Why We Prioritize Hiring for Culture at Educate!

ExperienceEducate.org

Educate!’s Purpose

Prepare youth in Africa with the skills to succeed in today’s economy

Long-Term Vision

Design solutions that measurably impact

millions of youth across Africa each year

3 Journeys of Growth

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2

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Journey

High-performing Small to Mid-sized Education Org

Large Education & Livelihoods Organization

iNGO Competitor

Focused Impact

Large Impact

Mega Impact

Journey 2 (by 2030): 1 million(ish) youth, game-changing org, redefining concept of post-primary

Distribution of Outcomes

Distribution of Outcomes

3 Journeys of Growth

1

2

3

Journey

High-performing Small to Mid-sized Education Org

Large Education & Livelihoods Organization

iNGO Competitor

Focused Impact

Large Impact

Mega Impact

Driver of Successful Scale: ��Maintaining Culture

Drivers of Maintaining Scale

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1. Hiring Process�
2. Performance Management

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Educate! Innovates at 2 levels:

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• Our solutions for youth �
• The way we work

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The Way We Work

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• Our culture and our emphasis on it (defined in Culture Tenets)�
• Being product-led�
• Innovative org-design

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What this means for our hires?

We Have to Hire for 3 Things:

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• High/Above-Average Performer (Exceeds Expectations, Always Learning)�
• Can Thrive in Our Way of Work (Youth First, Impact Obsessed, Startup Mindset, One Team Many Views)�
• Has the functional skills

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Functional Skills

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But what if I can’t get it all? Which is ok to miss?

What this means over time

If not a high performer

We prioritize functional skills over fit with high performance culture.

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What happens over time: Reversion to mean - we hire more average performers and culture of performance becomes average

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Result: Educate! achieves average outcomes - does not achieve our really big goals

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If doesn’t fit our way of work

We prioritize functional skills over fit with our way of work.

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What happens over time: Reversion to mean - we lose our innovation in our way of work and we begin to look like other organizations

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Result: Educate! achieves average outcomes - does not achieve our really big goals

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If doesn’t have all the functional skills

We prioritize high performance and fit with way of work (culture) over functional skills

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What happens over time: We may grow more slowly while people learn. We don’t grow as fast over short-term, but retain cultural integrity over time

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Result: Educate! goes slower to maintain culture and high performance culture at scale. We go slower in short-term, we go faster in long-term.

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What this means

It is natural to want to hire for functional skill. As an individual, it makes sense that it’s important - there’s an urgency to fill the role

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BUT as an organization, over time this means the loss of who we are and our standard for high performance.

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It is easier and less draining over time to teach functional skill than to try to change who someone is at work

Our strategy is a long-term strategy, so we think about the impact of a hire over time - not just in the short-term

Hiring Priorities

51% Culture (Culture Tenets)

• High performance
• Can thrive in our way of work�

10% Motivation (Do they want to do the job) �

39% Functional Skills

Great E! Candidates are People Who:

• Are “young and hungry” (young = attitude, not age!)
• Are ambitious and seem to be on a high growth career trajectory
• Are really interested in learning, growing and challenging themselves at this stage in their career
• Have not “done it before” generally.
• Have the underlying skills they will need to be effective in a role, but have not necessarily applied those skills to the functional area
• Are moving into a new role that is challenging them, rather than taking on role they have done before.
• Have more dynamic experiences, particularly with some experience in private sector, startups or social enterprise (not just NGOs)

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READ MORE ON HIRING PROCESS MASTER DOC.

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Let’s test this against our own experiences!

If you can hire for culture, motivation AND functional skills, GREAT!!

But if not - ALWAYS prioritize culture first

If not, we will become average…

And MILLIONS of Youth Measurably Impact will NOT be possible…

Thank You

ExperienceEducate.org