September 8, 2025 • 17 mins
What happens when engineering principles meet people strategy? Sara Andrews, Chief People Officer at Ecovyst, brings this powerful combination to the HRchat Show, revealing how her background as an engineer transformed her approach to human resources leadership.
Looking toward her upcoming presentation "HR as a Shockwave: From Compliance to Competitive Edge" at DisruptHR Birmingham, Sara previews how trust, talent frameworks, and culture serve as driving forces for organizational transformation. She also offers practical insights on balancing legacy practices with innovation, adapting strategies across different business environments, and leveraging AI for talent attraction, workforce planning, and personalized development.
Sarah also shares her journey of recognizing that truly effective HR requires building "strong, capable, competent and coherent teams" that directly impact business outcomes. Rather than viewing HR as a support function, she positions it as a strategic driver of enterprise value. Her refreshing perspective cuts through typical HR rhetoric to focus on measurable results: "My entry into HR was always about making a difference, having an HR function that created value and initiatives that really spoke to the bottom line."
While acknowledging HR's progress in gaining organizational influence, Sarah candidly assesses our current reality: "I think we have a seat at the top table. I'm not quite sure that our voice is as clearly heard as it should be." She outlines how HR professionals must develop skills to demonstrate how people management directly connects to growth, revenue, and DEI. This represents the evolving frontier for HR leadership – moving beyond presence to genuine influence.
Ready to transform your HR function from a support role to a competitive advantage? Listen now to discover how engineering principles can revolutionize your people strategy and drive measurable business impact.
Feature Your Brand on the HRchat Podcast
The HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score.
Want to share the story of how your business is helping to shape the world of work? We offer sponsored episodes, audio adverts, email campaigns, and a host of other options. Check out packages here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom and visit.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
HRGazettecom.
Welcome to another episode ofthe HR Chat Show.
Hello listeners, this is yourhost today, bill Badham, and
joining me on the show today isSarah Williams, chief People
Officer over at EcoVist.
Sarah is an accomplished HRleader and trusted board advisor
with experience shaping peopleand culture strategies across
(00:44):
private equity, venture capitaland publicly listed businesses,
and trusted board advisor withexperience shaping people and
culture strategies acrossprivate equity, venture capital
and publicly listed businesses.
Hey, sarah, how are you doingtoday?
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thank you, bill, lovely to be here and thank you
for inviting me.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And what I should just add there before we go any
further, is Sarah is one of ourlatest victims sorry, I meant
one of our latest speakers forthe Disrupt series.
Sarah is going to be on stagein Birmingham on September 11th
and we're going to talk aboutthat as part of the conversation
today.
But to begin with, sarah, whatfirst drew you into the people
(01:21):
and culture space and what keepsyou passionate about this work
today?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
So I started my career a long time ago as an
engineer and spent many yearsworking my way through an
engineering career and reallykind of recognised during that
phase of my working life howimportant it was to build strong
, capable, competent andcoherent teams, and an
(01:48):
opportunity arose for me to takea step out of engineering and
into human resources deliveringprojects and programs.
So my entry into HR was alwaysabout making a difference,
having a HR function thatcreated value and created
(02:11):
initiatives, programs andopportunities that really spoke
to the bottom line of thebusiness.
And so I've really built onthat throughout my senior career
in HR, using all of thoseengineering fundamentals, but
primarily looking at HRfunctions and how they can
(02:31):
create value, make a differenceand be transformative in the
workplace.
I think it's a great time to bein a HR function at the moment
because we're finding ourselvesmore and more at the center of
business, at the center ofstrategy, at the center of
organizational change, and Ithink we're really starting to
(02:54):
make our presence felt and be avoice for shaping workplaces in
the future.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Thanks for tuning in to the HR Chat Podcast.
If you're enjoying this episode, we'd really appreciate it if
you could subscribe and leave afive-star review on your podcast
platform of choice.
And now back to theconversation.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Love it, thank you very much.
So just briefly a follow-up onthat then.
Uh, I think, as we record this,we've released something like
850 episodes.
Love it, thank you very much.
So just briefly a follow up onthat then.
I think, as we record this,we've released something like
850 episodes for this show.
Ok, and for many, many years,the conversation was around
getting a voice at the top tablefor HR leaders.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Do you feel like we're there now?
I think we have a seat at thetop table.
