Overview
The People & Culture Team Leadership Curve maps the strategic development journey for people and culture teams, from basic HR administration to market-leading employee experience orchestration and organizational innovation. This framework helps people leaders understand their current maturity stage and identify the specific skills and systems needed to advance their team's capabilities.
Framework Foundation
Connection to Resolute Leadership System
- Primary Alignment: Question 6 of 7 Questions of Leadership (Employee Experience)
- Canvas Integration: Works in conjunction with People & Culture Plan Canvas for annual execution
- Strategic Purpose: Build sustainable organizational capability that drives employee satisfaction, retention, and performance
Skills and Systems Architecture
- Skills (above the line): Core competencies and capabilities team members must develop
- Systems (below the line): Tools, processes, and technologies that enable scalable execution
- Integration Principle: Skills and systems should advance together to maintain effectiveness
The Six Stages of People & Culture Leadership
Stage 1: Idea - People Foundation (Basic HR)
Timeline: 0-2 years
Stage Question: "How do we manage basic people processes?"
Strategic Focus: Establish foundational people processes and compliance with basic employee management systems that can scale with growth.
Key Skills to Develop:
- Basic employee administration and record keeping
- Simple hiring processes and candidate screening
- Employment law compliance and basic policies
- Payroll coordination and benefits administration
- Founder-led culture and team building
Essential Systems:
- Document management system for employee records
- Basic payroll processing and benefits enrollment
- Simple employee handbook and policies
- Basic hiring workflow and applicant tracking
- Employee communication tools (email, meetings)
Capability Indicators:
- Consistent compliance with employment regulations
- Basic employee onboarding and record keeping
- Simple hiring and payroll processes in place
- Foundation-level employee communication
Stage 2: Identity - People Structure (Organized HR)
Timeline: 2-5 years
Stage Question: "How do we build systematic people management?"
Strategic Focus: Transform from basic administration to systematic people management with consistent employee experience and organizational structure.
Key Skills to Develop:
- Personas development for ideal employee profiles
- Employee journey mapping and experience design
- Role definition and organizational structure
- Employee acquisition strategy and talent sourcing
- Culture foundations and values articulation
Essential Systems:
- HR CRM for employee data management
- Team collaboration platforms and communication tools
- Identity management and security systems
- Data security and employee information protection
- Performance tracking and review systems
Capability Indicators:
- Systematic people management processes
- Clear organizational structure and role definitions
- Employee experience journey mapping
- Values-based culture foundation established
Stage 3: Calibration - People Intelligence (Experience Optimization)
Timeline: 5-10 years
Stage Question: "How do we optimize employee experience and performance?"
Strategic Focus: Build sophisticated people capabilities that create predictable employee satisfaction and retention through optimized processes.
Key Skills to Develop:
- Onboarding program design and delivery
- Performance architecture and rewards systems
- Culture strategy development and implementation
- Policies and procedures documentation
- Knowledge management and organizational learning
Essential Systems:
- Learning management system for employee development
- Digital contracts and agreement management
- Performance plans and OKR tracking systems
- Reports and dashboards for people analytics
- Knowledge base for employee self-service
Capability Indicators:
- Optimized employee experience and onboarding
- Performance management and development systems
- Culture strategy implementation
- Comprehensive people analytics and insights
Stage 4: Maturity - Strategic People Partnership (Experience Excellence)
Timeline: 10+ years
Stage Question: "How do we drive organizational performance through people?"
Strategic Focus: Transform People & Culture from support function to strategic performance driver that creates competitive advantage through superior employee experience.
Key Skills to Develop:
- Coaching program development and execution
- Learning and development program design
- Retention and growth strategy implementation
- Advanced performance management systems
- Cross-functional people leadership
Essential Systems:
- Employee mobile apps for anywhere access
- HR help desk and self-service platforms
- Learning tracks and career development pathways
- Advanced performance management technology
- Integrated employee experience platforms
Capability Indicators:
- Strategic people partnership with business leadership
- Advanced learning and development capabilities
- Market-leading employee retention and satisfaction
- Cross-functional people leadership influence
Stage 5: Mastery - People Innovation (Organizational Leadership)
Timeline: Market leadership phase
Stage Question: "How do we lead organizational innovation through people?"
Strategic Focus: Create people capabilities that set industry standards and build innovative employee experience approaches that differentiate in the talent marketplace.
Key Skills to Develop:
- Employee ownership structure and equity programs
- Advanced organizational design and transformation
- People analytics and predictive modeling
- Industry thought leadership in employee experience
- Strategic people innovation methodologies
Essential Systems:
- HR analytics and predictive people intelligence
- Employee community platforms and engagement tools
- Advanced people data and insight platforms
- Innovation labs for people experience experimentation
- Market-leading employee technology stack
Capability Indicators:
- Industry-leading people innovation
- Advanced analytics and predictive capabilities
- Employee ownership and equity programs
- Market influence and thought leadership
Stage 6: Initiate - Intrapreneurship Building (Innovation Ecosystem)
Timeline: Innovation transformation phase
Stage Question: "How do we create innovation through employee entrepreneurship?"
