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Scaling with Intention: People, Process, and Tech for Growth
Episode 57 • Bonus Episode • 18th March 2026 • Future Proof HR • Thomas Kunjappu
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In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim Kanichirayil sits down with Kiley Ewing, Chief People Officer at McGuire Sponsel, a specialty tax consulting firm based out of Indianapolis, Indiana, to explore what it really takes to build an HR function from the ground up while staring down two of the most aggressive goals an organization can set: doubling headcount and tripling revenue by 2030.

Six months into her role, Kiley isn't just reacting to growth, she's engineering it. With a background in high-performance coaching, neuroscience, and consultative selling, she brings a uniquely systems-oriented and mindset-forward approach to people operations. She shares how she came in and immediately focused on fixing processes before adding people, why she chose Predictive Index as her first tool, and how data-driven hiring helped her build a complementary team rather than a collection of people doing jobs they don't enjoy.

Together, they dig into how Kiley thinks about the intersection of AI and human judgment in hiring, what it means to evaluate HR technology with the end in mind, and why thinking like a business owner rather than an employee is the single biggest unlock for HR leaders trying to earn credibility and drive real outcomes.

Kiley also shares how she's already saved the organization $400,000 in her first six months, why she's building for 200 people now while still at 100, and what it means to balance strategic thinking with a collaborative culture that actually wants to slow you down.

Topics Discussed:

  1. Why Kiley started with process before people and what that unlocked for hiring
  2. How Predictive Index works as a complement to human judgment, not a replacement
  3. The right way to evaluate and select HR technology for where you're going, not where you are
  4. Using AI tools like ChatGPT to shortcut vendor research and find the right feature set
  5. Why delegation and complementary strengths are the foundation of a lean, strategic HR team
  6. The role competency vs. company competency framework in hiring and performance management
  7. How to avoid the "guess and check" model in talent acquisition with predictive data
  8. Workforce planning for 200 people when you're still at 100 and why it matters now
  9. Thinking like a business owner: how Kiley saved $400K in her first six months
  10. Why you can't fix a bad process by throwing AI or technology at it

If you're an HR leader navigating aggressive growth goals, building out your tech stack, or trying to stay strategic without losing sight of execution, this episode is a practical and energizing look at what future-ready HR actually looks like in the field.

Additional Resources:

  1. Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot
  2. Future Proof HR Community
  3. Connect with Kiley Ewing on LinkedIn

Transcripts

Kiley Ewing:

I think one, it starts with mindset.

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So I don't ever feel like

I'm in firefighting mode.

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I feel like that is coming from

a scarcity mindset, and I stay in

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an abundance mindset all the time.

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I look at growth as an exciting

opportunity, not as something

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that is scary or stressful.

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I crave growth.

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So I think one is how you're thinking

about growth is foundational.

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Jim Kanichirayil: You're an HR leader

and you're six months into the role and

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you have some pretty aggressive goals in

front of you, one of those goals involves

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doubling your headcount by 2030, and

that's pretty aggressive in and of itself.

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But another part of your goals is to

triple revenue as an organization.

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That is a double whammy of pretty

aggressive goals that you have to have

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a strong role in helping to solve.

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So how do you actually

even begin the process of.

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Accomplishing both of those

pretty aggressive goals.

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when you're looking at any sort of

transformation, you have to consider the

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people, process and technology components

of that transformation, and you need

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to have a framework for executing it.

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Today's conversation will dig into how.

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The foundation has been built to

successfully accomplish those two goals,

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and the person who's gonna be guiding

us through that conversation is Kiley

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Ewing, who's the Chief People Officer at

McGuire Sponsel, a special tax consulting

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firm based out of Indianapolis, Indiana.

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She and her husband started a

high performance coaching company,

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Odyssey Resilience prior to her

coming on board as CPO in 2025.

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She spent almost a decade coaching

high performers in the areas of

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mindset, neuroscience, resilience,

emotional intelligence, NLP, DISC, time

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management, and consultative selling.

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She's passionate about driving

performance through people and empowering,

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scalable success, and we're super

excited to have her on the show today.

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Kylie, welcome to the show.

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Kiley Ewing: Thank you.

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Jim Kanichirayil: I'm looking

forward to this conversation.

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There's gonna be a lot of interesting

angles that we pursue, especially since

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this is gonna be focused more on the

talent acquisition and talent development

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side, which tends to be my wheelhouse.

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So let's get right into it.

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I think the first order of business is

for you to share with us and the audience

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a little bit about the organization

and structure so that we have the

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appropriate context to move forward.

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Kiley Ewing: Sure.

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So McGuire Sponsel is a specialty tax

firm based out of Indianapolis with just

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under a hundred employees right now.

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We are looking to grow and scale

double in headcount by 2030.

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So over the next four-ish years,

we are looking to add quite

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a few new people to our team.

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So talent acquisition has been

a huge focus for me as I have

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come into the organization.

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Jim Kanichirayil: So that's

a pretty ambitious goal to

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double in headcount by 2030.

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Doubling in headcount in any timeframe

is a pretty ambitious goal to go after.

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I guess one of the things that I'm

wondering is from your perspective as an

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HR leader of a hundred person company,

when you think about doubling or tripling

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or just the scaling process, what are

the things that have to be factored

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or accounted for to pull off that

sort of scaling exercise successfully?

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Kiley Ewing: I think of

business broken down into two

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categories, people and processes.

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First thing I focused on was

building up our processes so

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that we can find great people.

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So that was the initial assessment

that I did coming into my

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role about six months ago.

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Finding the right tools, making sure our

processes were buttoned up and smooth.

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And then obviously nowadays is AI.

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How can we leverage AI

to do more with less?

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And the other part of our 2030 vision, our

ambitious goals is to triple in revenue.

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The other big part of this is not

only are we doubling in headcount,

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but we're trying to triple in revenue.

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And so that delta has

to come from efficiency.

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So efficiency is really the name of

the game in every aspect of the scaling

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process that we are focused on right now.

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So I am looking for any and every

tool that can help us do this more

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efficiently, more effectively.

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Jim Kanichirayil: Yes, your goals

are aggressive and you have the

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revenue goals on top of that too.

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One of the things that I'm struggling to

wrap my head around is my understanding

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of an organization of your size,

especially from an HR perspective.

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It's the closest thing to

survival mode that you can

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think of within an organization.

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You probably have one or two people on the

team, and it's just constant firefighting.

