Serena Ziskroit
Chief People Officer
Mighty One People Human Capital Consultancy
Episode 153
Transforming HR: Why Innovation is Your Duty to People & Profit
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJune 10, 2025 · 9:22
Thesis
“HR leaders must adopt a growth mindset, embracing innovative technology and AI as a duty to drive business success and enable employees to thrive, moving beyond traditional compliance-focused roles.”
Show notes
Innovative HR Strategies with Serena Ziskroit from the Build by People Podcast
In this episode of the Build by People Podcast, the host welcomes Serena, who shares her dynamic career journey from public service to law, and eventually to tech and HR.
Serena discusses her experience with restructuring HR teams using AI tools, providing a specific case of implementing an AI-driven performance review system. She highlights the importance of feedback mechanisms in team success and shares insights from advising organizations on HR tech stacks.
Serena introduces innovative AI tools like SeekOut, which streamline candidate recruitment, and emphasizes the importance of a growth mindset in leveraging technology for HR functions.
The episode wraps up with Serena's advice on evolving HR roles and the need to integrate AI to optimize business processes.
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:48 Serena's Career Journey
01:47 Implementing AI in HR
03:22 Impact of Feedback Tools
04:40 Case Study: Restructuring HR Teams
06:30 Innovative AI Tools in HR
08:12 Parting Advice for People Leaders
09:09 Conclusion and Farewell
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What you'll take away
- 1HR career paths should be viewed as a 'jungle gym,' encouraging diverse experiences over a linear ladder progression.
- 2Integrate AI throughout the entire employee lifecycle, from feedback and performance reviews to job descriptions and sourcing, to optimize efficiency and impact.
- 3Implement feedback tools to provide essential recognition, which often has the most transformative impact on employee satisfaction and engagement.
- 4When consulting, perform a dual assessment of both technology and people organizational structure to ensure a tech stack is appropriate for company size and that teams are structured for success.
- 5Proactively pilot and adopt innovative HR tech solutions, such as AI-powered recruitment services (e.g., SeekOut Spot), to significantly reduce costs and improve hiring efficiency.
- 6HR leaders must cultivate a growth mindset, extending their influence beyond compliance into technology and business strategy, connecting all stakeholders.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Sourcers are becoming less necessary with advancements in AI and specialized recruiting tools that can efficiently provide qualified candidate slates.
- •The traditional HR role focused solely on compliance is outdated; modern HR must integrate technology and business strategy to help humans thrive.
In Serena's words
“My career journey is kind of a career jungle gym, and I love that term because it's definitely not a ladder for me.”
This quote introduces her philosophy on career development, emphasizing dynamic growth over linear progression.
“I feel like it's my responsibility as a dynamic people leader to apply the most innovative technology that helps both humans and the technology come together and succeed as a business and help the humans thrive in their roles and in society.”
This statement encapsulates her core philosophy on the strategic imperative of integrating technology and human success in HR leadership.
“And now we've evolved to the computer being more of the widget and us being this creative problem solver.”
This highlights the shift in human roles due to technology, where humans focus on creativity and problem-solving while computers handle repetitive tasks.
“Workday relies on specific developers and specialists to roll out specific parts of the employee lifecycle. And so those leaders weren't really set up to thrive and really bridge that human side and technology together to help the company succeed.”
This explains a key challenge with enterprise HR software for smaller organizations and the need for HR leaders to bridge technology and human elements.
“I think that it's really important for all of our people leaders to have this growth mindset that we're not necessarily in this bucket of quote unquote HR, which traditionally has had compliance and really have that growth mindset that we can help with technology, we can help with the business side, and still stay connected to our other stakeholders in addition to the company, our team members, and candidates.”
This provides critical advice for HR leaders to expand their strategic influence beyond traditional compliance and embrace broader business and technology roles.
“I feel like it's almost a duty for every single strategy that I implement in a company to consider whether there is a relevant AI tool or task that we should be replacing with a current task.”
This statement powerfully articulates her commitment to proactively integrating AI into all HR strategies.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Organizations struggle with ill-fitting or overly complex HR tech stacks (e.g., Workday for a 250-person company) leading to underutilized features and lack of clear ownership.
- •High costs and inefficiencies associated with traditional talent acquisition methods, such as contingent recruiting fees and dedicated sourcers.
- •Lack of effective feedback mechanisms within companies, resulting in employees feeling unrecognized and unsure of their impact.
- •HR teams often remain stuck in a compliance-focused mindset, hindering their ability to contribute strategically to business growth and technology adoption.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Your career journey is kind of a career jungle gym
How to Get Out of the Career Jungle
You helped an organization restructure its HR team using AI
How HR is Restructuring its HR Team with AI
Trina, when was the time you saw a transformative impact after implementing HR tech
What's the Impact of a New HR Tech Stack
How did you approach advising a public company or private equity firm on structuring HR teams
Structuring an HR Team in a Public Company
Serena says AI is changing the way organizations manage their HR functions
The Future of AI in Human Resources
Serena, what parting advice would you like to share with our community
A Human Resources Leader's Last Words
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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