I'm not quite sure that ourvoice is as clearly heard as it
should be, and I think we havestill got a lot of work to do in
that space, in demonstratinghow people are a business and
everything around.
The management of peopledirectly aligns to growth.
(04:04):
It aligns to value, to revenue,to EBITDA, and is the driver of
the change that organizationsare working through in an
ever-changing landscape globally, and so I think we've made
great progress.
I think we're on the right path.
I think we're recognising theskills shift that's needed to
(04:29):
have the influence, the gravitasand the skills and tools to be
able to be effective in aboardroom, but I think there's
still some room to move.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
OK, so a work in progress.
So a work in progress, ok.
Now, as I mentioned earlier,you will be taking to the stage
at Disrupt HR Birmingham onSeptember 11th.
I'll be.
I'll be on stage as well as oneof the co-hosts, along with
Jamie Keeling, so you can expecta couple of bad dad jokes from
me.
Can you take a couple ofminutes now and share a little
(05:01):
bit about your talk and some ofthe hoped for learning outcomes?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, so my talk has a working title of HR as a
shockwave from compliance tocompetitive edge, and I think
that's the bit that I'm mostpassionate about in the world of
HR is the levers that we haveto pull, being at the center of
(05:27):
an organization.
If we can really understandbusiness strategy, we can
understand financials andcommercials and we can apply a
people strategy to the outcomesof a business.
And I think, as the world isbecoming more and more literate
with AI and how that can helpsome of our more transactional
(05:48):
processes, it's causing a shiftwithin functions that we really
need to reskill some of ourteams to be able to drive the
value piece even more than wehave over kind of the last few
years, even more than we haveover kind of the last few years.
And so my talk is really goingto be about HR as a driver of
(06:09):
enterprise value, using trust,which I think is incredibly
important, talent frameworks andsome of the tools that we have
in that space and, mostimportantly, culture as a
driving force to make some ofthe transformational shifts that
our business need us to to helpdrive forward.
So I'm excited to be there,looking forward to the 11th and
(06:33):
a really fast paced delivery ofHR as a shockwave.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Sounds great.
It is fast paced.
I'm sure Verity and Jamie andthe team have given you the
lowdown on the format.
It's quite a unique format.
It's five minutes, 20 slidesand we're mean and we automate
the slides every 15 seconds.
Have you ever done anythinglike that before?
What excites you about that?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
What, maybe pace?
I think I come from abackground of managing change
and so stripping things back tothe core message and being
really punchy in getting yourmessage across in an impactful,
succinct and timely way justcuts out all of the fluff.
(07:22):
It's straight to the point.
I think it makes it much moreengaging for the audience and
it's scary in equal measure,because there is no time to find
your way around a slide.
You have got to absolutelybelieve in what you're saying to
be able to deliver five minutesslides.
(07:43):
It flips every 15, 15 seconds.
So I don't think you can do itunless you believe passionately
in what you're uh, in whatyou're delivering well, I'm
excited to see your talk.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I think it'll be grand and worst case scenario
and it all goes wrong.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
It's only five minutes, then you'll be off
again I'll fill it with mumjokes there we go so.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
So you've led people, culture, strategies across very
different environments p backed, vc backed and publicly listed
companies, of course.
How has that variety shapedyour approach as a chief people
officer?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
so I think one of the things that I've learned along
the journey um and it's been it,as you say, in very different
organizations, but also in lotsof different sectors as well you
know, from um, from automotiveto aerospace, to financial
services, to to health care andnow back into back into industry
I think the one thing I'velearned along the way is no two
(08:44):
organizations are the same andyour people strategy has to be
relevant and rooted in theorganization that you're working
with and completely aligned tothe business strategy of that
organization as well.
So I think you have to take thebusiness outcomes that you're
(09:07):
trying to achieve and then workwith your leadership colleagues
to reverse, engineer that backinto a people strategy, so that
you have got an absolute goldenthread that links business
outcomes into people activities,so that you can measure it, you
(09:28):
can report it and you candemonstrate with data and
analytics whether the measuresthat you have put into place are
actually having the impact andthe effect that you want them to
have.
I think you can use frameworksand principles that are common
across the world of humanresource and people management,
(09:51):
but the way in which you applythem, adapt them and fit them
into an organization really hasto fit the culture of the
business and the maturity of thebusiness, and understanding
that first will, of course, makeyou know your strategy so much
more impactful, um, and it willenable change to happen.
