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Hi ya party people,

Friday has arrived, and I’m still mourning Egypt’s World Cup loss…not gonna lie! 😭

I’m glad I got to see some games from the stands, though, so for now, I’ll lean on my gratitude for that experience.

This week's Q&A seems to center on the idea that everything is changing, and nobody left a manual.

One HR vet with 30+ years of experience is out here trying to figure out AI, QR codes, and all the other sci-fi-sounding tech she didn't sign up for.

Another is dealing with a PE firm smashing nine companies into one, and somehow still needs to convince her people to be excited about doing more.

Let's take a look at some solutions!

And if you wanna put a smile on my face? Submit questions if you have any, for a chance to be featured! 😊

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How many AI demos have companies shown you this year???

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ASK AWAY

😬 overwhelm & morale

📣 Susanna Williams, Chief People Officer @ East Bay Community Action Program: 

The pace of change has definitely increased and it can feel overwhelming. Choose one thing to focus on- AI would be my suggestion because I guarantee your CEO is being bombarded with information and buzz around AI. Seek out information about its uses in HR. Become the expert on AI (or whatever else you decide to focus on) in your space for your company.

Look at where it can be a value add. Approach it skeptically and apply critical thinking to use cases. Start by playing with different AI platforms and modalities- check out Claude, Copilot, Gemini, agentic AI. Develop opinions. Look to become an informed consumer. (Bonus? Smart AI use will help you become faster at your job!)

Another idea is that maybe it's time to switch it up. After 30 years, is there a different aspect of HR you'd like to focus on? It may be time to niche down as you think about the back end of your career that will give you a fresh burst of energy. You've got this!

📣 Cheryl Hooker, VP, People & Culture @ Skilken Gold Real Estate Development: 

First of all, being OLDER doesn't have claims to being overwhelmed. I'm in a small family business with people ranging in age from 25 - 72 and there is confusion abound! And I too am in the same place as you are in my career and here is what I've been doing. First, be really clear on what your role is: what you are responsible for (projects, day to day things, people stuff, deliverables to your boss, etc.) and identify what are the things that you believe you can seek help with.

There are some things that AI cannot do for you (one-one conversations, performance conversations, etc.). I have learned to use AI to make my life easier. I still do the work, but AI gives me a jump start. Examples: performance situation -- I take my notes (remove names, co info, etc.) and put my thoughts into AI (Chat/Claud) and let the prompts be your friend, ex: compile these notes into 3 distinct buckets and provide development opportunities that address xyz.

I use it to get me started on internal communications/cadence, personalized and team learning and dev curriculum and agendas. I use it as a thought starter when I need a jump start on a project; I use it to write job descriptions (when you're asked to create or update a job with a little of this and a little of that) you put the info in AI and it will get you started. I use ChatGPT often.

As Susanna Williams shares, explore! Dive in! Don't be intimidated. And don't think because of your long and successful career that AI can't be a great tool for you! Just remember, it's not perfect and you have to proof and edit and use your voice, but I think you will be surprised by how much you can do with it. No matter how old you are! : )

 📣 Rachel Krah, Head of People @ InstaLily: 

Regardless of age or experience, this day and age of AI is insanely fast moving and it. is. HARD. to keep up! Please don't knock yourself for it! It's so easy to feel overwhelmed with the amount of content and tools out there. You've got this!

Something I do is take bite-size learnings on either a daily, or weekly basis, and block out my calendar for an hour or two to focus on that. Like Susanna said - it's important to take time to play around with different tools to see what works for you. But it does start with protecting your time to do so!

There are excellent podcasts out there that can help you keep up to date with how things are shifting and changing in the AI landscape ("The AI Daily Brief" , "This Week in AI" are 2 I highly recommend) As far as teaching yourself or learnings, same thing. There are articles, youtube videos, blogs, etc, that can help break things down into small, easier to digest ways of learning. There are other HR professionals out there who can help too who have created a lot of excellent resources - for example peoplepower.ai . Even Anthropic has Anthropic Academy (www.anthropic.com/learn) , where they take things piece by piece to help folks learn how to use their tools.

If you'd like to connect directly, I'm more than happy to help 1:1!

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.

📣 Sondra Norris, Founder @ Strategic Culture Partners: 

This might not be the answer you're expecting. The first thing is to rephrase your question because no one can "get" anyone to do or feel anything. What CAN be done is to create conditions that make it possible for people to choose to do things.

You're looking for people to feel excited about doing more and learning more - which lays on the assumption that if those are true then they'll give more input.

