I vividly remember the day David Larroche asked me for coffee to propose helping him set up a support department for Cornerstone OnDemand ‘s most important clients in Spain.
It seemed that the ecstasy of the first major sales and the first successful implementations and integrations had begun to spiral down the drain due to a lack of understanding, a lack of proper adoption by these large corporations, but above all, a lack of support from Cornerstone, its partners, or… whoever. I had a vague idea of what Cornerstone was really for, but what I did know from my years of experience in the IT world was that the user needed constant care, pampering, and attention like a delicate plant, and that the hackneyed saying ” if you don’t water the plant, it will wither” was true.
There is technology that is sold to you packaged and with four lights to tell you if it’s working or if it’s going forward or backward, or to indicate if something’s tank is empty, to which the response is easily assumed by the user: there is no possible misinterpretation, there is no creative or invented solution, it is what it is, you accept it, operate accordingly and until next time.
But when we talk about software in constant evolution, for companies in constant transformation in a changing society… every time someone gets a little lost, either because of the difficulty of the process, or because from one year to the next they don’t remember what the issue was about, or because the screen has been slightly changed and their subconscious makes them doubt everything, an innocent detractor appears who makes an impact with complaints here and there, and infecting one and everyone with the discomfort they feel, without offering solutions or alternatives, but exercising their right to complain and disagree. Yes Lord! And if you don’t stop these mini rebellions, someone else will soon come to take your place and Cornerstone could not allow that.
Over time, almost without realizing it and with the invaluable help of the Cornerstone team, I started to build my own team and give shape to a business idea that I had somewhere in the back of my mind: a company that cared about its people, kind, attentive to each and every one of them (more so to them, because almost all of them are women), a company where the good work pace didn’t prevent spiritual rest and a certain joy of belonging.
Over time I discovered that only with that good and beautiful energy could I accompany those users “lost” in the immensity of Cornerstone, those administrators overwhelmed by their duties, those low-tech departments eager to be saved by technology, those companies in need of easy talent management.
And this company, which wanted to help these clients from outside in their daily work, found that Cornerstone’s powerful Talent Management tool allowed, if you knew how, to accompany each employee in all stages of their life in the company (what in the jargon is known as the Employee Journey), from the moment they were recruited and the first contacts were made with them, to the definition of their professional project, passing through the management of their incorporation, the evaluation of their role and the training oriented towards their growth, even reaching the management of their exit and their loyalty as a brand ambassador even when they were dedicated to other tasks.
I grew up, so to speak, among lines of code, object-oriented programming, databases and runaway pointers, and then moved on to the world I was talking about before, that of embedded technology in boxes of all sizes and colours that do absolutely everything on their own in a fine and harmonious balance with just as many boxes that route, filter, process voice, accumulate records of everything… etc. Very, very technical, geeky and sometimes cold worlds… not very human?
Suddenly, I discovered that I had before me the possibility of reconciling technology with people: Technology that helps take care of people in the sometimes hostile world of business and services, so that this technology can perform its function with the least possible friction.
It was no longer about giving you a solution from outside (eXternal soLutio), it was about something more: helping you to also achieve fulfillment in your professional life , and for my team to feel fulfilled by achieving this precious goal.
And I see that more and more clients believe in us, entrust us with difficult challenges that no one has solved before, and discover with our enthusiasm that they can do more and more things with Cornerstone and can take better care of those plants and make them flourish…
It may sound a little cheesy… But I don’t want to miss it. What about you? Are you up for making your organization more PLEHNIA?
Nacho Marín – CEO