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If that's accurate, and even if

it's not, I'm sure there are people

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that are in similar situations

that want to do these things.

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What are the guardrails that you've set up

that allow you to think more strategically

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and get out of that firefighting

mode so that you can double or triple

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head count, double or triple revenue?

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What are the guardrails that you

put in place that allows you the

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space to think about those things

and then more importantly, start

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putting the pieces in place?

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Kiley Ewing: I think one,

it starts with mindset.

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So I don't ever feel like

I'm in firefighting mode.

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I feel like that is coming from

a scarcity mindset, and I stay in

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an abundance mindset all the time.

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I look at growth as an exciting

opportunity, not as something

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that is scary or stressful.

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I crave growth.

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So I think one is how you're thinking

about growth is foundational.

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And I think the other thing that

I did was hire an generalist.

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So Timmy is my wing woman in

our department, and I have

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to trust her completely.

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Delegation, I think is the only way

I can stay strategic in my function

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and I have to trust her fully.

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She takes stuff off of my plate so

that I can stay higher level, and we

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have to trust each other and have open

communication and just stay in constant

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contact so we have those check-ins

on Monday and Friday just to set the

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tone for the week and then also talk

about, okay, how did the week go?

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What do you need from me?

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And then we just stay in constant

communication throughout the week.

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And monthly strategy meetings so that

she knows, Hey, this is what I've

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got focused on my plate this month.

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What do you have on your plate so

that we can stay high level together

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and we have constant communication

on what the priorities are.

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And she knows what I'm

gonna be focused on.

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And sometimes there's things that

I wanna join in on, but I can't.

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So we have to divide and conquer.

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Jim Kanichirayil: So if I'm taking

what you just described and breaking

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it down into sort of fundamental

pieces, there's one element of how you

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establish the right cadences, delegation.

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The other element is asynchronous

accountability for each person's

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areas of responsibilities.

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Three is discipline where

your staying within your lanes

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because you can't afford to like

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cross over into a lot of different lanes.

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'Cause that'll just suck

up your areas of expertise.

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and then four is regular touch points

so that you can gauge progress.

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So that's a nice little framework,

or at least if you're setting

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up a framework of communication

and areas of responsibilities,

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that offers a pretty solid set of

rules for people to operate with.

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Sounds pretty basic, but I think a lot

of people would probably, when they're

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in the thick of it, get a little lost

on how do I even start this process?

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So that gives us a good foundation of kind

of what you were looking at and seeing

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as you get started on this initiative of

doubling headcount and tripling revenue.

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But let's dig into one of the

other pieces that you talked about.

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Which was the whole people

side of the equation.

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And if you're looking to do all of

those things, doubling headcount,

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triple in revenue, there's a significant

people investment that has to be done.

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And when you look at

that people investment,

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what were the changes in the talent

acquisition process or even the

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employee lifecycle that you needed to

factor in as you started building the

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next generation of this organization?

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Kiley Ewing: Yeah.

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Again, I go back to the

people in the process, right?

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So I'm looking at the process and

I'm saying, okay, what's working?

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What's not?

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Where can we streamline things?

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Where can we get more dialed in and

have a little less risk in the process?

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And I think, when it comes to talent

acquisition, the greatest risk is you hire

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somebody and then they turn over, right?

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So we all know the cost of

a bad hire is very high.

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So as we think about, okay, we're gonna

be hiring lots of people over the next

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few years, so we've gotta get this right.

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We've gotta get the process down and we've

gotta be able to continuously refine it.

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So even as I was looking to hire

Timmy, one of the things that

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I leveraged was Active Index.

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It's the first tool that I

implemented when I came into my role.

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And the great thing about this tool

was it gave me a readout of how our

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dynamics were going to be together.

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It predicted how we were gonna work

together based on an assessment that I

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had her take before I even spoke to her.

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So I was able to have a little bit

of an idea of how we would gel before

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I even had a conversation with her.

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And I had already benchmarked the position

to what exactly I was looking for.

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Knowing what my strengths were

and where my weaknesses were,

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because we all have them.

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Knowing that I'm trying to stay high

level and strategic in my role, I need

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somebody who's gonna be focused more

so on details and helping me build

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processes because I know I can't spend

all of my time doing those things if

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I'm gonna be strategic in my function.

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So I looked for somebody with really high

precision and higher consistency so that

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she could be the builder and maintainer

of the systems and processes for me and.

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Lo and behold, she's in the role and

loving all of the things that I hate.

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So it works phenomenally well to have

some predictive data before you get

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somebody into the role and have a guess

and check model with no data whatsoever.

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But you're just going off of your gut

feeling, which a lot of businesses do.

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And there's nothing wrong with

that, but it's a higher gamble

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that I'm not willing to take.

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Jim Kanichirayil: So there's

a lot there to unpack and I'm

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sure people are listening to

that part of the conversation.

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You probably have two camps of

people that heard what you said.

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On one camp you have the people that

are fully on board with assessments

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as part of the hiring process.

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In the other camp, you have people

that are probably looking at

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that stuff and rolling their eyes

because a lot of assessments aren't

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really any better than horoscopes.

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And one particular thing

that I wanna respond to.

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I think you and I both agree

that the cost of a bad hire, is

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exorbitant for every organization.

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My research, from my doctoral research

was actually on retention and turnover.

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And at the time you're looking at

200% of first year salary as the cost

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or replacement cost of a bad hire.

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So we're on the same page there where

you and I might differ and other

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people in the audience might differ

too, is the value of some of these

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predictive tools in the hiring process.

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And my main critique of how

some of these things are used is

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that HR leaders will use them.

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In lieu of actually vetting out or

validating a candidate's capabilities.

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So how would you respond to people that

are on the oh, I don't like these things

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because they're like glorified horoscopes.

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What's your response or what's your

experience to that sort of position?

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Kiley Ewing: Sure.

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One, the assessment tool is

scientifically validated.

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So if you're gonna use an assessment,

make sure it's scientifically validated

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so that you have more of a backbone to it.

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Two, I look at every single

resume that comes through.

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So I'm not sending the

assessment out unless I have

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had eyes on the resume myself.

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So there is a human element to our process

that is only enhanced by AI and data.

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So it's not that I'm replacing my human

expertise with AI, it is complimentary

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to what I know is valuable with my

skillset in seeing so many resumes.

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Because I will say that, i've seen so

many resumes in my recruiting career

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that nothing is going to replace the

knowledge that I have from recruiting.

