The Modern People Leader: Forward-Thinking HR Build - Nobody gets People Ops as a Product 100% right (and that’s ok): Jessica Zwaan (Author, Built for People)
6 snips
May 6, 2025 Jessica Zwaan, COO at Talentful and author of Built for People, brings insightful perspectives on people operations. She discusses the evolution of 'human ops' versus 'people ops', emphasizing that perfection isn't required in these frameworks. Zwaan also highlights the transformative impact of AI on HR, advocating for a balance between technology and human touch. Listeners can expect engaging tips on agile practices and how to effectively navigate team dynamics in a rapidly changing work environment.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Human Ops vs People Ops Origin
- Jessica Zwaan shares the story of building people ops as a product mindset by separating human ops and people ops.
- She coined human ops as advisory and troubleshooting, while people ops focuses on building products for employee experience.
Human Presence Value Litmus
- The key litmus test for human ops is if a human presence generates valuable learning.
- Tasks like benefits inquiries can be automated, but performance calibration requires human interaction.
Avoid HR Bottlenecks
- People teams should design tools and processes that avoid making HR the bottleneck.
- For example, empower business leaders to run performance calibration while HR facilitates and learns.