There are a million theories out there about motivation. The one I lean on because it's the most directly work related is Deci and Ryans Self Determination Theory. Very simply it found that people need three things to get into the emotional neighborhood you're talking about:

1. AUTONOMY: feeling in control of our own choices and destiny, instead of doing things because someone else says we're "supposed to."
2. COMPETENCE: Feeling effective, capable, and successful. Mastering tasks, improving skills, and feeling a sense of mastery in your environment.
3. RELATEDNESS: Feeling connected, understood, and cared for by others. The desire to belong and feel valued within a community or relationship.

How these might play out, within the constraints of the HRBPs role in any company:

𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘏𝘙𝘉𝘗𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 - 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴' 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

ASK THEM HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT THESE SPECIFIC THREE THINGS.
If they say they're in short supply or not possible here, ask them what happened to make them believe that. This will uncover the underlying belief system, which is what you're really up against. Until you understand that, you might get sporadic bursts of motion, but in reality the employees are in vigilant protection and looking for reasons to NOT extend faith and trust than TO extend faith and trust. - there are too many unanswered questions and uncertainty given the "rolling together of nine companies" condition they're currently living in. You will also then have a robust data set to bring to leadership - real answers to real concerns, the levers you have to start rebuilding trust.

AUTONOMY:
Tell people this is what we're aiming for. Make sure managers aren't doing the fake "asking for input to create buy-in" and then ignoring it or disagreeing with it or acting like the answers are stupid. Give clear lanes within which people have authority, and don't f*ck with them. Give people enough time to see and understand and live in the new context - this will be their first concern. Factual is easy - social and cultural are not.

COMPETENCE:
Be clear about what "competence" means for your company - show clear measurement and expectation rubrics ... and then make it possible for them to achieve it.

RELATEDNESS:
During this specific time at your company - this is about leadership acknowledging that right now is super cool AND it's unsettling. Stop talking after that. Don't make promises. Don't reassure that once it's all settle everything's gonna be gravy. Just acknowledge the reality - and how we're going to walk through the reality together. If this isn't coming from the top, everyone below the top bands together - and not in the company's best interest.

📣 Tammi Burnett, Director of People and Culture @ Rainforest Action Network: 

Like most things in HR, I think it depends. My first question would be what are you looking to actually achieve (why are you trying to get employees to learn and do more)? Is it better engagement and retention? Or better performance against goals? Something else?

Once you answer that question, I would survey the staff to find out what's currently getting in the way of achieving that, and once you have some data, you can map out a solution. Ultimately, motivating staff is not HR's job, it's their manager's job, but you can use what you learn to give them a roadmap.

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.

Sponsored by Udemy Business

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🚨 ON YOUR RADAR

🎧 I Hate It Here Podcast: I'm always dropping new episodes with your favorite People Ops leaders! Until we return with a new season of guests, enjoy some of the greatest hits! Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

☀️ Ever been to an HR conference that felt like a vacation? That's the energy the Safe Space Summit is bringing! We'll have lots of leisure activities built around connection, all while we work on solving the problems nagging at us in our orgs. Apply to join if you're interested!

💰Pay Transparency matters (but it's also difficult). That's why I created this course. Join the Safe Space community to access it, plus everything else you need to stay ahead of the curve.

🧟 Losing your best candidates in 2 weeks flat? Gem's new Talent Intelligence Report pulled from 165M applicants and 1.2M hires to show why AI and technical roles are this freaking brutal to fill, plus 7 moves to win the race!*

*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners

📝 RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Each week I feature a resource I love from the Safe Space library that I believe would be relatable to this week's newsletter topic.

This week, we’re revisiting a popular virtual event. Check it out HERE ⬇️

FRIDAY FUN

😩 this is me right now

Before I get to it i'm just gonna say EGYPT WAS ROBBED. No I will not be answering any questions.

Okay moving on to this meme... we're wrapping up reviews this week and I just thought this could be some of us (cough me) right now.

If you're in this situation my advice is always the same: ask about expectations & make sure you + your manager always have clear alignment on what's expected of you.

If you don't know what's expected of you, take a look at your JD. Compare it to what you're doing day to day. Take those gaps to your manager and start a convo about what level of work you're doing.

Ultimately, HR has one of the wildest scope creeps when it comes to job. So to keep that in check always always always be asking about what's expected of you and how you're delivering it.

HAPPY REVIEW SZN.

That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed! If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I'm allll ears.

Reminder: Today is FRIDAY. 🙏