Laika Head of People Joe Bast

Talk Talent To Me

Our behavior dictates how people treat us in all aspects of our lives. Talking to us today about adjusting behavior to define and maintain company culture is Joe Bast, organizational psychologist and Head of People at Laika. We start the discussion by diving into Joe’s past and what got him interested in psychology in the first place. From his extensive work experience, we segue into his roles at different companies, and how he realized that recruitment was what he was passionate about. We hear some amusing anecdotes about his time at the Cheesecake Factory, all the while learning about the structure and the ethos underlying it. Part of the Cheesecake Factory’s success is the clear definition and focus on company culture, something that Joe looked for in his next job. Tune in to learn why defining culture early on in a company’s life cycle is key to success, and how Joe identifies companies that have done so. We also hear some great tips on how to identify behaviors that are indicative of a company’s values and how to tell if these behaviors are ingrained in the employees. Joe reminds us that behaviors need to be maintained by rewarding and removing those that are desired and unwanted (respectively), and why this role falls to those in recruitment and HR. For all this and so much more, tune in today.

Key Points From This Episode:

• An introduction to organizational psychologist turned head of people at Laika, Joe Bast.

• What Laika is and their recent exponential growth.

• Joe's journey: from exposure to entrepreneurs as a kid to the Cheesecake Factory (and everything in between!)

• When Joe realized his role at the Cheesecake Factory wasn’t a good fit.

• What’s going on at the Cheesecake Factory from an insider’s perspective.

• How Joe used recruitment data and employee satisfaction to predict profit and growth.

• Why Laika has continued to grow during The Great Resignation: Engagement.

• Why defining the culture you're looking for upfront is key to success.

• How Joe identifies companies with defined cultures and his experience at Laika.

• The behaviors that are indicative of a company’s values.

• Understanding the culture shift when a company grows, and scaling it accordingly.

• Why rewarding desired behavior and removing unwanted behavior is part of creating company culture.

• Applying organizational psychology to everyday life.

• How Joe is like the Jane Goodall for ties.

Tweetables:

“I could see how the money we’ve put into recruiting people and training people and onboarding people could be impacted by how much we train managers and did organizational culture at the restaurant level because turnover went down.” — @Joeb2727 [0:06:19]

“When we talk about creating the culture, yes you can hire for it and you can reward the culture congruent behaviors but you also have to remove the people who are behaving in ways that are contraindicated in the culture and that are toxic to the culture.” — @Joeb2727 [0:19:08]

“I think a lot of my job, being the top people leader is holding the leaders in general, the founders, the executives in particular accountable to the things they say they want to do.” — @Joeb2727 [0:31:36]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Joe Bast

Laika

Talk Talent to Me