People Function Pillars.
Most “assessments” of a People function are a downloaded maturity chart and a gut feeling. I built something I could defend in front of a CFO. Six pillars. Every pillar has a North Star — what great actually looks like — and underneath it, the specific building blocks that get you there. Each one scored three ways: does the artifact exist, is the practice actually followed, and is the outcome measurable. Not “do you have a performance process.” Is it practiced, and can you prove it changed anything. And it scales — what’s world-class for a 200-person company is negligent for a 3,000-person one, so the bar moves with your size.
AI is a layer, not a pillar.
Older models isolate AI as one box on the chart, which quietly signals it’s a specialty someone else owns. Here, every pillar has explicit AI integration points, and the technology pillar covers the spine — data, governance, and analytics — not “where AI lives.” AI isn’t a station on the org chart. It’s the electricity.
Each with a North Star — what “great” actually looks like.
Sequenced deliberately: org design leads, because the org chart is the product. Tech, Data & AI anchors the list — not as an afterthought, but as the spine the other five stand on.
Org Effectiveness
The right people in the right roles, organized for fast decisions and sustained performance, with a leadership pipeline ahead of business need.
Talent Acquisition
Attract, assess, and acquire the right talent at the right cost, with predictable quality — in a hiring market reshaped by AI on both sides of the table.
Total Rewards & Recognition
Pay people fairly, transparently, and competitively for the work they do — with rewards that scale with business outcomes, not tenure.
Culture & Engagement
A culture where the right people choose to stay and do their best work — measured continuously, owned by managers, and expressed in real behavior.
Core HR & Compliance
A function that runs with operational excellence and legal defensibility — invisible when it’s working, and never the reason a business decision is blocked.
Tech, Data & AI
A People function operating with the data discipline of finance and the AI integration of a product team — predictive, automated where it should be, and trusted with the data it holds.
Scored against where you’re going, not where you are
Six maturity levels, from a 1–50-person startup to a 3,000-plus enterprise. Every building block scored 0–4 on three dimensions — Concept, Action, Effectiveness — against your target maturity, not just your current state. The most common failure in HR isn’t the missing artifact. It’s the artifact that exists and is never practiced. This framework is built to catch exactly that, and to turn the gaps into a sequenced roadmap: now, next, later.
What a real assessment looks like.
A slice of the working scorecard — every building block scored on Concept, Action, and Effectiveness against target maturity, rolled into a sequenced roadmap.
Want a clear read on where your People function actually stands?
I use this framework to diagnose and rebuild People functions — my own, and others’. If you’re a founder, an investor, or a People leader who wants a defensible read on where your function stands against where your business is going, that’s a conversation I’m glad to have.