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Same as you.

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You've seen probably thousands

of resumes, and you're gonna be

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able to draw conclusions very

quickly based on your experience.

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I'm not eliminating that at all.

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In fact, I'm only enhancing that by

saying, okay, is the data confirming

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what I think to be true that this

is potentially a good hire or is it

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maybe disqualifying what I think to

be true and making me second guess it.

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I could still have a conversation and I

have, there's been plenty of candidates

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where maybe the percent match to my

benchmark was 46% and we still hired

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'em anyway because the experience that

they brought to the table was more

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important what the data was telling us.

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So we make exceptions all of the

time, but the data is and always

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will be something that helps us

gain conviction in our decisions.

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And also gives us more of an informed

decision going into hiring this

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person, knowing, okay, they may

not have all of the strengths that

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we're looking for in this position.

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This is something we're

gonna have to manage them to.

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Or this is something that we're

gonna have to coach them on.

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We're okay with that.

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We are making an informed hire with this.

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Jim Kanichirayil: There's something

in what you said that that triggered

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one of my agency recruiter memories.

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So one of the reasons why I have this

sort of position on a lot of these

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assessments is that I was an IT recruiter

and one of the HR leaders that I talked

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to when we are looking at doing a

search for them, they walked me through

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their process and they said, we use

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insert tool name here.

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And I asked them, how do you use it?

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And they said, as soon as we get

an application that comes in, the

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first response that they get from

our hiring team is we send them

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the link to the assessment and

have them complete the assessment.

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Already at that point I'm

thinking candidate experience.

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I was like, ah, that's a pretty terrible

candidate experience, but keep going.

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And then I said, okay, what do you do

with the response when they come back?

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Because I'm already anticipating that

they're gonna have a lot of fall off if

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that's the first step in their process.

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And what they described as a

researcher, like to my brain,

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I was like, oh, and a recruiter,

I was like, oh, this is terrible.

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So what they said was, we get the

response, we look at it compared

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to our benchmark, and if it doesn't

meet our benchmark or ideal profile,

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we don't even talk to those people.

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And I'm like, oh, that's really bad.

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So if people are using assessments that

way, in that hiring process, what are the

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gaps that they need to be thinking about

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that creates not only candidate

quality issues, but potential

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compliance issues too.

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Kiley Ewing: I'm less concerned about

the compliance issues because we don't

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collect information on gender or race.

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So there's no discrimination.

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We're doing based on data.

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In fact, this is actually more of an

unbiased process than anything else.

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we're making informed decisions

based on strengths and whether or not

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you're gonna actually enjoy the job.

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Honestly, I'd rather have people who like

doing the tasks we're about to assign

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to them versus people that were gonna be

forcing square peg, round holes situation.

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I'm less concerned about

the compliance stuff.

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What I would say is, my top performer

on our sales team, aside from our

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leaders, she does not fit the benchmark.

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So I have a breathing, walking

example of an exception that we never

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would've hired if we were excluding

everyone who didn't fit the profile.

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So I look at their experience and I say,

okay, they don't fit the sales profile

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per se, but their entire career history

is sales, that probably means that they've

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come up with some systems that work for

them and they actually do enjoy sales.

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So it's not a square peg,

round hole situation.

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In fact, they've learned how to

adapt to what the role requires.

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So I do wanna talk to that person

because if they're saying, hey, I like

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sales and I wanna do this, then who

am I to say, nope, you're not a fit.

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when their history is

telling me, yes, they are.

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So it's a balance.

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You have to use critical thinking and

leverage the tools at the same time.

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And I think that's where maybe some

organizations are getting it wrong or not

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quite right, and they need to have more of

a hybrid blend of the best of both worlds.

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Because I am a big believer that

AI is not gonna replace humans.

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The humans need to know how to

leverage the AI correctly in

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order to get the most out of it.

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Jim Kanichirayil: So that last bit of

what you said, I really like, you're

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hinting at more of a human in the lead

versus a human in the loop philosophy.

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And you and I are on the same

page there where I think a lot

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of people think that they can run

a lot of these implementations

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that involve AI on autopilot,

and we know that's not realistic.

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It might never be realistic.

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but I want you to say a little

bit more about the validation

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process that you go through.

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You implemented this AI

assessment component.

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You have the human

validation portion of it too.

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How does that show up in the

interview process so that you're

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either confirming or rejecting what

the benchmarks are telling you?

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Kiley Ewing: Yeah.

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This tool, maybe unlike some of the other

tools out there, has a customized GPT.

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Her name is Aria, and you can

interact with Aria at any time

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about a profile in the system.

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So I can go into Aria before

an interview and say, Hey, what

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questions should I ask this candidate?

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Here's the job description

they're applying for.

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This Aria already has their profile on the

backend, and I just have to say based on

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their blind spots and the job description.

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What questions should I ask

in this upcoming interview?

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Aria will kick out some questions

for me to ask that will specifically

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be pointing at some of the challenge

areas that they may have in this job.

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It's helping me get more precise

with my interview questions and get

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meatier answers from the candidate.

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and then again, I have to use my

brain too in this process and in the

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conversation I have with the candidate,

if I'm hearing something that's

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not quite making sense in my head.

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I double down on it and ask

a second level question.

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Like if they say something that's not

quite fitting what their profile's telling

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me, I'll ask them to elaborate on that

or say, Hey, can you share an example

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of that with me and go a layer deeper so

that we can get more context or get more

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detail or perhaps catch 'em in a lie.

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I don't know.

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'cause a lot of times, especially

if you're interviewing salespeople,

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they're gonna tell you what you

wanna hear, and so you have to be

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very discerning in the process.

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Thomas Kunjappu: This has been

a fantastic conversation so far.

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00:19:46,740 --> 00:19:49,530

If you haven't already done so,

make sure to join our community.

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00:19:49,770 --> 00:19:52,440

We are building a network of the

most forward-thinking, HR and

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00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,620

people, operational professionals

who are defining the future.

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00:19:56,100 --> 00:19:58,710

I will personally be sharing

news and ideas around how we

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00:19:58,710 --> 00:20:00,720

can all thrive in the age of ai.

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00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:04,065

You can find it at go cleary.com/cleary

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00:20:04,495 --> 00:20:05,105

community.

332

00:20:05,730 --> 00:20:06,570

Now back to the show.

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Jim Kanichirayil: I like what you said

about digging deeper in the interview

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process to flesh out the story.

