The Talent Baselayer: Comp, Coaching, Cadence

Most portfolio companies try to “hire better people” when the real unlock is installing a simple people operating system that makes average teams perform reliably. The baselayer has three parts—compensation, coaching, and cadence—wired to business outcomes, not activities. Done right, it reduces variance in execution, speeds decisions, and shows up in EBITDA, cash, and multiple.

Principles

• Business-first: every talent move must point to one of the Fruitful Five levers.

• Fewer, stronger routines: one performance room, one coaching rhythm, one hiring pipeline.

• Evidence over opinion: scorecards, scripts, and reconciled KPIs that a buyer can rerun.

• Default to durability: practices that survive turnover and audit.

1) Compensation: aim pay at outcomes you can verify

Design

• Split variable pay into 3 buckets: Company (shared), Team (shared within function), Role (individual).

• Base variable weighting by role criticality and variance of impact.

Target Weights (illustrative)

Rulebook

• Pay the proof, not the slide: variable metrics must reconcile to the ledger (scripts and tie-outs).

• Price and margin over volume: CPQ compliance and realized pricing are explicit gates.

• No black boxes: publish the formula and the pull-through to cash.

2) Coaching: make managers force multipliers

Cadence

• Weekly 1:1s (25 minutes): pipeline or workload review, two specific coaching reps, one commitment.

• Monthly “film room” (45 minutes): call or case debrief with pauses—look for decision quality, not heroics.

• Quarterly capability sprint: one skill theme per function (pricing talk tracks, dispute resolution, root-cause problem solving).

Coaching toolset

• Talk tracks and objection maps (Sales, CS).

• A3 or 8D templates (Ops) with example packs.

• Variance dictionaries (Finance) for cash and forecast misses.

• Manager scorecard: % of directs with monthly coaching artifact; time-to-skill for new hires.

3) Cadence: short, fixed, ownered

Meeting spine

• Performance Room (weekly, 45 min): value bridge → 5 deltas → decisions; decisions logged.

• Pricing Council (weekly, 30 min): realization, override log, rule changes.

• Cash Stand-up (weekly, 30 min): 13-week tile; AR/AP/inventory actions and owners.

• S&OP Lite (monthly, 60 min): one plan, scenario deltas, headroom impact.

• Talent Calibration (monthly, 60 min): critical roles, succession, low-performer actions.

Artifacts

• Decision register with timestamps and owners.

• Immutable monthly KPI→financial reconciliation.

• CPQ rule exports, override log with expiry.

• Coaching library with dated examples.

4) Role scorecards that hire and manage by evidence

Each critical role gets 4–6 measurable outcomes, 2–3 leading indicators, and 2 behaviors tied to culture.

Examples

Sales IC

• Outcomes: price realization ≥ band; contribution per deal ≥ target; 90-day pipeline velocity.

• Leading: band-compliant quotes %, attach rate of margin options.

• Behaviors: uses talk track and logs learnings; clean CRM hygiene.

Ops Manager

• Outcomes: OTIF ≥ target; CTS per order ↓; DOH ↓ in two families.

• Leading: schedule adherence, cycle-count accuracy.

• Behaviors: runs daily huddle; closes top 3 defects weekly.

Finance Manager (Cash)

• Outcomes: DSO ↓, DPO ↑ within policy, 13-week forecast error ≤ ±10%.

• Leading: disputes closed <14 days, AP approvals on calendar.

• Behaviors: variance reason codes used; reconciles to bank weekly.

5) Hiring and succession: keep the bench warm

Pipeline

• One page “What Great Looks Like” per role (outcomes, indicators, behaviors).

• Three-signal interview loop: case, live simulation, reference map tied to outcomes.

• 30/60 checklist for new hires: systems access, scripts, first outcomes.

Succession

• Heat map of critical roles (green/amber/red).

• Two-deep plan for each red; interim owner designated.

• Time-to-fill and ramp-to-target tracked monthly.

6) Metrics that matter

7) Risks and countermeasures

VCII Note and Copyright

TVC Next treats talent as an operating system: compensation aimed at ledger-tied outcomes, managers who coach with evidence, and cadences that force decisions. The result is consistent execution today and buyer confidence tomorrow.
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