Episode 273: Role of the CHRO and Organizational Development

Welcome to the Workology Podcast, a podcast for the disruptive workplace leader. Join host Jessica Miller-Merrell, founder of Workology.com, as she sits down and gets to the bottom of trends, tools and case studies for the business leader, H.R., and recruiting professional who is tired of the status quo. Now, here’s Jessica with this episode of Workology.

Episode 273: The Role of the CHRO and Organizational Development With Claudio Díaz (@ClaudioDíaz)

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:00:26.73] Welcome to the Workology podcast sponsored by Upskill HR and Ace the HR Exam. Today’s podcast, part of our Workology podcast series, focused on the roles and responsibilities of the Chief Human Resources Officer, or CHRO. The CHRO is an executive or C-level role that deals with managing human resources as well as organizational development and implementing policies of change to improve the overall efficiency of the company. Today I’m joined by Claudio Diaz. He’s the CHRO whose career in H.R. goes back to the 90s when he worked on training and business programs for Walt Disney World and extended through, too, professional services and health care firms. Claudio was recently named as a top 10 human resource professional by OnCon for 2021. The global OnCon Icon Awards recognizes the top H.R. professionals and HR vendors in the entire world. Claudio, welcome to the Workology podcast and congratulations on making the 2021 OnCon top 10 H.R. Professionals list.

Claudio Diaz: [00:01:31.75] Well, it was a very humbling experience, let me tell you. When I first got it, I thought to myself, surely somebody slipped one hundred under the table or something.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:01:42.58] I could for sure, man, I don’t, I don’t know. I think this is great. Well.

Claudio Diaz: [00:01:46.38] It is.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:01:47.32] And it’s a mouthful to say 2021 OnCon, top 10 H.R. professionals list, as I’m as I’m saying. And it’s a lot.

Claudio Diaz: [00:01:56.11] But yes, it is. It was a lot to take in and I’m very honored, very honored to have received the award.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:02:02.59] So amazing. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about your background. You’ve been in H.R. for more than 20 years. How did your experience and job titles evolve over time into a Chief People Officer or CHRO role, you know?

Claudio Diaz: [00:02:18.61] Well, I tell everybody that I really began on the ground floor at Disney in housekeeping and I mean literally cleaning toilets on graveyard shifts. I went to school during the day to get my accounting degree and started in finance as an operational accounting clerk. And accounting and finance really came easy for me, Jessica. So I was designated as a trainer for five departments in finance at Disney to share the details of the job. And eventually, I became an assistant supervisor with finance, and that’s where I was chosen to work on a business process reengineering task force. I don’t know if you have any Michael Hammer fans in your listening audience, but BPR was really big in that day and we created Disney World’s first engagement survey. And then someone from that task force told me, hey, you should look at working at Disney University. And I became an orientation consultant there, training mostly salaried cast members and then managing up to 30 orientation facilitators. These will be people that would greet you on your first day, first and second day at Disney. And all of the internal cast members went through what’s known as Disney tradition. So I helped that program and helped improve it. And then I heard about an opening for a business programs consultant at Disney Institute. And that’s where business guests come to learn how to run their businesses the Disney way. So I very much appreciated that it was almost like getting a virtual MBA because even though I was teaching them about Disney, guess what? I had an iPad or not an iPad. At that time it was just a steno pad. But I was jotting down all of the key points. It was great to get so much information from these, you know, sometimes seven, eight-figure executives.