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What are some good examples of second or

third level questions that you can ask

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that really help you identify the depth of

a candidate's capabilities or abilities.

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Kiley Ewing: Yeah.

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It's almost sometimes what they're

not telling me, if I can't get the

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answer I need to hear, it's almost

like that's how I disqualify them.

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I'll give you an example.

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I was interviewing a guy, he was applying

for a sales role and I always ask

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sales professionals what motivates you?

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Any really driven sales professional is

gonna have a very lengthy answer for this.

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One, it should involve money.

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Two, it should involve something

related to their family or things they

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wanna experience or just big goals

that they have because most driven

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sales professionals have huge goals.

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This guy couldn't tell me anything he

said his family motivates him and he

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just really likes building relationships.

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Stock answer, right?

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So I said, tell me some of the things

that you wanna do with your family or some

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of the goals you have for your family.

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Spend more time with my

family was his answer.

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He wasn't giving me anything of

substance with this question, so

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it was almost what he didn't say

that told me what I needed to hear.

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So a lot of times it's not exactly

what they're telling me, it's

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what they're not telling me.

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that's giving me more

information than anything else.

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Jim Kanichirayil: No,

I like that example.

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The motivation example is a good one.

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Although I'd probably not give you the

answer that you're looking for either.

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'Cause, when I'm one of those sales

people that don't fit the mold of

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what a typical assessment tells you.

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and generally speaking,

it's like whenever I look at

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organizations that I want to join,

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it's mission and product.

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If I believe in the mission and I actually

think it's a great product, those are the

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biggest drivers of me deciding, Hey, this

is someplace that that I wanna work for.

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The external and internal

motivation piece beyond a certain

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level, like that evens out.

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for most folks.

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I think one of the other things,

like for people that are listening

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to this conversation and they want

to think about how do you better

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qualify a potential candidate?

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I think Lou Adler has done a

bunch of stuff where he talks

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about outcomes based recruiting.

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So you always have the job description

stuff, but one of the conversations

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that you should be consistently looking

at or having a conversation with your

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hiring managers about is what are

the outcomes that this person needs

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to deliver if a year from now you're

thinking that they're a great hire?

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That's one of the questions that I'd

always ask from a recruiting perspective.

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Because then it actually opens up

your candidate pool for high potential

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candidates that have delivered at a

level that you're looking for or super

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experienced candidates that might be

overlooked because of their tenure.

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00:23:02,735 --> 00:23:06,015

But if they've repeatedly done

this key deliverable that you're

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00:23:06,290 --> 00:23:09,125

looking for, they should be

under your consideration set too.

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And then baking in behavioral

questions underneath it.

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That's pretty standard.

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But that should be like a key

recruiting part of the process.

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One thing that I'm thinking

about, so you've implemented

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this AI solution on the TA end.

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As you grow from a TA perspective, how

have you factored in the growth of the

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TA side into utilization of the platform?

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How do you embed outcomes-based

recruiting into your hiring process?

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00:23:38,325 --> 00:23:42,325

Kiley Ewing: Well, I wanna comment

on something you mentioned just now.

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You talked about what I would

call company competencies, and

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we call 'em role competencies.

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So when we think about is this person

gonna be able to do the job, part A, part

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B is, be a good addition to our culture?

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We can break that down into role

competency, company competency.

401

00:24:02,407 --> 00:24:07,837

So when I look at a job description,

I'm breaking it down into role

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00:24:07,837 --> 00:24:10,897

competencies and company competencies.

403

00:24:11,167 --> 00:24:13,987

Which company competencies

are just our core values?

404

00:24:14,347 --> 00:24:17,722

So how are they exhibiting the

core values of our company?

405

00:24:18,637 --> 00:24:20,707

In their day to day life already.

406

00:24:20,917 --> 00:24:23,287

So are they aligned from a company fit?

407

00:24:23,677 --> 00:24:25,687

And then can they do the job?

408

00:24:25,927 --> 00:24:29,977

So one A is, are they gonna be

a good addition to our company?

409

00:24:30,187 --> 00:24:33,457

One B is, can they do this job?

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And arguably, company competencies

are the first priority because I don't

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00:24:40,432 --> 00:24:44,212

want somebody that's a great fit for

the role but can't mesh with the team.

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'Cause we all know that doesn't work.

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So that is something that carries

through from the very beginning,

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not only in the job description,

but what I interview for and then

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00:24:55,042 --> 00:24:59,272

from a performance management standpoint,

when we do reviews, it's gonna be what we

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evaluate them on so it doesn't go away.

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And then when we incentivize and

we reward and we give out spot

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00:25:05,602 --> 00:25:10,942

bonuses, we're doing it based on

those values and the competencies

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00:25:10,942 --> 00:25:12,262

that we originally looked for.

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00:25:12,262 --> 00:25:16,107

So everything is super cohesive

throughout the employee journey.

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00:25:16,776 --> 00:25:19,006

Jim Kanichirayil: So one of the

things that I'm wondering about, you've

422

00:25:19,036 --> 00:25:23,376

implemented this AI solution, you're

going through a pretty aggressive

423

00:25:23,376 --> 00:25:26,086

scaling, process in the upcoming years.

424

00:25:26,671 --> 00:25:29,941

What infrastructure have you put

into place to make sure that the

425

00:25:29,941 --> 00:25:34,741

solutions that you are putting in

now are have a high adoption rate

426

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going forward as your team grows?

427

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Kiley Ewing: Yeah.

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00:25:38,826 --> 00:25:43,326

So that is something that we

are keeping top of mind with

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every decision we're making.

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So Clear Company is another platform that

I'm in the process of implementing, and

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00:25:49,296 --> 00:25:51,846

this has an applicant tracking system.

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This has a learning management

system, performance management.

433

00:25:56,256 --> 00:25:58,956

All of it has AI baked into it.

434

00:25:58,956 --> 00:26:03,646

So not only does it do what we need it

to do, but it's on the cutting edge of

435

00:26:04,046 --> 00:26:07,291

what's most innovative right now in tech.

436

00:26:08,431 --> 00:26:10,171

It's gonna be able to grow with us.

437

00:26:10,171 --> 00:26:15,691

I've used this platform before about 10,

12 years ago, and they have innovated

438

00:26:15,691 --> 00:26:18,061

significantly since I used it last time.

