Beyond Burnout: Why HR Leaders Must Integrate AI & Growth to Win the Talent War

“Typically focusing on things like career pathing, which is something that employees always want. They want to grow their career, professional development, you know, creating leadership programs to accelerate, you know, succession of future leaders. And then, of course, AI, right? So, you know, really encouraging employees to learn AI, to use AI, just to be more efficient. We've even created in the past— in a past company, I've created with the help of my team, of course, an HR chatbot, which is really cool. So, I'd say, you know, employee engagement, professional development, career pathing, and then, of course, AI are probably super top priorities as of late.”

Highlights her multi-faceted strategic priorities, emphasizing employee development and the practical application of AI in HR.

“I mean, I think every executive executive needs to be hands-on and roll up their sleeves and get involved in things that are not necessarily quote-unquote, you know, strategic. So, things like when you're in HR, you always have to deal with employee relations issues. You know, if there's a change in policy, an exception to a policy, you know, things like that just kind of come up on a daily basis, and you just have to handle it and roll with it. And it may not seem strategic, but those are the things that just have to get done to run a business. To make sure that the company is healthy.”

Underscores the practical, hands-on reality of executive HR roles beyond pure strategy, focusing on operational health.

“Yeah, I think a lot of the feedback that I've seen in engagement surveys from employees is around cross-department communication and collaboration. I think it's an ongoing initiative that we keep chipping away at and trying to create ways to have better communication and collaboration to make sure that employees are on the same page.”

Identifies a persistent pain point in organizations and highlights the continuous effort required to improve it.

“So, something I've implemented in the past is called Exec Connects. So, we actually pair up a department with a different department leader so that they can kind of learn from that leader, but also have a safe space. Like, it's not recorded. It's really supposed to be like a private little coffee chat where you, they can ask questions and it's just very open.”

Describes a specific, innovative program for fostering cross-functional communication and leadership exposure.

“Yeah, I mean, I would love to create AI agents that actually connected all of our tools and automated some of the processes. It's something that, you know, I don't think I haven't gotten there yet, but it's something I'd love to do in the future. So whether it's, you know, something like Abacus AI or something else where it could actually, you know, integrate all the tools that we use, I think that would be helpful. And then,, you know, use agents to kind of, you know, automate some of the processes that are being done manually.”

Expresses a clear future vision for leveraging AI to solve a common HR tech stack integration and automation challenge.

“Yeah, I would— two things. I would say, you know, focus on what really matters. You know, employees are working on a lot of different things. Managers really need to stay close to their employees, make sure they're really working on things that really do matter and tie back to the company goals. And then I'd also say, you know, for those who have not implemented AI, like, AI is the future. Don't be afraid of it. It will only help you. So, embrace it, learn it, use it. It's the future. And yeah, I'm just a big advocate of AI.”

Provides concise, actionable parting advice to leaders, highlighting focus and AI adoption as critical for success.