect them rather than being viewed as tactical and transactional.

ng is that you've got a nice [: 00:12:00

So you can see stage to stage. It's pretty operationalized. You can see the metrics very clearly. Do you find the same level of data transparency once someone has entered the organization. So even as simple as the first 30, 60, 90 days of onboarding onto, like ongoing the work that they have from engagement to performance and so on.

Tony Cornett: Yeah, definitely. You have to, to some degree. Now, is it, are you measuring every stage of stuff? Probably not. I think some managers and some leaders do, but collectively as a company, you have to make sure you're paying attention to certain markers that happen.

So we all know when an employee comes in, there's euphoria, they're all excited. They're ready to get to work, and you want to make sure that, depending on your culture and depending on your environment, sometimes you want to help a new employee throttle that back a bit.

I think. where I see people [: 00:13:00

Looking at productivity and looking at what people do in those first windows is really important at 30 day window. Then you've got the 60 and the 90 day and really the 90 day is where, it's really good to have a survey of some degree because that's the point when the person that's coming to the organization. They realize the job they had versus the job they interviewed for, and I don't care how clear cut your job is. It's always different. You want to make sure that you're as close to that as you possibly can. When you're looking at data, you may look at things like let's take the sales organization, time to ramp up. Meaning that, they're scheduling, getting meetings . Then you want to look at time , to bring in new business and proposals. And then time to actually close deals so I think one of the interpretations of data that I've made over time is.

eally big epic things but at [: 00:14:00

Maybe we expect you to be here How are you feeling about this because at that moment when that person if your job is not aligned or it's something you are told through the process and you didn't figure out that's not something that you normally, would have an issue with It's something grand maybe it's environment culture or whatever.

It's you don't really truly understand. That person makes a decision I'm gonna stick it out for a year or I'm just gonna cut and leave now because this isn't what I wanted So I think going back to that hiring manager and recruiter have to be very well aligned on profiles of jobs in the organization.

We have to be able to tell that culture, talk about our brand, talk about what makes us work. Again, it goes back to transparency. We like to say at Sitel, we're a 35 year old startup because we're always evolving changes, necessary changes all the time here. So those are things you could get ahead of in the interview process. How do you deal with change? Do you like change? Is it stressful for you? What does this look like types of structure that you need but also as an employer, we have to provide those things to people as well.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: [: 00:15:00

It's the way that the recruiter might have communicated those expectations in the pre hire phase. And, after those 90 days, the organization might also realize that, this guy's got strengths in a different area and maybe we need to evolve the job a little bit to cater for those strengths of theirs.

r organization on how do you [: 00:16:00

What are some of the steps that they could take?

Tony Cornett: You use a really great term, measure what matters. And you have to be strategically aligned your organization. I know that word strategic gets used a lot and used the wrong way, but really what it means is, what does the business want to accomplish?

And as the leader of the recruiting talent organization, what do I need to show? What do I need to deliver? So I think you have to get aligned on that through the gate. So whether you're interviewing with the company or you're in your role and you want to start over and reboot yourself, get with your executives.

Talk to the highest level, talk to your CEO, ask them what their vision is, ask them, where they see this, why they need this talent, be able to ask those questions. And then, the second part is when you start using data, I like to use this statement for myself, leaders lead other people.

ty to run and learn and grow.[: 00:17:00

It can put a lot of pressure on your team. In a bad way. And so be aware of data-driven pressure. If you, in a company that relies on data like Cytel does and metrics you have to realize that can create a really high pressure environment where, you're asking people to hit unrealistic goals and quotas, and that'll lead to burnout and your quality will go down too.

pectations for recruiters or [: 00:18:00

So be aware of those things and then just be transparent, tell your team what you're measuring, tell your leaders what you're measuring, and let them know at any time you can go deeper, so for me. I know what really turns the needle here is speed, quality and cost, but speed isn't necessarily time to fill.

It's all the pieces in that, qualities, quality of candidate, quality of hire, measuring that and then cost, like cost per hire. Those are really important things that this organization wants to know. I'll be asked numerous times during a week, , hey, how's this looking?

Or where's this at? And what's that do? And it's the ability to interpret that. And explain that is really what your superpower will be.

ns, you can't micromanage to [: 00:19:00

That's all the time we have for today. So if people want to find you to talk more about how they can improve the way they use data in their HR organization. What's the best way for them to?

Tony Cornett: You can always go to LinkedIn. connect with me, send me a message.

I'm happy if people want to send me an email as well. It's on my LinkedIn profile . It's tony dot cornet t with two T's at Scytel. com.

CheeTung (CT) Leong: Thanks so much for hanging out with us today. And for those of you who have been listening, I hope you enjoyed the show and took away quite a few nuggets of data literacy and how to use data in your organization.

Tune in next time on the HR Impact Show for more wonderful insights like what Tony shared today. Thanks so much for listening. I've been CT. Talk to you soon.