439

00:26:18,061 --> 00:26:22,621

So it was just a no brainer for me when

I was looking for new tools because we're

440

00:26:22,621 --> 00:26:26,591

moving away from a different applicant

tracking system, that we've just outgrown.

441

00:26:26,591 --> 00:26:29,951

Nothing wrong with it, but we've outgrown

it and we need something a little bit

442

00:26:29,951 --> 00:26:32,171

more advanced for where we're headed to.

443

00:26:32,501 --> 00:26:34,601

And this system is cohesive.

444

00:26:34,601 --> 00:26:35,921

And the other part of this is we're.

445

00:26:35,921 --> 00:26:37,331

On a PEO right now.

446

00:26:37,331 --> 00:26:38,541

So we don't really need an HRIS.

447

00:26:39,761 --> 00:26:43,891

When we move away from the from the PEO,

and we're gonna be looking for an HRIS.

448

00:26:44,681 --> 00:26:47,231

We'll look for one that

integrates with clear companies.

449

00:26:47,231 --> 00:26:51,701

So this is a platform that in my

mind, is going to stay with us

450

00:26:51,701 --> 00:26:56,061

as we continue to grow and bring

on a new tech system for HRIS.

451

00:26:56,081 --> 00:26:59,381

So it's something that I'm thinking

about not only as a solution for

452

00:26:59,381 --> 00:27:03,371

right now, but down the road so that I

don't have to redo all of this later.

453

00:27:04,806 --> 00:27:06,926

Jim Kanichirayil: I wanna sit a

little bit in what you just talked

454

00:27:06,926 --> 00:27:08,726

about and expand that a little bit.

455

00:27:09,056 --> 00:27:10,916

There are people that are gonna

be listening to that part of the

456

00:27:10,916 --> 00:27:13,946

conversation that are also thinking

about scaling their organization.

457

00:27:14,516 --> 00:27:19,316

When you think about the technology

component of a transformation initiative,

458

00:27:20,066 --> 00:27:24,206

what are the things that they need

to have checked off to make sure that

459

00:27:24,206 --> 00:27:29,546

their technology portion of the scaling

exercise is right sized for where

460

00:27:29,546 --> 00:27:30,926

they want to go as an organization?

461

00:27:32,646 --> 00:27:37,296

Kiley Ewing: I'm in this HR Facebook

group and I see a lot of HR leaders

462

00:27:37,296 --> 00:27:39,256

asking, Hey, we're looking for a new HRIS.

463

00:27:40,086 --> 00:27:41,106

What do you recommend?

464

00:27:42,546 --> 00:27:48,546

Terrible question to ask because I think

we do this so backwards all of the time.

465

00:27:48,846 --> 00:27:51,616

One, you need to get

straight on what you need.

466

00:27:52,686 --> 00:27:55,926

It's like saying, Hey, I need

to find a personal trainer.

467

00:27:56,226 --> 00:27:56,586

Cool.

468

00:27:56,586 --> 00:27:57,726

What are your goals?

469

00:27:57,726 --> 00:28:03,636

Because that matters more than who your

recommendation is because your personal

470

00:28:03,636 --> 00:28:09,156

trainer might be great for somebody who

has diabetes or is over the age of 60.

471

00:28:09,316 --> 00:28:13,606

But they don't know anything about, if

you are a power lifter and you're trying

472

00:28:13,606 --> 00:28:15,736

to compete at a national level, right?

473

00:28:15,736 --> 00:28:19,216

So what kind of goals are

you trying to achieve?

474

00:28:19,486 --> 00:28:21,616

Start with the end in mind.

475

00:28:22,066 --> 00:28:25,716

That is like goal setting 101.

476

00:28:26,581 --> 00:28:30,301

Most important thing I could

ever communicate to anybody who's

477

00:28:30,301 --> 00:28:32,641

trying to grow in any kind of way.

478

00:28:32,821 --> 00:28:35,881

Start with the end in mind,

figure out what you're trying to

479

00:28:35,881 --> 00:28:41,641

achieve, and then find the product

that has all of those features.

480

00:28:42,061 --> 00:28:45,481

And if you really wanna shortcut

the process for yourself, just tell

481

00:28:45,961 --> 00:28:48,261

ChatGPT that you need these features.

482

00:28:48,571 --> 00:28:52,501

What HRIS systems have these

features, or what applicant

483

00:28:52,501 --> 00:28:54,271

tracking system has these features.

484

00:28:54,541 --> 00:29:01,231

Use AI to help you find tools because

AI is way faster and more efficient

485

00:29:01,231 --> 00:29:04,621

than any of my Google searches

would have been in this process.

486

00:29:04,621 --> 00:29:05,791

That was all I did.

487

00:29:06,011 --> 00:29:10,001

And just get better at asking the

right questions because I think when

488

00:29:10,001 --> 00:29:14,471

we do that, then you can crowdsource

your referrals and say, Hey, have

489

00:29:14,471 --> 00:29:16,631

you worked with this company before?

490

00:29:16,631 --> 00:29:17,591

What's your feedback?

491

00:29:18,071 --> 00:29:19,091

Get more specific.

492

00:29:19,726 --> 00:29:22,846

Jim Kanichirayil: So I like your point

about getting more specific to build on

493

00:29:22,846 --> 00:29:28,246

that a little bit, there may be value in

identifying companies like you who have

494

00:29:28,246 --> 00:29:32,716

all gone through a similar transformation,

and then leveraging your community to find

495

00:29:32,716 --> 00:29:34,306

out, okay, how did you make that decision?

496

00:29:34,306 --> 00:29:35,716

What did you select and why?

497

00:29:36,016 --> 00:29:39,146

That should be another component

of that process as well.

498

00:29:39,546 --> 00:29:44,621

But what I really like about what

you described is again, beginning

499

00:29:44,621 --> 00:29:48,221

with the end in mind, which seems

pretty cliche, but it's true.

500

00:29:48,311 --> 00:29:51,971

And then identifying the feature set

that you want that's gonna meet your

501

00:29:51,971 --> 00:29:54,101

needs now and also in the future.

502

00:29:55,701 --> 00:29:58,491

There's a process component

of that I want to dig into.

503

00:29:58,911 --> 00:30:02,061

Now, let's say you have a handful

of products that have the feature

504

00:30:02,061 --> 00:30:03,321

set that you're looking for.

505

00:30:03,831 --> 00:30:06,616

How should you evaluate how work is done?