Strategic Focus: Create new organizational models that enable employees to build new business units and drive organizational innovation through intrapreneurship capabilities.
Key Skills to Develop:
- Intrapreneurship program development
- Innovation ecosystem orchestration
- New business unit creation through employees
- Entrepreneurial culture and venture building
- Employee-driven market transformation
Essential Systems:
- AI role guidance and career development
- Innovation platforms for employee ventures
- Intrapreneurship funding and support systems
- Venture development tools and methodologies
- Next-generation employee experience technologies
Capability Indicators:
- Intrapreneurship program success
- New business unit creation through employees
- Innovation ecosystem leadership
- Market transformation through people innovation
Implementation Guide
Assessment Process
- Current State Evaluation: Assess your team's current skills and systems against each stage
- Gap Analysis: Identify specific capabilities needed for next stage advancement
- Development Planning: Create targeted development plan with realistic timelines
- Progress Tracking: Monitor advancement through regular capability assessments
Integration with People & Culture Plan Canvas
- Annual Planning: Use canvas for yearly execution priorities
- Capability Building: Use curve for multi-year strategic development
- Resource Allocation: Balance canvas delivery with curve advancement
- Performance Management: Track both operational results and capability growth
Success Metrics by Stage
Idea-Identity: Compliance, basic processes, employee satisfaction basics
Calibration-Maturity: Employee retention, engagement scores, performance metrics
Mastery-Initiate: Market leadership, innovation adoption, organizational transformation
Waymaker Integration
Course Development Applications
- Leadership development curricula for people managers
- HR skill-building workshops aligned to curve progression
- Certification programs for people excellence
AI and Technology Integration
- AI-powered people capabilities assessment
- Automated learning recommendations based on stage
- Predictive analytics for people development
Organizational Development
- People team structure design based on maturity stage
- Succession planning for people leadership roles
- Cross-functional collaboration improvement
Related Resources
Essential Reading
- People & Culture Plan Canvas framework for annual execution
- Employee Experience strategy development guides
- People leadership best practices and case studies
Development Tools
- People capability assessment templates
- Skill development tracking systems
- Performance improvement frameworks
Community and Support
- People leadership peer networks
- Industry benchmarking resources
- Ongoing education and certification programs
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This framework is part of the Resolute Leadership System, designed to help people leaders build strategic capabilities that drive employee satisfaction and organizational performance. For complete implementation guidance and support resources, visit resolutemethod.com/resources.
A worked example
Every worked example in the canon uses the same company — Burke & Wills EV, a hypothetical Australian off-road EV maker — so the picture builds across frameworks instead of restarting each time.
# Burke & Wills EV — People & Culture Leadership Curve
Overview
We build affordable, rugged, outback-ready off-road EVs in Brisbane, and 2025 is the year we go from successful R&D to commercial launch — 500 Wills units delivered, $50M revenue, +65 NPS. None of that happens without the team that builds, sells, and services the cars. Marcus Webb, our People & Culture Director, maps our people function on this curve so we know exactly where we sit, what we're good at, and what we have to build next as we scale through 45 new hires this year.
Our honest read: we are squarely at Stage 2 (Identity — People Structure), with deliberate moves already underway into Stage 3 (Calibration — People Intelligence). We've outgrown founder-led, ad-hoc HR. We have not yet earned the right to call ourselves a strategic people partnership. This is what good looks like for us right now.
Framework Foundation
- Primary alignment: Question 6 of the 7 Questions of Leadership — Employee Experience.
- Canvas integration: this curve sets our multi-year capability path; the People & Culture Plan Canvas carries the 2025 execution targets — 45 new hires, 85% engagement, 90% key-talent retention, 100% completion of the adventure program.
- Skills above the line, systems below the line. Marcus advances both together. A career framework with no system to run it is a poster; a system with no skill to use it is shelfware.
Current Stage Assessment
| Current stage | Stage 2 — Identity (People Structure) |
| Moving toward | Stage 3 — Calibration (People Intelligence) |
| Owner | Marcus Webb, People & Culture Director |
| Headcount plan | 45 new hires in 2025 |
| People targets | 85% engagement · 90% key-talent retention · 100% adventure-program completion |
The Six Stages — Where We Sit
Stage 1: Idea — People Foundation (Basic HR) — DONE
This was us through the beta phase: 50 units, a small founding crew, culture set by Sarah Mitchell at the front of the room.
Skills we built: basic employee administration, simple hiring, Fair Work compliance and award interpretation, payroll, founder-led team building.
Systems we put in: employee records, payroll run, a one-page handbook, an inbox-and-meetings rhythm. Xero handles pay; Waymaker Documents holds the early policies.
Why it's done: we are compliant, everyone is paid correctly and on time, and onboarding exists. We have outgrown it — a 45-hire year breaks anything this manual.
Stage 2: Identity — People Structure (Organized HR) — WHERE WE ARE
Stage question: "How do we build systematic people management?"
Strategic focus: move off founder memory and onto structure — defined roles, a deliberate employee experience, and values that are written down and lived, not just felt in the room.