(10:11):
Um, that little bit, thatlittle bit easier just side note
.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Um, before we hit record today, listeners, uh,
sarah shared with me that she'sstill currently in the
netherlands and you spoke aboutculture just a moment ago.
I'm interested.
This wasn't one of thequestions I was going to ask you
, but, given where you are today, can you point to any cultural
differences from working inoffice in the Netherlands
compared to working in the UK?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yeah, I think the Netherlands has quite a
different business culture andit has quite a different social
culture.
I think you know, whenever wetalk about business cultures,
they stem from social culturesand in the Netherlands, of
course, it's a very equitable,very fair culture.
They really value their healthand their well-being.
(10:55):
They are very diligent and veryarticulate.
Articulate, they have a naturalcuriosity and, you know, out of
genuine interest, often reallywant to know the reason why, and
so I found that sort of workingin the Netherlands.
If you respect all of thosefacets of the things that are
(11:19):
important to them socially, youknow you'll succeed in business.
I think, like mostorganizations, starting from the
point of building trust isalways important.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Okay, brilliant.
That was not a question that Iwas going to pose, but you
knocked that one out of theballpark.
Good work, sarah.
Tell me when it comes toadvocating for cultural change
at scale, because you'vecertainly done that in your
career?
How do you balance respectinglegacy practices with
introducing new ways of working?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
to where it's got to without having done good work
along the way.
So I don't think any seasonedchief people officer, chief HR
officer, would bowl into anorganisation and rip it all up
and start again.
That's absolutely a recipe fordisaster.
(12:11):
But respecting the fact thatthe business is going on a
journey, it hasn't reached itsdestination and arguably there
isn't an organisation hasn'treached its destination, um, and
arguably there isn't anorganization that has reached
its destination, um, respectingwhat's gone before and building
on that is usually the betterapproach, um, and there'll be
(12:33):
good work that's been done thatabsolutely conforms some of the
foundations and some of thebuilding blocks of the things
that you want to evolve goingforward.
So I think going into a neworganization, take the good
things that are already thereand position the future around a
future-focused, future-facing,continuous improvement agenda
(12:59):
that builds on everything that'sgone before and respects the
work that's gone in, you know,by the teams that you'll be
leading, is a much better way ofshaping a strategy.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Regular listeners of this show will know that I like
to joke that we can't record anepisode these days without
talking about AI.
So here we go.
I do apologize, but you knowit's on everybody's minds at the
moment.
When it comes to digitizationand process optimization, they
are key themes in your career.
Where do you see the biggestopportunities right now for HR
(13:37):
to leverage AI and tech for moreimpact?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
I think there's definitely some natural places
where going digital AI, machinelearning and everything that
that world of automation has tooffer us has some natural
synergy, certainly in the worldof talent attraction.
That's not to say that we don'tneed face-to-face contact and
(14:03):
that we don't need to go throughsome proper interview processes
, but certainly helping tosearch and shape our talent
attraction approach definitelyhas a spot there.
I think AI is also starting tobe really strong in the world of
workforce planning, and that'stypically an area where the
(14:26):
majority of HR teams that I'veconnected with have struggled,
and so finding technologies thatreally can help us not just
report on what's been but helpus predict insights about our
people data so that we can makeforward facing decisions and we
(14:47):
can lean in to analytics andinsights that are leading rather
than lagging.
So I think workforce planning isa huge space that existing
technologies haven't quite beenable to nail, but I do think AI
gives us a different lever to beable to do something in that
space.
(15:07):
And then I think the third bitfor me is around development and
personalizing development sothat we take a step away from
one size fits all or standardprograms that all employees go
through and we can use AI togenerate much more bespoke
development plans that arerelevant, meaningful but aligned
(15:28):
to business performance,aligned to competencies, aligned
to developing known skills gaps, takes us away from the generic
and into the specific, butallows us to align it all to
business value in a much, muchbetter way.
So talent attraction, workforceplanning, individual
(15:51):
development that's much morepersonalized is is where I'm
certainly focused okay, verygood.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Personally, I've recently read a lot of not all
of it, but a lot of the um ai2027 reports and, uh, that's
terrifying, but that's aconversation for another day.
Uh, we are pretty much out oftime before we wrap up for this
conversation for today.
How can our listeners connectwith you?
Is that linkedin?