506

00:30:07,416 --> 00:30:10,566

In those platforms to make sure

that you have high adoption.

507

00:30:10,596 --> 00:30:13,736

What are the things that you

look for when you're evaluating

508

00:30:13,736 --> 00:30:14,851

workflows within a platform?

509

00:30:17,436 --> 00:30:21,156

Kiley Ewing: This may not be

the right answer, but I look

510

00:30:21,156 --> 00:30:23,106

at what does it look like?

511

00:30:23,496 --> 00:30:29,736

The UI UX of a technology platform

is probably the thing that I

512

00:30:29,736 --> 00:30:31,776

look at first and foremost.

513

00:30:31,776 --> 00:30:35,436

If it looks outdated and

antiquated, it probably is.

514

00:30:35,436 --> 00:30:39,936

And so many technology platforms

I looked at, I was like, have you

515

00:30:39,936 --> 00:30:42,216

guys not innovated since 2000?

516

00:30:43,746 --> 00:30:47,936

I don't know, it just looks like

their system is completely outdated.

517

00:30:47,936 --> 00:30:52,076

And then once you get into it and

you find out it takes 12 clicks

518

00:30:52,076 --> 00:30:54,096

to get to something super simple.

519

00:30:54,516 --> 00:30:58,596

No, that's not gonna be an

efficient system for us to use.

520

00:30:58,596 --> 00:31:02,766

So user interface is gonna

tell you a whole lot about

521

00:31:03,066 --> 00:31:05,316

whether or not that system is.

522

00:31:06,126 --> 00:31:11,346

One up to date, and two, how

quickly they've been innovating and

523

00:31:11,346 --> 00:31:13,626

elevating their technology platform.

524

00:31:13,936 --> 00:31:18,596

I'm not a technology expert by any means,

so that might not be the right answer,

525

00:31:18,596 --> 00:31:23,606

but that is definitely something that I

feel like has been indicative of quality

526

00:31:23,606 --> 00:31:25,811

of the technology that from my experience.

527

00:31:27,186 --> 00:31:30,561

Jim Kanichirayil: I think what you're

describing from a UI UX is important.

528

00:31:31,276 --> 00:31:34,956

I think the add-on to that piece, I

would make the case that the add-on

529

00:31:34,956 --> 00:31:38,136

to that piece is understanding the

job that needs to be done and then

530

00:31:38,136 --> 00:31:39,996

the process to how to get there.

531

00:31:40,416 --> 00:31:45,786

Because if you implement something that

has a great UI, but the work process

532

00:31:45,786 --> 00:31:49,476

in terms of the internal execution

is so far beyond where your current

533

00:31:49,476 --> 00:31:52,806

state is, people aren't gonna adopt

it just because they're gonna look at

534

00:31:52,806 --> 00:31:58,266

it and go, this is so far away from

like how I currently do what I do.

535

00:31:58,996 --> 00:32:03,816

It's easier for me to keep doing it

my old way than adopt this new way.

536

00:32:04,096 --> 00:32:09,526

the change management piece of how the

UI is laid out of how you actually do

537

00:32:09,526 --> 00:32:13,156

your workflows in there is important too,

because if you haven't answered the change

538

00:32:13,156 --> 00:32:16,636

management question, you're gonna have an

adoption problem on the back end of it.

539

00:32:16,856 --> 00:32:17,996

Real good stuff there.

540

00:32:18,446 --> 00:32:21,776

I wanna wind this back

into a different area.

541

00:32:22,676 --> 00:32:26,366

You've implemented this and you're in

the process of implementing technology

542

00:32:26,366 --> 00:32:31,236

suite as you work through the scaling

exercise, what are the implications

543

00:32:31,236 --> 00:32:35,826

of what you're doing now on workforce

planning as you grow as an organization?

544

00:32:38,106 --> 00:32:38,566

Kiley Ewing: Oh gosh.

545

00:32:39,311 --> 00:32:43,301

All of it is preparing

us for a larger team.

546

00:32:43,781 --> 00:32:50,666

So I have like the future org chart

already mapped out on a piece of paper.

547

00:32:50,696 --> 00:32:56,526

it's not perfect by any means, but,

I have future org chart out and roles

548

00:32:56,526 --> 00:33:00,366

that we're missing and probably future

positions we're gonna have to hire for

549

00:33:00,366 --> 00:33:02,166

over the course of the next four years.

550

00:33:02,586 --> 00:33:06,766

But if systems right now are

clunky for a hundred people,

551

00:33:06,766 --> 00:33:12,346

it's gonna be even clunkier and

more difficult with 200 people.

552

00:33:12,736 --> 00:33:18,486

So we have to fix those things first,

and then we'll be ready for the 200.

553

00:33:18,776 --> 00:33:23,866

It can't be, oh, we'll just fix

it once the 200 are here, because

554

00:33:23,866 --> 00:33:25,366

that is just gonna be chaos.

555

00:33:25,366 --> 00:33:28,361

And I don't really wanna

deal with those challenges.

556

00:33:28,361 --> 00:33:33,311

I'd rather be proactive right now so

that when we bring the people on, they're

557

00:33:33,311 --> 00:33:35,921

like, man, onboarding was so smooth.

558

00:33:36,421 --> 00:33:37,711

Working here is great.

559

00:33:37,711 --> 00:33:38,941

What a great experience.

560

00:33:38,941 --> 00:33:40,681

The culture here is phenomenal.

561

00:33:40,951 --> 00:33:47,191

The operational workflows are so seamless,

and it's really easy to do my job.

562

00:33:47,191 --> 00:33:50,371

And yeah, there's some challenges,

but we're finding solutions every day.

563

00:33:50,611 --> 00:33:53,881

That's what I hope our people are

saying over the course of the next

564

00:33:53,881 --> 00:33:56,401

few years as we continue to scale.

565

00:33:57,711 --> 00:34:00,021

Jim Kanichirayil: I don't wanna

undersell what you just said,

566

00:34:00,121 --> 00:34:03,241

because there's something really

important in what you just mentioned.

567

00:34:03,721 --> 00:34:09,241

And for those that missed it, the key

thing that I pulled out from that is

568

00:34:09,311 --> 00:34:15,091

you can't just throw technology or AI

against a bad process or a bad technical

569

00:34:15,091 --> 00:34:18,871

infrastructure, you have to sort those

things out first and then whatever the

570

00:34:18,871 --> 00:34:21,511

new state is, is gonna be better off.