Key skills we're building:
- Ideal-employee personas per function — the production-line technician David Chen needs, the regional sales manager James Thornton needs (Queensland is our first open territory hire), the customer-experience specialist Emma Richardson needs.
- Employee journey mapping — offer → first day → first 90 days → first expedition, designed on purpose rather than improvised.
- Role definition and org structure — every role on the ELT-to-floor chart has a one-page scorecard: outcomes, not just duties.
- Talent sourcing strategy — we hire for Explorer Spirit and Authentic Australian first, train the technical second; our EVP "Join the expedition" leads every job ad.
- Values articulation — our four values are written, explained, and tied to behaviours: Explorer Spirit, Authentic Australian, Sustainable Future, Adventure Together.
Essential systems:
- HR record system in Xero for people data, with a structured new-starter checklist.
- Culture Amp stood up for engagement measurement (baseline now, 85% the target).
- Waymaker Documents as the single home for policies, role scorecards, and the employee handbook.
- Team collaboration on our standard stack so a Brisbane factory hire and a remote service partner work off the same information.
- Identity and access provisioning handled on day one, not week three.
Capability indicators — what tells us we've got this:
- Every new hire has a named role scorecard before they start.
- Onboarding is the same quality whether it's hire #1 or hire #45 this year.
- Our four values appear in hiring, reviews, and the way we talk about the work.
- We can show the org structure on one page and explain why each box exists.
Stage 3: Calibration — People Intelligence (Experience Optimization) — BUILDING NOW
Stage question: "How do we optimize employee experience and performance?"
This is the deliberate next move, and we've already started three pieces of it.
Key skills we're building:
- Structured onboarding program — a 90-day plan built around our culture shapers: Friday adventure stories from week one, the "Would you take it to the outback?" quality test taught on the line, and a place reserved on the annual company expedition. Target: 100% of new hires complete the adventure program.
- Performance architecture — fortnightly manager 1:1s (45 min) as the operating rhythm, role scorecards as the standard, and a light rewards framework tied to the Wills launch.
- Career framework — visible progression paths so a technician on David Chen's line and a specialist on Emma Richardson's team can see the next two rungs, which is how we hit 90% key-talent retention through a high-growth, high-poaching year.
- Policies and procedures documented properly, not tribal knowledge.
Essential systems:
- A learning path for the adventure program and role-specific ramp-up.
- Culture Amp moved from a one-off baseline to a running engagement and pulse cadence.
- People reporting surfaced into our Power BI exec dashboard so headcount, engagement, and retention sit beside the units-and-revenue scorecard.
- Waymaker as the home for the People & Culture goals, plans, and role docs — the performance hub the rest of the business already runs on.
Capability indicators we're chasing:
- Onboarding is a designed program with a completion rate, not a folder of links.
- Engagement is measured continuously and acted on, tracking to 85%.
- A career framework exists that managers actually use in 1:1s.
- People metrics are visible to the ELT every Monday.
Stage 4: Maturity — Strategic People Partnership — NEXT HORIZON (Year 2–3)
As the Burke utility variant launches and we scale toward 1,200 then 2,000 units, People & Culture moves from organising the team to driving performance through it — coaching programs, real L&D tracks, retention strategy, and Marcus sitting at the table as a strategic partner, not a support function. Not now. On the map.
Stage 5: Mastery — People Innovation — FUTURE (Year 4–5)
When the Sturt platform arrives and we're an established market leader, this is where employee ownership and equity, predictive people analytics, and industry thought leadership in how you build an Australian manufacturing culture come into play. Aspirational and named, so we don't pretend we're already there.
Stage 6: Initiate — Intrapreneurship Building — FUTURE
The far horizon: a company where the people who built the Wills propose and build the next thing themselves. We'll earn the right to think about it once Stages 3 and 4 are real.
Gap Analysis — Stage 2 → Stage 3
| Capability | Have (Stage 2) | Need (Stage 3) | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onboarding | Consistent checklist | 90-day designed program, 100% adventure-program completion | Marcus Webb |
| Performance | Role scorecards, fortnightly 1:1s | Performance architecture + rewards tied to Wills launch | Marcus Webb |
| Career growth | Roles defined | Visible career framework → 90% key-talent retention | Marcus Webb |
| Engagement | Culture Amp baseline | Running pulse cadence → 85% engagement | Marcus Webb |
| People data | Records in Xero | People metrics in Power BI exec dashboard | Marcus Webb |
2025 People Priorities
- Hire 45 with structure — every role scorecarded, every new starter onboarded to the same standard, hired for Explorer Spirit and Authentic Australian first.
- Stand up the career framework — visible progression so we hold 90% of our key talent through a launch year.
- Make engagement a system — Culture Amp running continuously, tracking to 85%, with the adventure program at 100% completion.
If we get these three right, we'll have done what good looks like at our stage: a team that can build 500 Wills with zero critical quality issues, sell them, and service them across 12 regional partners — and a culture strong enough to carry us into the Burke and Sturt years.