You want to share your emailaddress?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
are you super cool and all over tiktok and
Instagram and places, tell usmore uh, I'm pretty much
LinkedIn, so, um, I tend to keepall business stuff on the
LinkedIn platform.
Feel free, um to to drop me amessage or respond to a post, or
um, yeah, uh, connect.
Connect with me via viaLinkedIn.
It would be great, great tohear off people and great to
answer any questions.
Um around the things we'vetalked about today excellent.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
well, that just leaves me to say, sarah, I'm
looking forward to meeting youin person on September, the 11th
, but for now, thank you verymuch for being my guest.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Thank you very much for having me, Bill.
I'll see you on the 11th.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And listeners as always.
Until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode,why not subscribe and listen to
some of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette and
remember for what's new in theworld of work?
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.
Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's
most downloaded and sharedpodcasts designed for HR pros,
talent execs, tech enthusiastsand business leaders.
For hundreds more episodes andwhat's new in the world of work,
subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom and visit.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
HRGazettecom.
Welcome to another episode ofthe HR Chat Show.
Hello listeners, this is yourhost today, bill Badham, and
joining me on the show today isSarah Williams, chief People
Officer over at EcoVist.
Sarah is an accomplished HRleader and trusted board advisor
with experience shaping peopleand culture strategies across
(00:44):
private equity, venture capitaland publicly listed businesses,
and trusted board advisor withexperience shaping people and
culture strategies acrossprivate equity, venture capital
and publicly listed businesses.
Hey, sarah, how are you doingtoday?
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thank you, bill, lovely to be here and thank you
for inviting me.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And what I should just add there before we go any
further, is Sarah is one of ourlatest victims sorry, I meant
one of our latest speakers forthe Disrupt series.
Sarah is going to be on stagein Birmingham on September 11th
and we're going to talk aboutthat as part of the conversation
today.
But to begin with, sarah, whatfirst drew you into the people
(01:21):
and culture space and what keepsyou passionate about this work
today?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
So I started my career a long time ago as an
engineer and spent many yearsworking my way through an
engineering career and reallykind of recognised during that
phase of my working life howimportant it was to build strong
, capable, competent andcoherent teams, and an
(01:48):
opportunity arose for me to takea step out of engineering and
into human resources deliveringprojects and programs.
So my entry into HR was alwaysabout making a difference,
having a HR function thatcreated value and created
(02:11):
initiatives, programs andopportunities that really spoke
to the bottom line of thebusiness.
And so I've really built onthat throughout my senior career
in HR, using all of thoseengineering fundamentals, but
primarily looking at HRfunctions and how they can
(02:31):
create value, make a differenceand be transformative in the
workplace.
I think it's a great time to bein a HR function at the moment
because we're finding ourselvesmore and more at the center of
business, at the center ofstrategy, at the center of
organizational change, and Ithink we're really starting to
(02:54):
make our presence felt and be avoice for shaping workplaces in
the future.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Thanks for tuning in to the HR Chat Podcast.
If you're enjoying this episode, we'd really appreciate it if
you could subscribe and leave afive-star review on your podcast
platform of choice.
And now back to theconversation.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Love it, thank you very much.
So just briefly a follow-up onthat then.
Uh, I think, as we record this,we've released something like
850 episodes.
Love it, thank you very much.
So just briefly a follow up onthat then.
I think, as we record this,we've released something like
850 episodes for this show.
Ok, and for many, many years,the conversation was around
getting a voice at the top tablefor HR leaders.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Do you feel like we're there now?
I think we have a seat at thetop table.
I'm not quite sure that ourvoice is as clearly heard as it
should be, and I think we havestill got a lot of work to do in
that space, in demonstratinghow people are a business and
everything around.
The management of peopledirectly aligns to growth.
(04:04):
It aligns to value, to revenue,to EBITDA, and is the driver of
the change that organizationsare working through in an
ever-changing landscape globally, and so I think we've made
great progress.
I think we're on the right path.
I think we're recognising theskills shift that's needed to
(04:29):
have the influence, the gravitasand the skills and tools to be
able to be effective in aboardroom, but I think there's
still some room to move.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
OK, so a work in progress.
So a work in progress, ok.
Now, as I mentioned earlier,you will be taking to the stage
at Disrupt HR Birmingham onSeptember 11th.
I'll be.
I'll be on stage as well as oneof the co-hosts, along with
Jamie Keeling, so you can expecta couple of bad dad jokes from
me.