571

00:34:21,721 --> 00:34:26,371

If you've never worked on the fundamentals

of refining your process or defining

572

00:34:26,371 --> 00:34:31,021

your process, refining your tech stack

and defining your tech stack, it's just

573

00:34:31,021 --> 00:34:35,971

gonna make whatever problems you have

currently worse and more expensive.

574

00:34:35,971 --> 00:34:36,960

So instead of a.

575

00:34:37,591 --> 00:34:39,091

Less expensive, bad problem.

576

00:34:39,091 --> 00:34:41,731

You have a really expensive, bad problem

that you're gonna be dealing with.

577

00:34:42,031 --> 00:34:43,891

So I like how you you've mapped that out.

578

00:34:44,610 --> 00:34:50,751

So you're six months in roughly, and

you have a lot of runway ahead of you.

579

00:34:52,221 --> 00:34:55,971

And you've probably in

that short amount of time.

580

00:34:57,110 --> 00:35:01,341

Already picked up some things that, oh,

I thought it was gonna be this way, but

581

00:35:01,341 --> 00:35:02,991

it actually ended up being different.

582

00:35:03,471 --> 00:35:06,981

What were the key lessons in that

transformation process so far that

583

00:35:06,981 --> 00:35:09,831

you've picked up that's important for

other people to have on their radar?

584

00:35:12,306 --> 00:35:15,546

Kiley Ewing: We have a

very collaborative culture.

585

00:35:15,936 --> 00:35:21,696

One that is, unlike any other

organization I've ever worked with or for.

586

00:35:21,996 --> 00:35:28,686

So it's to the point where I

have to slow down and bring other

587

00:35:28,686 --> 00:35:31,386

people into the fold because.

588

00:35:31,821 --> 00:35:34,641

I am used to just

charging full steam ahead.

589

00:35:34,641 --> 00:35:38,391

And one thing I did not realize

is other people actually wanna get

590

00:35:38,391 --> 00:35:42,981

involved and they wanna be a part of

these change decisions and the process

591

00:35:42,981 --> 00:35:45,141

with me and they want to help out.

592

00:35:45,471 --> 00:35:49,191

And it's not just one person

owning something and doing all

593

00:35:49,191 --> 00:35:50,481

the heavy lifting themselves.

594

00:35:50,961 --> 00:35:53,466

Everybody wants to lend a hand.

595

00:35:53,556 --> 00:35:56,856

And even though they're not getting

paid extra for it, or it's not their

596

00:35:56,856 --> 00:35:59,586

job per se, they still wanna help out.

597

00:35:59,916 --> 00:36:03,696

It's a very cool and unique

culture to be a part of.

598

00:36:03,846 --> 00:36:08,616

People here really love challenges

and want to embrace problem solving.

599

00:36:08,946 --> 00:36:13,296

It is a fun and unique

place to be, and I love it.

600

00:36:13,296 --> 00:36:16,776

I think that's the coolest part because I

have people every day coming to me saying,

601

00:36:16,776 --> 00:36:18,996

Hey, I'd love to take on a new challenge.

602

00:36:18,996 --> 00:36:19,866

What else can I do?

603

00:36:20,821 --> 00:36:23,371

I would much rather have that

problem than the opposite.

604

00:36:24,556 --> 00:36:27,136

Jim Kanichirayil: So you just

mentioned, you realized that you needed

605

00:36:27,136 --> 00:36:29,266

to slow down to bring others forward.

606

00:36:29,266 --> 00:36:33,091

What happened that it

set off that light bulb.

607

00:36:34,876 --> 00:36:36,016

Kiley Ewing: My boss told me, slow down.

608

00:36:37,911 --> 00:36:42,436

Our managing shareholder, oftentimes

has to say, Hey, slow down.

609

00:36:43,201 --> 00:36:43,891

It's okay.

610

00:36:43,951 --> 00:36:44,671

Take a deep breath.

611

00:36:44,711 --> 00:36:46,451

you're going a million miles an hour.

612

00:36:46,451 --> 00:36:48,556

And it's just my natural speed.

613

00:36:48,556 --> 00:36:50,176

And you know what the cool thing is?

614

00:36:50,176 --> 00:36:54,136

The Active Index tells me that my

intensity level is high, and there's

615

00:36:54,136 --> 00:36:57,676

others inside of the organization

who also have a high intensity level.

616

00:36:57,676 --> 00:37:00,696

So I know who my fast paced

people are, and then I also know

617

00:37:00,696 --> 00:37:02,916

who my complimentary people are.

618

00:37:02,916 --> 00:37:03,831

That will tell me.

619

00:37:04,761 --> 00:37:08,601

Hold on, but did you think of this

and also did you remember this and,

620

00:37:08,911 --> 00:37:10,411

how are you gonna get that done?

621

00:37:10,501 --> 00:37:12,091

Oh, I hadn't thought about that.

622

00:37:12,091 --> 00:37:15,991

And also didn't think to bring so

and so into the mix or ask so and

623

00:37:16,326 --> 00:37:17,911

so what the history there was.

624

00:37:18,211 --> 00:37:23,841

So it's really helpful knowing who

my more deliberate paced people are

625

00:37:23,841 --> 00:37:27,941

because they really balance me out and

I feel like we're very complimentary.

626

00:37:27,991 --> 00:37:30,781

Yeah, the Active Index told

me and my boss told me.

627

00:37:30,955 --> 00:37:32,575

It's all in the best way possible.

628

00:37:34,165 --> 00:37:38,845

Jim Kanichirayil: So you've gone a

fairly long way in a relatively short

629

00:37:38,845 --> 00:37:43,105

amount of time and, you're embedding

AI across multiple functions across the

630

00:37:43,105 --> 00:37:47,575

organization and having some pretty big

systems implementations going on as well.

631

00:37:48,085 --> 00:37:52,525

So when you zoom out and you're in

a position to talk to other people

632

00:37:52,525 --> 00:37:55,885

that are considering this journey or

maybe are even in the middle of it.

633

00:37:56,395 --> 00:38:00,475

What are the key lessons and thoughts

that you would have for them in order to

634

00:38:00,475 --> 00:38:02,365

pull off something like this successfully?

635

00:38:04,910 --> 00:38:07,585

Kiley Ewing: I think my biggest

piece of advice would be

636

00:38:07,585 --> 00:38:09,055

think like a business owner.

637

00:38:09,115 --> 00:38:13,225

It came a little more natural to

me because I had my own business.