Claudio Diaz: [00:04:12.89] So I quickly became the subject matter expert for health care and a health care system knocked on my door. They heard about me. I very kindly said, no, I’m very happy where I am. But they really enticed me to come and help them really create organizational development there at the health system. And so I was a corporate senior consultant of OD. I literally worked myself out of a job in four years by putting directors of OD in the hospitals. They had a dotted line to me and then obviously a hard line to their COOs. And so after that role, I became the director of leadership and organizational development for the largest privately held cheese company in the world. And it’s out of Green Bay, Wisconsin. No surprise that cheese would be there, but it was a great opportunity to learn. And then the past, I’d say 16 years I’ve been in professional services as either a CHRO or a Chief People Officer. So that kind of gives you the rundown of the experiences that I’ve had and how they evolved.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:05:22.18] Well, it’s really impressive, your organizational development experience, it’s extensive. I mean, the fact that you started in housekeeping, somebody who’s worked their way up in the organization and is now a leader of people for those organizations, it’s just incredible. Tell me a little bit more about your work in the organizational development space. I want to know more because I think that if we think back to the 90s and the 2000s, like organizational development was still really early. So talk about that.

Claudio Diaz: [00:05:57.57] Sure, I agree. And what I try to do is I try to simplify that, which is complex. Right. And so I’m going to simplify what OD is. And I really hope that my industrial and organizational psych friends don’t get offended here. But just like personal development is helping someone, an individual, become their best, organizational development to reach the entire organization as one entity and then tries to find ways to make it optimal. Does that make sense?

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:06:30.28] Yes.

Claudio Diaz: [00:06:31.03] And obviously, you know, if we want to develop that entity, we need to then get to know the operations so well that we can consult each group on what, and I’m using air quotes here, but performance enhancement might look like in their division. And a lot of OD individuals are usually out in the field because the time that we spend getting to know your operations as our clients and all the little quirks that go with that will give us an immediate ROI in the solutions that we bring to you. You know, there could be a poor product line, for instance, somewhere in your manufacturing environment or the way that the team is engaged and working together.

Claudio Diaz: [00:07:15.46] So we put together an engagement survey or do a workflow analysis or cultural analysis to see what’s going on. And so there was a gentleman back then when you were alluding to 20 years ago named Bruce Tuckman, who really put it into a model, a very simple model that kind of rhymes. It’s the evolution of forming, storming, norming, performing. And then some have added adjourning. And it’s really, OD is really taking someone through that phase. And if you think about new teens when they first form everybody’s woohoo, but then we go through our storming phases, but then we get back to normal, and now we all of a sudden start performing. And so that evolution could take time or it could be done quickly, depending on how you use an OD professional to guide you through that journey. So as much as I’m trying to simplify, it obviously has lots of different tenants and arms like an octopus. But there are some simple concepts that are pretty critical to making an OD consultant pretty successful.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:08:24.76] I love your reference to, to forming, storming, and norming, because for those HR professionals who are working towards HR certification, this is part of the HR body of knowledge. And so I am, I just did a video on on this topic. So you’re you’re talking, you’re talking my language and organizational development is an important part of the HR profession, but it’s not one that I feel like often gets talked about a great deal. It’s it’s kind of an interesting thing. Why do you, why do you think that is?

Claudio Diaz: [00:09:01.27] Well, you know, I think that many organizations feel like they can just adjust on the fly to whatever is coming at them, whether it be from the market, their financial picture, et cetera. And too often we make the mistake of thinking that I got this when an OD professional can help you get through it much more efficiently. And you know why? Because really good old professionals do root cause analysis. Now, that’s also an answer to your question. People hate RCA in the executive ranks because it takes so much time. But if you really boil down to what is the burning issue in this situation, you really do save a lot of time spent doing odd fixes that potentially really won’t get you where you need to be.

Claudio Diaz: [00:09:53.59] So I think that’s probably the reason why OD is not heard as much. Like I said earlier, they’re out in the field. They’re getting to know their operations better as well. So they’re usually not in that centralized model within HR, although in every single role I’ve been the leader for, for that enterprise.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:10:14.71] Based on your really, I think, unique background and also experience as a chief human resources leader, what do you think of the absolute requirements for someone stepping into a CHRO role and think about this for somebody who is maybe just starting to follow down this career path? What do they need in order to be successful to support that organization?