Can you take a couple ofminutes now and share a little
(05:01):
bit about your talk and some ofthe hoped for learning outcomes?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yeah, so my talk has a working title of HR as a
shockwave from compliance tocompetitive edge, and I think
that's the bit that I'm mostpassionate about in the world of
HR is the levers that we haveto pull, being at the center of
(05:27):
an organization.
If we can really understandbusiness strategy, we can
understand financials andcommercials and we can apply a
people strategy to the outcomesof a business.
And I think, as the world isbecoming more and more literate
with AI and how that can helpsome of our more transactional
(05:48):
processes, it's causing a shiftwithin functions that we really
need to reskill some of ourteams to be able to drive the
value piece even more than wehave over kind of the last few
years, even more than we haveover kind of the last few years.
And so my talk is really goingto be about HR as a driver of
(06:09):
enterprise value, using trust,which I think is incredibly
important, talent frameworks andsome of the tools that we have
in that space and, mostimportantly, culture as a
driving force to make some ofthe transformational shifts that
our business need us to to helpdrive forward.
So I'm excited to be there,looking forward to the 11th and
(06:33):
a really fast paced delivery ofHR as a shockwave.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Sounds great.
It is fast paced.
I'm sure Verity and Jamie andthe team have given you the
lowdown on the format.
It's quite a unique format.
It's five minutes, 20 slidesand we're mean and we automate
the slides every 15 seconds.
Have you ever done anythinglike that before?
What excites you about that?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
What, maybe pace?
I think I come from abackground of managing change
and so stripping things back tothe core message and being
really punchy in getting yourmessage across in an impactful,
succinct and timely way justcuts out all of the fluff.
(07:22):
It's straight to the point.
I think it makes it much moreengaging for the audience and
it's scary in equal measure,because there is no time to find
your way around a slide.
You have got to absolutelybelieve in what you're saying to
be able to deliver five minutesslides.
(07:43):
It flips every 15, 15 seconds.
So I don't think you can do itunless you believe passionately
in what you're uh, in whatyou're delivering well, I'm
excited to see your talk.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
I think it'll be grand and worst case scenario
and it all goes wrong.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
It's only five minutes, then you'll be off
again I'll fill it with mumjokes there we go so.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
So you've led people, culture, strategies across very
different environments p backed, vc backed and publicly listed
companies, of course.
How has that variety shapedyour approach as a chief people
officer?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
so I think one of the things that I've learned along
the journey um and it's been it,as you say, in very different
organizations, but also in lotsof different sectors as well you
know, from um, from automotiveto aerospace, to financial
services, to to health care andnow back into back into industry
I think the one thing I'velearned along the way is no two
(08:44):
organizations are the same andyour people strategy has to be
relevant and rooted in theorganization that you're working
with and completely aligned tothe business strategy of that
organization as well.
So I think you have to take thebusiness outcomes that you're
(09:07):
trying to achieve and then workwith your leadership colleagues
to reverse, engineer that backinto a people strategy, so that
you have got an absolute goldenthread that links business
outcomes into people activities,so that you can measure it, you
(09:28):
can report it and you candemonstrate with data and
analytics whether the measuresthat you have put into place are
actually having the impact andthe effect that you want them to
have.
I think you can use frameworksand principles that are common
across the world of humanresource and people management,
(09:51):
but the way in which you applythem, adapt them and fit them
into an organization really hasto fit the culture of the
business and the maturity of thebusiness, and understanding
that first will, of course, makeyou know your strategy so much
more impactful, um, and it willenable change to happen.
(10:11):
Um, that little bit, thatlittle bit easier just side note
.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Um, before we hit record today, listeners, uh,
sarah shared with me that she'sstill currently in the
netherlands and you spoke aboutculture just a moment ago.
I'm interested.
This wasn't one of thequestions I was going to ask you
, but, given where you are today, can you point to any cultural
differences from working inoffice in the Netherlands
compared to working in the UK?
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Yeah, I think the Netherlands has quite a
different business culture andit has quite a different social
culture.
I think you know, whenever wetalk about business cultures,
they stem from social culturesand in the Netherlands, of
course, it's a very equitable,very fair culture.
They really value their healthand their well-being.
(10:55):
They are very diligent and veryarticulate.
Articulate, they have a naturalcuriosity and, you know, out of
genuine interest, often reallywant to know the reason why, and
so I found that sort of workingin the Netherlands.
