Building the People Foundations for the Next Wave of Growth

The challenge: big ambitions, and a people function that hadn't kept pace

When a scaling Australian software company — let's call them TechCo — secured a significant round of venture capital funding, it marked the beginning of an exciting new chapter. The investment brought fresh executive talent, a more ambitious global growth agenda, and, as is often the case in fast-moving technology businesses, a sharper lens on what was working well and what wasn't.

What the new leadership found in the People & Culture (P&C) function was a team doing their best in the circumstances they'd been handed — but operating without the infrastructure, strategy, or tools needed to support a business growing at TechCo's pace. The gaps were significant, and some were urgent.

The new executive team’s concerns included:

• There was no unified people strategy tied to the business's growth objectives.  

• HR, talent acquisition, and learning & development each operated independently, creating an inconsistent employee (and client) experience across their existing global offices and inefficiencies in their people practices

• There was no global HRIS — meaning people data was fragmented, reporting was difficult, and the organisation was flying somewhat blind on workforce planning

• Compliance risks in Australia and across the existing regional offices needed to be addressed

• Without clear frameworks for performance, compensation, or internal mobility, the organisation was losing ground in its ability to attract, develop, and retain the critical talent it needed to grow and deliver to clients

The new executive team knew they needed external expertise to move quickly and credibly while keeping the flexibility to adjust their P&C team resourcing as the work evolved. They engaged us on an interim HR consulting basis to provide initial advice, then we transitioned to a fractional basis to manage the strategic delivery of the work.

What we did: listening first, then building momentum

Our starting point was always going to be understanding the business — deeply and honestly — before recommending anything. We invested our time getting to know our client up front and got a thorough grasp of their current state and future needs.  

Over a series of conversations with board directors, senior executives, regional managers, finance/payroll leads, the P&C team, and other key stakeholders, we built a clear picture of where TechCo was heading strategically and where the people and culture function needed to go to support that journey.

We reviewed existing HR processes and tools with fresh eyes and thought carefully about what was needed to support the anticipated growth. As few HR systems were in place to provide us with the data insights the new executive team was looking for, we evaluated the people data that had been gathered to secure the recent funding round. We asked hard questions and listened carefully to what the organisation's own people had to say about what wasn't working.

From there, we developed a practical roadmap: a set of early momentum-building projects to give the executive team confidence quickly and create a longer-term foundation that would serve TechCo through its next phase of growth.

• Interim HR Leadership. Developing an HR Strategy was the first major deliverable. This wasn't a document that lived in a drawer — it was developed collaboratively with TechCo 's leadership, presented to the board, and endorsed as a genuine blueprint for the business. It gave the P&C function a clear mandate and connected people priorities directly to commercial outcomes.

• A new HR operating model and organisational design. We designed a model that would bring HR, talent acquisition, and L&D into genuine alignment and then supported TechCo through the change to bring it to life. The result was a more effective and efficient function, with clearer accountabilities and a more consistent experience for employees regardless of where they were in the world.

• Employee Engagement. TechCo needed to understand the perspectives of its people — quickly — particularly in the areas where retention risk was highest. We selected and launched a contemporary employee survey platform, managing the entire process from implementation and communications through to reporting and follow-up. The insights we provided to senior and regional executives weren't just interesting reading; they directly informed near-term actions to address retention risks and shaped the longer-term HR strategy.

• People data and analytics. Selecting and implementing a new global HRIS was one of the most complex and consequential pieces of work. We led a thorough selection process that brought together stakeholders from HR, Finance, IT, and the business — across multiple geographies — to ensure the chosen platform genuinely met TechCo's needs. Once selected, we negotiated commercial terms, developed the implementation timeline, and worked with the P&C team to review, align, and document global processes and data requirements in readiness for go-live.

• Specialist People and Culture Consulting - Reward. Without a clear remuneration philosophy or consistent processes, TechCo's approach to pay was unpredictable and difficult to manage equitably across a global workforce. We developed and implemented a remuneration philosophy and strategy, introduced compensation benchmarking practices and tools, and built new global salary review processes — giving leaders the structure to manage compensation decisions more confidently and fairly.

The result: a stronger foundation, and a growing partnership

When we delivered on the initial brief, TechCo's executive team and board had something they hadn't had before: a P&C function with genuine strategic direction, real data on their people, modern tools in place, the compliance foundations to operate confidently across multiple markets, and clear, equitable frameworks for compensation decisions.

But perhaps the most meaningful measure of our work was this: TechCo asked us to stay on to upskill their P&C leaders to run the programs on an ongoing basis.

What began as a defined, interim diagnostic and strategy assignment expanded into a broader implementation partnership. We went on to support:

• the selection and implementation of a new global recruitment platform  

• the development of a multi-year L&D strategy spanning leadership, technical, sales, and business skills

• a global benefits review

• the design and implementation of a new approach to performance management.  

For a small HR consulting team, it was exactly the kind of engagement we love — one where we could invest generously, build something that genuinely mattered, and leave the organisation more capable than we found it.

Ready to mature your People & Culture operations as you scale your business?

Growing fast without the right HR infrastructure isn't a strategy — it's a risk. The gap between where your people function is today and where it needs to be doesn't close on its own.

We work with scaling businesses to close that gap: building the strategy, structure, systems, and capability that let your organisation grow with confidence. We move quickly and, where applicable, work alongside your P&C team on either a project, interim, or fractional basis to implement real change.  

If your P&C function hasn't kept pace with your ambitions, or you feel that now is the time for a strategic review, we’d love to help.

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