Humanico is on a mission to revolutionise the way organisations leverage human capability & behaviour.
Meet Paul Rush and Fiona Vale, Co-Founders of Humanico, who are guided by their vision to change the narrative of organisations in relation to their greatest asset — their people.
We caught up with Paul and Fiona to learn what it means for startups to optimise their people, the challenges and triumphs in building Humanico, and what they hope their wider impact will be.
1. What is Humanico? And what gave birth to the idea?
Humanico is an HR Tech company combining unique platform capability with consulting and insights to help organisations truly understand and optimise ALL of their people.
All humans are unique and valuable to an organisation, yet investment in understanding employees is traditionally limited to the top 15%. We hypothesised that if we could design a simple, digital and commercially viable way for companies to understand and truly value their HUMANs, both as Individuals and as a COllective that we could create a win-win for both sides of the equation. HUMAN + I + CO = HUMANICO.
2. What problem is Humanico trying to solve?
Companies don't understand their human asset, traditional HR data is static and doesn’t provide leaders with the information they need/require to make optimal people decisions. With the ‘Great Resignation’ upon us, the cost of attrition is high and so many companies are hunting for talent externally instead of truly understanding who they have in their own backyard.
3. Why do you think some businesses fail to grasp how important an asset human talent is?
If you ask any business leader what their greatest asset is, what will they tell you it is? Their people. Yet, their people sit on the debt register. We speak to so many leaders who know that they have good people, but unfortunately there hasn’t been a digital, commercially viable way to truly understand the asset using a common language and a universal framework in order to optimise that asset at all levels - individual/team and organisation.
4. We see a lot of your online activity that encourages startups to ‘optimise their people’ — what do you mean by that?
Good question! The first step to optimising your people is to understand them. By understanding them through a strengths-based lens you will learn how they think, feel and behave as well as understand what they bring to their team and what they need to thrive. The reality is that most startups don't have the time or money for a significant HR resource and more often than not, people will be required to step outside their primary role! If you can task people in a way that plays to their strengths they will be happier, more engaged and ultimately more productive.
5. What were some of the truly challenging times you both faced since conceptualising Humanico?
To be honest, we have had a really good run! We built the foundations of the business early on, and due to our Corporate background always consider risk and process flow and plan accordingly. The support we have received has been unbelievable - and a big part of that comes down to asking for help when you need it. The biggest challenge is wearing so many hats - especially in the early stages and remaining focussed on what is important. We both lead with Strategic and Futuristic; which is perfect for startup founders, but it does mean we need to be aware of that and learn to walk before we can run :)
6. And what’s something that surprised you when you were building Humanico?
As first time Founders, we didn't have all the answers but our approach has served us well and invariably our gut driven decisions have been incredibly important. One of the biggest surprises was the weighting that others have put on our connected/aligned relationship and how rare that is in the Tech startup world! We lent into our first cap raise focusing on product market fit, go-to-market strategy and we won’t tell you how long we spent figuring out our TAM/SAM/SOM… only to learn that 80% of the decision making was on who we were as founders and if we were the right people to drive the vision.
7. Everyone knows how much work, working styles, and workplace dynamics have changed over the last year or so — How has the last year impacted the way we have to think about optimising talent (if at all)?
The amplification of the importance of your people through the last year/18 months has been palpable. Never before has it been so important to firstly understand ALL of your people and then if you can find a way to optimise your people while also being empathetic to their situation and needs - hence we are now seeing the hyper personalisation trend. Furthermore, knowing that 41% of people, globally, will leave their job and for the first time not necessarily have another job to go to, the war for talent has intensified and the absolute need for a digital capability map that combines workforce intelligence with engagement has never been greater.
8. We read something very interesting on your website that mentioned a ‘Future Human Map’. And it was described as, “Imagine if an organisational chart and a talent map had a baby, and it was raised by a strength-based village.” That truly sounds like something — can you explain how these human maps can help organisations do better & be better? And what the benefit of knowing what your human map looks like?
Let’s start with the fact that 85% of employees have not had the opportunity to be invested in because traditionally they sat in the wrong end of the hierarchy. Thankfully that view is shifting, so having a digital representation of your people is valuable in the first instance.
Then add the dimension of understanding your people through a strengths based lens (how they think, feel and behave, what they bring and what they need). With that information alone you can marry your company strategy to all the combined strengths of your people in one digital map. Then start to think about how you can change the strengths composition of your map to optimise your people asset on an individual, team and organisation basis...But wait there's more! Then overlay that map with a feeling index of the population, one that focuses specifically on how your people are feeling in their role right now… not about the leadership or the company strategy. Then correlate how people feel about their role with their natural strengths… and finally with additional insights, observations and recommendations enjoy the significant benefits realisation at the bottom line.
9. What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve received on your journey?
Trust your gut, no question is stupid and everyone has an opinion. We really have been incredibly fortunate with the advice and support we have garnered to date. From a practical perspective, the best piece of advice is to make sure you have the right company structure in place from the beginning (LUNA can help you with this!)
10. What’s the biggest goal that you’re working to achieve for Humanico? What’s your north star?
That’s a simple one - to shine a light on all human potential in the workplace. Our north star is to change the narrative in relation to your greatest asset being your people…. let’s move your people off the debt register and put them on the asset register.
11. What does a fulfilling project for Humanico look like?
Ultimately making a difference at both an individual and company level. Firstly it starts with a customer who genuinely embraces their people and is truly seeking to understand who they have and to help every individual understand their own strengths. Yielding maximum engagement through the Humanico process always puts a smile on our faces! Finally working with the stakeholder group to drive deeper understanding and use the insights generated from the Humanico platform to really maximise their people asset especially as they go through growth and change.
12. And what do you hope the wider impact of Humanico will be?
By having the right people in the right place at the right time, the benefits realisation at an individual, team and company level is significant. Helping an individual unlock and understand their strengths has a much greater impact on simply who they are as an employee…. It also adds impact with who they are as parent, partner, sibling, friend and member of the community.
Ultimately, to change the way we value people regardless of their role and status. After all, we’re all just human.
By Nikita Lamba