If you respect all of thosefacets of the things that are
(11:19):
important to them socially, youknow you'll succeed in business.
I think, like mostorganizations, starting from the
point of building trust isalways important.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Okay, brilliant.
That was not a question that Iwas going to pose, but you
knocked that one out of theballpark.
Good work, sarah.
Tell me when it comes toadvocating for cultural change
at scale, because you'vecertainly done that in your
career?
How do you balance respectinglegacy practices with
introducing new ways of working?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
to where it's got to without having done good work
along the way.
So I don't think any seasonedchief people officer, chief HR
officer, would bowl into anorganisation and rip it all up
and start again.
That's absolutely a recipe fordisaster.
(12:11):
But respecting the fact thatthe business is going on a
journey, it hasn't reached itsdestination and arguably there
isn't an organisation hasn'treached its destination, um, and
arguably there isn't anorganization that has reached
its destination, um, respectingwhat's gone before and building
on that is usually the betterapproach, um, and there'll be
(12:33):
good work that's been done thatabsolutely conforms some of the
foundations and some of thebuilding blocks of the things
that you want to evolve goingforward.
So I think going into a neworganization, take the good
things that are already thereand position the future around a
future-focused, future-facing,continuous improvement agenda
(12:59):
that builds on everything that'sgone before and respects the
work that's gone in, you know,by the teams that you'll be
leading, is a much better way ofshaping a strategy.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Regular listeners of this show will know that I like
to joke that we can't record anepisode these days without
talking about AI.
So here we go.
I do apologize, but you knowit's on everybody's minds at the
moment.
When it comes to digitizationand process optimization, they
are key themes in your career.
Where do you see the biggestopportunities right now for HR
(13:37):
to leverage AI and tech for moreimpact?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
I think there's definitely some natural places
where going digital AI, machinelearning and everything that
that world of automation has tooffer us has some natural
synergy, certainly in the worldof talent attraction.
That's not to say that we don'tneed face-to-face contact and
(14:03):
that we don't need to go throughsome proper interview processes
, but certainly helping tosearch and shape our talent
attraction approach definitelyhas a spot there.
I think AI is also starting tobe really strong in the world of
workforce planning, and that'stypically an area where the
(14:26):
majority of HR teams that I'veconnected with have struggled,
and so finding technologies thatreally can help us not just
report on what's been but helpus predict insights about our
people data so that we can makeforward facing decisions and we
(14:47):
can lean in to analytics andinsights that are leading rather
than lagging.
So I think workforce planning isa huge space that existing
technologies haven't quite beenable to nail, but I do think AI
gives us a different lever to beable to do something in that
space.
(15:07):
And then I think the third bitfor me is around development and
personalizing development sothat we take a step away from
one size fits all or standardprograms that all employees go
through and we can use AI togenerate much more bespoke
development plans that arerelevant, meaningful but aligned
(15:28):
to business performance,aligned to competencies, aligned
to developing known skills gaps, takes us away from the generic
and into the specific, butallows us to align it all to
business value in a much, muchbetter way.
So talent attraction, workforceplanning, individual
(15:51):
development that's much morepersonalized is is where I'm
certainly focused okay, verygood.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Personally, I've recently read a lot of not all
of it, but a lot of the um ai2027 reports and, uh, that's
terrifying, but that's aconversation for another day.
Uh, we are pretty much out oftime before we wrap up for this
conversation for today.
How can our listeners connectwith you?
Is that linkedin?
You want to share your emailaddress?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
are you super cool and all over tiktok and
Instagram and places, tell usmore uh, I'm pretty much
LinkedIn, so, um, I tend to keepall business stuff on the
LinkedIn platform.
Feel free, um to to drop me amessage or respond to a post, or
um, yeah, uh, connect.
Connect with me via viaLinkedIn.
It would be great, great tohear off people and great to
answer any questions.
Um around the things we'vetalked about today excellent.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
well, that just leaves me to say, sarah, I'm
looking forward to meeting youin person on September, the 11th
, but for now, thank you verymuch for being my guest.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Thank you very much for having me, Bill.
I'll see you on the 11th.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And listeners as always.
Until next time, happy working.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show.
If you enjoyed this episode,why not subscribe and listen to
some of the hundreds of episodespublished by HR Gazette and
remember for what's new in theworld of work?
Subscribe to the show, followus on social media and visit
hrgazettecom.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel