Hi ya party people,

I know, making it to Friday always feels like a miracle, but you’ve done it time and time again, so you’re either completely numb to the chaos, or you just get stronger and stronger every week.

That means you’ll eventually be invincible, right???

Only time will tell, but for now, go ahead and close seventeen of those tabs…you don't need them. 😉

This week's Q&A will prob hit home for a lot of you:

We've got someone whose company has locked them out of every useful AI tool while the rest of the industry speeds off into the future without them, and someone who just hit 120 employees and is realizing that outsourcing HR was always a "we'll deal with it later" decision, and later has officially arrived. 

You know the drill- the community always comes with solutions!

Let's discuss, and if you have questions of your own and want a chance to be featured, please submit them here!

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ASK AWAY

🤖 scaling & AICopy anchor linkCopied

✍🏽 I have 15 years HR experience and have moved to a client facing HRBP role. However I am getting concerned I’m falling behind in AI skills as my company only allows us to utilize MS co-pilot in a limited way. If I’m ever in a job search again I’m worried I’m not gaining real experience with building AI tools, etc. any advice?

Context: Large HCM company, been there 1.5 years and worried about the future in terms of building relevant experience where tech is heading now! 

📣 Christine McCallum-Randalls, Director of People @ Test Double:

This probably sounds nuts, but bear with me. Ask AI the same question you just asked us.  You can use a free version of Claude, Chat-GPT or other AI of choice if MS-Copilot is too limited at work. Often we think to use AI after we've decided what we want. But we don't have to wait that long.  I told AI that am an HR Director, am learning AI, and asked it to help me think of some ways to use AI in my job. It asked me some questions and then it came up with ways to automate emails. 

Then we moved on to creating reports, automating parts of our monthly newsletter, and searching Slack every Friday for people I should recognize for going above and beyond that week. Now I'm using it to create entire processes that affect the entire company. It can seem intimidating, but it won't take you that long to feel like you've got a solid foundation of AI knowledge to build upon.

📣 Abbe Solomon Vacek, EVP Operations @ Change Research:

Use AI to help you stay up-to-date on AI. I have used Seth Godin's suggestion for myself to create a coaching program. I can't take credit for his ideas (read it here: https://seths.blog/2026/02/how-to-write-a-coaching-learning-prompt/). 

I can tell you that I'm trying it and I've been pleased with the process and output. For starters, ask your preferred AI tool to write you a prompt in the style of (share Seth's blog post). Be sure to put your specific goals and share what you are comfortable with about your skills that is relevant. Good luck!

📣 Hebba here to say that I'm hosting a live AI building session where Cassidy Edwards and I are going to work through use cases live and demo how to build it your self! 

Join us here & share with your friends, anyone is welcome! 

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.

✍🏽 Interested in best practices for hiring HR professionals for an organization that has scaled to 100+ people fairly recently.  We'd been outsourcing it but that is not a real solution.  In addition to all the compliance work, really want a strategic focus on people and culture. 

Context: Non profit that operates more like a (mission driven) business in sustainable agriculture. Just reached 120 people, and its 100% remote (a lot of work goes on 'in the field' literally, because its related to agriculture. We're financially stable, and we fund ourselves with revenue from the services we provide to farms, food businesses, etc. 

📣 Kaylee Tanner, Director of Human Resources @ Trace Genomics:

Sounds like your company is in the sweet spot where it's time to insource and make HR a strategic part of the business.  This is very exciting and a challenge to find the right person :)  At first glance, I'd recommend hiring at least the director level or C-Suite to ensure you find someone who is focused on strategy.  

Ensure the person has both hands-on execution and a strategic focus... this is difficult to find but paramount to success as you make that first hire.  Typically someone with a background with smaller organizations or even startups may be helpful.  Ask really tangible questions about what they have personally done, implemented, and recommended to dive into the details.  

I have experience with similar organizations and now own a consulting practice.  Let me know if you want to chat about your needs, I love making connections in the agriculture industry and am happy to dig deeper with you!

📣 Dan Bonach, Fractional CHRO @ Valhalla HR:

Have you considered hiring a Fractional HR leader? I work with clients ranging from 15 to 500, with very little support infrastructure within each company and have helped them create foundational HR functions from nothing while creating sustainable processes for future growth.  

