Dear New HR Person: You Are Not Arriving in a Culture Vacuum

Over the past 12 months, three organisations I have worked with for between three and five years have made an important decision.

They have hired their first dedicated People and Culture or HR professional.

I am soooo genuinely proud of them!!!

For years, we have been doing the foundational work together. We have had conversations about leadership, team culture, expectations, communication, decision-making, accountability and the kind of workplace they want to create.

But there comes a point when someone inside the organisation needs to own that work.

A consultant can help facilitate the conversation, introduce frameworks, challenge assumptions and provide guidance. But someone still needs to turn those conversations into everyday practice. Someone needs to maintain the momentum, support leaders, improve the systems and keep people and culture on the agenda when operational demands inevitably take over.

Hiring someone into that role is often a sign that an organisation is growing up.

It is also an enormous opportunity for the person walking through the door.

And I know, there will be no shortage of things to do....

When you join an organisation that has never had a dedicated HR or People and Culture person, you will probably see gaps everywhere.

Policies that need updating. Processes that need documenting. Employment practices that could be more consistent. Onboarding that could be stronger. Performance conversations that could be clearer. Systems that could be introduced, streamlined or completely rebuilt.

There will be quick wins, significant risks and enough strategic work to fill several years.

But... my recommendation?

Before you start fixing everything.... take time to listen.

I recently had a surprisingly combative meeting with someone who had joined an organisation in a new people-focused role. They were sceptical about the work that had already been done and openly critical of the way the organisation had approached its people and culture development.

The conversation felt much less like curiosity and way more like judgement.

There was an assumption that because the organisation had not previously employed someone with their particular expertise, the existing work must have been inadequate.

That assumption missed something incredibly important.

Just because an organisation has never had a People and Culture person does not mean it has never had a culture.

... Culture has already been forming every day.

It has been created through the decisions leaders have made, the behaviours people have tolerated, the stories employees tell, the rituals teams have developed and the ways people respond when things become difficult.

There are definitely parts of that culture that need to change... of course there will.

But there will also be people who have worked incredibly hard to build something valuable without the experience, language, resources or formal mandate that you now bring to the table.

They deserve your respect, before they receive your recommendations.

One of the greatest mistakes a new People and Culture professional can make is entering an organisation while still looking through the eyes of their previous one.

What worked in your last company might not work here.

The policy you loved might not suit this environment. The system you implemented elsewhere might solve a problem this organisation does not have. The language you are accustomed to might not connect with the people in front of you.

Your previous experience is totally awesomely valuable, but it is not the blueprint.

Your role is not to arrive with all the answers. It is to understand the organisation deeply enough to know which questions need to be asked.

Listen to the leaders who have been carrying the people responsibilities alongside their actual jobs.

Listen to the employees who have experienced the culture at its best and its worst.

Understand what has already been tried, what worked, what failed and what people learned from it.

Recognise the informal systems that have kept things moving.

Notice the people who have quietly championed wellbeing, development, inclusion and accountability without ever having those words written into their job description.

Then think about how your expertise can strengthen what is already there. You do not need to revolutionise everything to demonstrate your value.

Sometimes the best People and Culture work is not about creating something completely new. It is about hearing what already matters to the organisation, refining it, protecting it and helping people practise it more consistently.

You can introduce structure without dismissing history.

You can raise standards without diminishing previous effort.

You can create strategy without pretending nobody was thinking strategically before you arrived.

And you can bring professional expertise while still showing humility.

The most effective P&C professionals do not position themselves as the heroes who have arrived to rescue the organisation.

They become champions of the people who are already there.

Four places to start

1. Listen before you diagnose. Spend time understanding people’s experiences before deciding what is broken. Ask what they value, what frustrates them and what they are proud of.

2. Honour the work already done. Acknowledge the leaders and employees who have carried culture, wellbeing and people development without formal HR support.

3. Separate risk from preference. Some things require urgent attention because they create legal, ethical or organisational risk. Other things may simply be different from how your previous organisation operated.

4. Build with people, not for them. Use your expertise to create stronger systems and clearer strategy, but involve the people who will actually have to live with what you introduce.

Ultimately, you may be the organisation’s first People and Culture professional.

But you are not the first person who has cared about its people.

Blue Mercury Leadership helps organisations turn good intentions about people and culture into everyday leadership practice.

Through practical leadership development, team workshops, facilitation and culture strategy, we help organisations build stronger leaders, clearer expectations and workplaces where people can do their best work.

We do not arrive to replace what already exists. We listen, understand what matters and help organisations strengthen the culture they are already creating.