638

00:38:13,375 --> 00:38:17,455

Prior to coming here and I was an outside

consultant for the firm for five years.

639

00:38:17,505 --> 00:38:22,215

I was a business owner and I had to

figure out how to make my mistakes

640

00:38:22,215 --> 00:38:28,935

and fail fast and recover and be

financially savvy and make decisions

641

00:38:28,935 --> 00:38:31,755

like my own bank account depended on it.

642

00:38:31,785 --> 00:38:34,155

And I still operate in the same way.

643

00:38:34,155 --> 00:38:40,585

Which helps me in a tremendous way because

one, our managing shareholder and the

644

00:38:40,585 --> 00:38:45,195

rest of our shareholders, respect my de

decision making ability because of that.

645

00:38:45,595 --> 00:38:52,405

And I think all too often as employees,

we can into an employee mindset.

646

00:38:52,405 --> 00:38:54,375

It's not my money, It

doesn't matter, right?

647

00:38:54,375 --> 00:38:56,835

There's less risk in spending

someone else's money.

648

00:38:56,835 --> 00:39:02,085

But I think when I approach decisions,

I've saved the company $400,000

649

00:39:02,085 --> 00:39:03,765

in just my first six months here.

650

00:39:03,815 --> 00:39:08,825

It's really important to think

about decisions like it's

651

00:39:08,855 --> 00:39:10,595

your own business on the line.

652

00:39:10,595 --> 00:39:14,695

And I think because I've done that,

it has produced really fruitful

653

00:39:14,695 --> 00:39:20,630

outcomes for the team and our

business and our future growth.

654

00:39:20,630 --> 00:39:23,190

And I would say that's my

biggest piece of advice.

655

00:39:23,190 --> 00:39:24,990

And also invest in yourself.

656

00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,540

Your success is never gonna outperform

your level of self-development.

657

00:39:29,540 --> 00:39:32,810

So invest in yourself and

think like a business owner.

658

00:39:33,975 --> 00:39:34,275

Jim Kanichirayil: Got it.

659

00:39:34,305 --> 00:39:37,435

If people want to continue the

conversation with you, what's the best

660

00:39:37,435 --> 00:39:38,845

way for them to get in touch with you?

661

00:39:40,305 --> 00:39:42,480

Kiley Ewing: LinkedIn is

probably the easiest way.

662

00:39:43,275 --> 00:39:43,545

Jim Kanichirayil: Cool.

663

00:39:43,545 --> 00:39:45,285

We'll include that in in the show notes.

664

00:39:45,565 --> 00:39:48,385

Really good conversation

Kylie and there's a lot here.

665

00:39:48,385 --> 00:39:51,985

This could probably have been a

two hour conversation if we wanted

666

00:39:51,985 --> 00:39:53,815

to get dig deep into these areas.

667

00:39:54,115 --> 00:39:58,465

When I think through what we

talked about, there's two distinct

668

00:39:58,555 --> 00:40:02,495

chunks of, information that I

think are really important for

669

00:40:02,495 --> 00:40:04,655

people to pay attention to on.

670

00:40:04,965 --> 00:40:08,955

The people side when you're looking at

any sort of transformation initiative,

671

00:40:08,955 --> 00:40:14,165

and especially one that comes with an

AI wrapper around it to solve the people

672

00:40:14,165 --> 00:40:18,815

side of the equation in terms of how you

structure your team, the thing that I

673

00:40:18,815 --> 00:40:22,415

took away from the conversation is that

you did a really good job of defining the

674

00:40:22,415 --> 00:40:24,605

lanes that people needed to operate in.

675

00:40:25,055 --> 00:40:28,625

You paid particular attention in

playing to everybody's strengths.

676

00:40:28,895 --> 00:40:33,425

And then, from a team construction

perspective, your mindset was let's

677

00:40:33,425 --> 00:40:37,235

build a team around the gap so

that we have a complimentary set of

678

00:40:37,235 --> 00:40:41,375

people in an organization that is

stronger than the sum of its parts.

679

00:40:41,585 --> 00:40:45,430

So you're not bringing in people

that are gonna hate elements

680

00:40:45,430 --> 00:40:47,240

of the job, that are required.

681

00:40:47,240 --> 00:40:51,320

You're actually plugging them in based on

playing to their strengths, which offset

682

00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:52,670

some of the weaknesses that you have.

683

00:40:52,970 --> 00:40:57,090

So when you're solving for people, I think

those three lessons are pretty important.

684

00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:01,980

From a process and technology perspective,

there are also three important lessons

685

00:41:01,980 --> 00:41:04,240

that I took away from the conversation.

686

00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:08,605

One was answering the question,

what am I trying to achieve?

687

00:41:08,875 --> 00:41:11,365

What's the end goal that

I'm trying to get to.

688

00:41:11,605 --> 00:41:14,605

And what should it look like

as I'm getting through there.

689

00:41:14,965 --> 00:41:17,815

And when you answer that second

question, what should it look like?

690

00:41:17,815 --> 00:41:21,475

You need to have line of sight into

what's the job to be done and then

691

00:41:21,475 --> 00:41:23,365

what's the process of getting it done?

692

00:41:23,695 --> 00:41:27,820

And those things come into play

when you're trying to evaluate

693

00:41:28,825 --> 00:41:30,955

how your adoption is gonna be.

694

00:41:31,255 --> 00:41:37,135

Because if your change management process

isn't mapped out well, and people in

695

00:41:37,135 --> 00:41:41,395

the seat are looking at the process of

change as being too difficult, they're

696

00:41:41,395 --> 00:41:45,925

gonna continue doing it the same old way

because the pain of actually switching to

697

00:41:45,925 --> 00:41:51,145

something new is gonna be far greater than

the pain that they're going through now.

698

00:41:51,385 --> 00:41:55,705

So if you're looking at executing a

transformation of any sort, having

699

00:41:55,705 --> 00:41:59,950

those considerations in place is gonna

put you in a position to be successful.

700

00:42:00,220 --> 00:42:01,750

So I appreciate you sharing that with us.

701

00:42:01,750 --> 00:42:04,360

For those of you who've been listening

to the conversation, if you'd like the

702

00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:08,110

conversation, make sure you leave us a

review on your favorite podcast player

703

00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,490

and then tune in next time where we'll

have another leader hanging out with us

704

00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:17,280

and sharing with us the keys that help

them future proof their HR organization.

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