Nadia Uberoi

▶0:00HostWelcome to the Built by People Podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top executive leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce. Now, let's jump in and get started with our next guest. I'm excited to welcome Nadia to the Built by People Podcast. Nadia, thank you so much for joining us today. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:56GuestYeah, definitely. So my career is I would say rooted in, in a deep interest in psychology. I was a psych major at UPenn with a focus on the business applications as opposed to the clinical ones. And that is what brought me to the HR function. It's really that interplay between human and organizational psychology, philosophy, business strategy, EQ, and operations kind of all rolled into one complex and critical business function. And I started my career at Chewy in various roles, um, from HR generalist to HR business partner to, um, a talent management leader, all the while kind of experiencing Chewy grow from its awkward teenager years to a Fortune 500 publicly traded company with 20,000 employees. And from there, I was kind of itching to get back into something a bit earlier stage, um, and left to lead people operations at a Series C startup, um, for a bit before finding my place. At Gartner Health, which is where I now lead the people function for 400 to 500 employees and counting. We actually have about 100 open roles at this point. So needless to say, we are scaling quickly as we are seeking to transform the US healthcare system.

▶2:08HostCongratulations on the new role and all the growth that you're experiencing. As HR leaders look toward 2026, expectations around AI, productivity, and employee wellbeing keep rising. What feels most fundamentally different about the role of HR right now?

▶2:25GuestYeah, so to me, it's not so much a fundamental shift, but rather kind of the next stage of a shift that's been happening over the last decade or so. It's the HR function transforming from a support function into a strategic business function, which involves all of those things that you just mentioned. And I think that the AI boom and the, you know, focus on wellbeing and, and kind of people redefining what, you know, good work looks like to them has has caused companies to need to redefine their workforce strategies, and often the CHRO and people team is best positioned to lead this. So, it's this concept of, of like organizational effectiveness and organizational development, which has always existed, but is now becoming a core responsibility of the people team, as it's just so front and center across all companies and industries.

▶3:14HostNadia, before this call, you talked about the concept of running the machine versus improving the machine. Can you explain that distinction and why it's such a useful way to think about HR today?

▶3:26GuestYeah, so the way I think about this is that running the machine or running the people function is essentially an ecosystem comprised of a vast set of programs, processes, policies that all interrelate, um, in that we all need to run excellently in order to have successful business outcomes. And so that's everything from recruiting to onboarding to payroll and HRIS to performance management to like employee relations and support and so on. Um, and these are all the things that we're running day to day, month to month, or year to year to keep the business and existing people strategy going. But then of course, we also need to evolve our people strategy and processes as the business strategy evolves. And this is what I call improve the machine. So, for example, if we decide we want to build a more AI-enabled workforce, great. First, let's figure out what our actual objectives are, and then let's see how that translates into redesigning or incrementally improving specific parts of the ecosystem. So, Maybe we revamp our competency framework and our performance reviews process. Maybe we implement a new talent development program. Maybe we replace or refine, you know, specific tooling. And all of those initiatives are improving the machine, but ultimately just flowing back into that ecosystem of how we run the machine.

▶4:46HostIn your experience, where do most HR teams struggle running the machine well enough, carving out space to improve it, or trying to do both of those at the same time?

▶4:55GuestProbably all of the above, especially in in a quickly scaling company, as is my bread and butter where everything is constantly changing. But generally, I think the issue at hand is that the running of the machine is table stakes, like you have to do it. And so depending on how the team is resourced and designed, there may or may not be sufficient capacity and mindshare to focus on improving it.

▶5:18HostI want to switch gears and talk about some of the fundamentals within HR, like payroll, performance, employee support. Obviously, change management and transformation are top of mind for most HR leaders today, especially with the advent of things like AI. Why do you think it's so hard for HR teams to earn support for transformational work if those fundamentals aren't seamless?

▶5:44GuestYeah, I mean, I think it's, it's two parts. One is because those fundamentals are, like I said, they're table stakes for running a successful business, right? They have to happen, and they are visible and kind of front, or some of them are front of mind on like an everyday basis. But I think more, perhaps more importantly, it, it comes down to efficiency because if your run-the-machine ecosystem, like if all of those different, different processes and, and workflows are not optimized, then you are going to be expending more resources on running those processes and therefore you will structurally have less time to allocate resources to the transformational work. And so I think that. Building yourself out of run-the-machine responsibilities, or not, not fully eliminating them, but minimizing them through things like high-quality automation, is what allows you to earn the support for transformational work without asking for more resources. So, I guess perhaps ironically, the, you know, building efficiencies into the run-the-machine is like an improve-the-machine initiative in itself. So, you do have to find the time and support to do that, but those types of initiatives tend to have more concrete dollar impact attached to them.

▶6:55HostLet's talk about improving the machine. When you think about improving the machine heading into 2026, what kinds of initiatives truly move the needle versus just adding noise?

▶7:05GuestYeah, I think it comes down to clearly defined business objectives. So not improving things just for the sake of doing so, but rather ensuring that it aligns with the business strategy. So, you know, if your focus going into 2026 is increasing revenue or cutting costs or improving your core product experience, whatever it might be, your improve the machine initiatives from a people perspective should be focused on what's going to enable those objectives. And that might be like quick-hit initiatives, or it might be like laying the foundations for a longer-term roadmap.

▶7:38HostNow, AI is top of mind for everyone. How should HR leaders think about AI through this run versus improve framework so it actually creates value?

▶7:48GuestI actually think I would say the same thing as I said in response to the previous question, which is the clearly defined business objectives. So being really intentional about what business problem you are trying to solve with AI, as opposed to talking about it and integrating AI just because you feel like you should and, and everyone else is doing it, but rather like what is the specific business problem you would've been looking to solve anyway, even without AI. And then how are you using AI to do that in a better way?

▶8:18HostYou've said the real win is integrating transformation work back into the machine itself. What does that look like in practice?

▶8:26GuestYeah, so I think the, I guess the beauty of this kind of framework and, and way of thinking and working is that when you are working on a big transformation project, what you're really doing is just improving a component or multiple components of your living and breathing ecosystem. So, if you are transforming your onboarding curriculum, this isn't some like standalone one-and-done initiative, right? You are improving that part of your machine in an intentional way. And then those, those changes just flow back into the ecosystem as a whole. So, everything you're doing to improve the ecosystem is just improving the ecosystem, even though you can scope it into clearly defined initiatives.

▶9:07HostHow important is leadership alignment to making this work, and where do HR leaders most often lose that alignment with executives?

▶9:14GuestYeah, I think so. I think that like my point of view, and, and this could be wrong, is that the, this framework is like, it's actually, it's quite straightforward and like non-controversial and, and can actually be applied to most functions in a company, especially G&A functions. And so I think using this run the machine versus improve the machine framework to describe and apply the specific proposals you have will, in my opinion, help with creating alignment on your leadership team. On how to prioritize areas of focus and allocate resources in a way that aligns with business objectives. I mean, I guess to answer the first part of your question, like alignment is, it's critical. I mean, I think there are some things that you can kind of do within the confines of an HR function without broad alignment, like creating some of those efficiencies. But when it comes to what feels like the more transformational work that's going to kind of move the needle on business objectives, I think putting it into a framework that, that your executives can kind of understand how this is going to fit into the whole is is critical for, for getting that all.

▶10:16HostAs HR becomes more intertwined with broader business transformation, how does the role of the people leader need to evolve?

▶10:23GuestIt's probably centering around just thinking more like a business leader. I think this is naturally, or maybe not naturally, but intentionally kind of shifting over time where we are not kind of separating out the people function or the G&A function as like a support leader role, but rather treating it like any other business function. Like I can say, I, I, Gartner, you know, there, there's no difference in how we kind of prioritize or plan or talk about the progress on things like for the, for the people function versus any other function. And so, I think basically walking in with that mindset of like, I'm here, I'm just a business leader like any other business leader, as opposed to kind of taking that back seat, like I'll, I'll align my stuff later, um, is probably like a, a critical shift for the people leader, um, in, in the next few years.

▶11:16HostFor HR leaders listening in who feel stretched thin, what's one mindset or focus area that will matter most if they want to thrive in 2026?

▶11:26GuestI think start by building the efficiencies into the Run the Machine ecosystem that will allow you to free up your time and your team's time, um, to focus on the transformational work. So, I think a lot of people leaders are getting requests and/or pressure from all angles to kind of make some of these transformational shifts. And oftentimes, like, you know, we don't even know exactly what, what we're looking for. But I think the, especially for those who are kind of stretched thin, starting by like finding small ways to build those efficiencies and basically build yourself more time into your day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, um, that's a good, that's a good place to start. And then I think kind of just reiterating The piece about like being really clear about what business problem you are trying to solve anytime you go to tackle something.

▶12:15HostNadia, thank you so much for joining us today on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

▶12:19GuestThanks for having me. Really enjoyed the conversation.