Culture, Skills & Talent Booklet

Dale Clareburt – Weirdly
Toni Moyes – 8i
Steve Henry – AUT/Kode Biotech
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Top Tips & Tricks
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Culture, Skills & Talent

Culture, Skills & Talent
Welcome to the fourth instalment of our Innovation Heroes: Show & Tell series
focussed on Culture, Skills & Talent! We are delighted to have on board Dale
Clareburt – Weirdly, Steve Henry – AUT/Kode Biotech and Toni Moyes – 8i.
These three amazing kiwi innovators, who are in very different industries, all agree
that it is essential to build a strong and open culture in order to be successful.
In this edition, they share their stories and the challenges that they have faced in
building a strong business culture and what they would do differently next time.
It’s a great watch!
see the full video at innovationcouncil.org.nZ
INNOVATION HEROES | Show & Tell | Culture, Skills & Talent

SHOW & TELL: How do you attract
and retain top talent?
It’s been said an organisation is only as good as the people in it.
But it’s also a bit of a Catch-22: how do you attract the very best
talent to have the very best organisation? And how do you keep
them involved in your organisation?
AUT professor and Kode Biotech CEO
Stephen Henry says finding the right
talent is one of the most important
things for any business.
“The best way to find the right talent
is know who that person is, preferably
by interacting with them for a long
time before employing them. If you
are unable to do this then I like a
very informal interview process where
prospective employees meet my team
(without the CEO present), and only if
the team feels the person is a fit with
our culture will we hire them. Trust in
the ‘feeling’ you get within the first few
minutes.”
Weirdly’s Dale Clareburt has a similar
approach.
“As a startup, we’re often looking for
people with a really specific combo
of skills and attributes to complement
our team. Our hiring decisions have to
be made really quickly so we’re pretty
much always ‘on’ when it comes to
sourcing talent.”
But attracting talent isn’t enough –
you also have to keep and retain that
talent. Toni Moyes, Chief Operating
Officer of technology company 8i, says
it’s always a challenge.
“A big challenge that your team faces
when you’re in a fast-growing startup
is keeping the culture vibrant and
evolving. We went from a handful of
people in a room to a 75-person,
multi-national organisation really fast.
And it actually takes a lot of effort to
keep that culture cohesive and healthy
as you go through that journey.”
Knowing and living your purpose must
play a key role in this.
Clareburt adds: “We put a huge
emphasis on hiring the right people in
the first place – hence the emphasis
on making sure someone’s a good fit
with our values and purpose, as well
as having the right skills. We’ve found
those people are more inclined to stick
around longer. The tricky bit, is that in
an early stage startup, the talent you
need today isn’t necessarily the same
talent you need tomorrow. We’re big
fans of the idea that people will grow in
and out of the roles you have available,
it may mean they move on to other
opportunities but if we’ve nurtured those
relationships well and the purpose-fit
was good to begin with, they’ll often find
ways to come back.”
Henry also is in agreement.
INNOVATION HEROES | Show & Tell | Culture, Skills & Talent

“If you recruit an individual compatible
with your organisation’s culture then
retaining them is not so difficult, as they
will want to be part of the organisation.
As a company we appreciate that
community and life outside of work are
important, and if we think about each
other’s needs with care, honesty and
respect, then together we will advance
each other’s interests.”
Henry highlights the importance of skills.
“We think of skills as specific to the
role – stuff like being experienced with
machine learning systems or specific
coding languages,” he says. “That’s
obviously important, but for us it’s not as
crucial as a good fit with our values and
purpose and having the characteristics
you need to complement our teams.”
Weirdly’s Clareburt says it all comes
down to people complementing
each other.
“We are a blend of scientists and
business people, each with different
skill sets and paradigms on perceived
value,” she explains. “Specific skill sets
aside, the type of person I look for is
someone who will fit with our culture,
and is passionate about we can do and
achieve. I don’t pre-select on the basis
of academic qualifications and prefer
people with life experiences and a
positive attitude. I am more than happy
to develop specific skills if the underlying
talent is present. There is a lot of
unrealised talent out there, particularly in
women who have curtailed their careers
to become mothers.
“We look for people who are not afraid
to fail, yet always strive for success
and personal development. Integrity,
honesty, and respect are the foundation
of everything we do.”
Although these three innovators
come from very different backgrounds
and have very different businesses,
they share many of the same traits.
To watch the video, download
your FREE booklet and get our
Innovation Heroes’ ‘Top Tips’, go to
innovationcouncil.org.nz.
INNOVATION HEROES | Show & Tell | Culture, Skills & Talent

TOP TIPS FOR YOUR
GROWTH JOURNEY
SHARE YOUR VISION & STORIES
Make a personal connection by sharing your story with your customers and
business community - be honest, be truthful, be authentic. And you will attract
the right people to your business who believe in what you are trying to achieve.
WRITE A CULTURE PLAN
Culture is the heart beat of your organisation and you must stay laser focused
on it. To help provide focus, write a culture plan that engages and invests, not
only your people and teams, but ensures that any barriers to developing a great
culture are overcome.
CULTURE FIT MUST CROSS ALL LEVELS
Apply the cultural fit ALL the way through your organisation – from entry level
to board members. You can never be ‘too busy’ to focus on it – your success
depends upon it.
LEARN TO EMBRACE REBELS
Entrepreneurial people are the life blood of your organisation, they will help
you to build a vision and keep the business moving. Learn early on to lead
them (not manage them). They will challenge everything you do, just remember
that’s why you hired them. Give them problems to solve and the room to do it.
NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE
Communicate your purpose widely to staff and customers to engage them in
your business. Your purpose helps you focus so that you can all contribute to
reaching the same goals and building your business success.
“Innovation culture is about providing all people and teams with
the tools to enable innovation to flourish. We empower innovation
ambassadors and coaches to champion innovation throughout
the world by providing workshops and innovation days.”
Suzanne Subritzky – Bayer New Zealand Innovation Coach
INNOVATION HEROES | Show & Tell | Culture, Skills & Talent

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