Most often at this stage of growth, you have a need for experience, but cannot afford to pay an experienced HR professional, leaving you having to lead and direct someone without the experience you need to build and scale. An experienced fractional HR professional can give you an immediate return on the investment and have the experience to help you continue your growth journey.

📣 Rosetta Williams, Sr. Director, People Talent & Culture @ Immigrant Justice Corps:

This is a great question, and one that comes up a lot at this growth stage. A few things I'd offer from experience building HR infrastructure in nonprofits that operate more like businesses:

Start with a clear-eyed role design before you post anything.

At 120 people, you're at a classic inflection point — too big to manage people informally, but without the HR foundation to support real growth. Resist the urge to hire a generalist and see what happens. Be explicit about the full scope: compliance, operations, and people strategy. Candidates who claim "strategic HR" but mean they've attended culture committee meetings are not what you need.

Hire at the VP or Director level — and make clear this is not a department of one. The complexity you're describing — multi-state compliance, a revenue-generating nonprofit model, 100% remote workforce, and a genuine culture agenda — warrants senior leadership, not just a senior practitioner. Equally important: the right candidate should walk into the interview already thinking about the team they'll need to build. Ask them directly: *"What HR support structure would you put in place in year one to achieve compliance, operational efficiency, and strategic culture work?"* Someone who hasn't thought about this isn't ready for the role.

For a remote, field-based workforce, operational credibility matters.

"Remote" in agriculture doesn't look like remote in tech. Your HR leader needs to understand distributed, non-desk workforces — different rhythms, connectivity realities, and relationships to HR. Ask candidates how they've supported field-based or similarly dispersed teams. It's a differentiator that narrows the field quickly.

Nonprofit-specific considerations:

- Mission alignment matters, but don't let it substitute for HR competence. You want someone who connects with sustainable agriculture's ethos — but first, they need to be a strong practitioner and people leader.

- Prioritize builders over maintainers. Ask: "Describe a time you built an HR function from scratch with limited resources." The answer tells you everything.

- Compensation will be your friction point. HR leaders with this depth command competitive salaries. Make the business case internally — underpaying this hire is a false economy.

Include a practical component in your interview process.

Give candidates a scenario that reflects your actual complexity: "We've just learned we're out of compliance with leave laws in two states — walk me through how you'd assess and address this." Strategic instincts show up in how people think, not just what's on their résumé.

Happy to go deeper on any of this — hiring for HR compounds, for better or worse.

Safe Space members can join this discussion here. Not a member yet? Apply to join here.

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🚨 ON YOUR RADAR

🎧 If you've been busy every single minute of the day and still feel like you got nothing done, you need a system. Liz Clarke is here to help you build one! This episode is for every HR person running on fumes and a feral inbox. Check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

🗣️ Performance reviews shouldn't be a surprise to anyone in the room, yet they always are. Next week, on May 20th, this month’s HR Therapy will discuss how to make feedback land across five generations in the workplace, and how to ditch the anxiety around review season. You’ll deff wanna be there!

🤖 Come build WITH me: Cassidy Edwards and I are hosting a live session to build things using AI. We'll come with use cases and live demo how we're getting things done. 

📊 The results are in, and IHIH readers know their stuff! eSkill ran a real pre-hire assessment with our community, and 97 out of 108 readers scored "strong" or better. Go check out the data in detail...it's pretty interesting!*

*This one is brought to you by one of my amazing brand partners

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📝 RESOURCE OF THE WEEK

Each week, I feature a resource I love from the Safe Space library that I believe may be helpful for you.

This week, an ADA HR Reasonable Accommodation Process Form! Check it out HERE ⬇️

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FRIDAY FUN

📣 you are smart, capable, and kind!!!! Copy anchor linkCopied

Let me be so real right now... sometimes I NEED a pep talk to get through another day at work. 

Like when no one will take accountability for their mistakes, and somehow it's HR's problem, or everything's going wrong and HR has to step in, or when the managers are misbehaving and now you're worried your top performers are a flight risk. 

One of THOSE DAYS. 

So to get myself through it, I talk to myself in the mirror. I love a good pep talk. 

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That's all for this week! I hope you enjoyed! If you have any thoughts, please let me know. I'm allll ears.

Reminder: Today is FRIDAY. 🙏