Claudio Diaz: [00:10:38.00] Yeah, I will probably answer the latter, because if you entered into a CHRO role and don’t have some of these things, I really, I pray that you do well, but, but it’s going to be tough. And I think the first one will answer it.

Claudio Diaz: [00:10:52.55] I think business skills are paramount. If you don’t know what EBITDA is or contribution margin, how can you contribute to that strategic conversation when sitting, you know, at that proverbial table? Right. So, I recommend to every HR associate that I support who aspires to be in some top HRC somewhere to start by really knowing very specifically and also being able to explain very articulately how our company makes money. And then from there, what are the metrics that prove we’re making money and how can you impact those as an H.R. professional at that proverbial table and not necessarily just the H.R. metrics, but things like revenue per employee, lead generation metrics, utilization, and realization, customer acquisition costs. These are the things that earlier you mentioned getting certified as an SPHR that are going to be quizzed on those tests, because today we as an H.R. profession can’t do without them. So I would say business skills, numero uno, Jessica, a second one is and this is all really simple, but, but let me explain it. Proactivity. And I really think proactivity, I liken it to preparing for the unknown. And that’s what separates the strategic leaders from tactical leaders. And we need both. I am not downplaying anyone or the other.

Claudio Diaz: [00:12:25.01] In the last example, for instance, I gave about metrics. We need to make sure that we’re using leading measures, not lagging measures, and be armed with that data that kind of alert us that something’s not working well. So if we start to see a slight uptick in absenteeism or turnover or there’s reduced registration for for training events, or if you do monthly pull surveys that your organization on an associate engagement, what are the key areas that are improving or decreasing by bringing those leading measures? You’re going to be proactive in letting the COO, for instance, know, hey, your operation is falling apart here in this nation or this country. We need to really get it back up on speed. So it’s that proactivity that makes you really strategic at the table. And I’d say the last one, just to keep it simple to three, is probably done simpler in word than indeed. Right. And that’s listening very acutely for what’s not being said. For instance, if an executive comes to me asking me to fix her people who are consistently fighting right, and I get that all the time, well, I should use the first step of the ADDIE model to do that root cause of analysis that I was talking about earlier.

Claudio Diaz: [00:13:44.29] That analysis piece is critical. Hey, I may find out that, yeah, she’s the problem, but it also could be a cancer on her team who is bringing everyone down. So I shouldn’t just make assumptions. I should really try hard to listen acutely to what the environment is saying. And that’s when you have to understand culture and context in order to get it right. One person will tell you one thing, be willing to flip the coin around and hear the other perspective from another individual. And so getting to that true fix takes a lot of time. As I alluded to RCA, it does take time and most executives don’t want to spend that time. But I think it saves us a lot of time on the back end. Otherwise, I’m going to waste precious time not only for myself as the solution provider, but also for that executive and her team and not really solve their real issue.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:14:39.61] Another area that I wanted to chat with you about is your experience in executive coaching. And this can be a huge pain point, I think, for a lot of us. What is your approach to working with leadership to improve culture, communication, and those executive skills?

Claudio Diaz: [00:14:57.67] Well, let me start off with a simple phrase. Executives are human, and I know and hope that your audience gets a chuckle out of that. Of course, we know that cerebrally, but we sometimes don’t treat them that way. And and I and I say that not only because we have our faults, but more importantly, we also, like everybody else, love succeeding. So I think that unfortunately, as you climb that proverbial career ladder, the air gets thinner. In other words, we don’t get the oxygen of feedback that we need, especially if there’s no psychological safety in the environment. I’m reading a great book, Fearless Organization, by Amy Edmondson, and it talks about that. So as I coach others, I really have to model that safety first. And so executive coaching really starts with trust. A very simple word to say, but sometimes not easy to garner. And if anyone in your audience has what I will call loose lips and can’t keep things confidential, even from their own significant other at home, forget executive coaching. It’s not really going to work. And in fact, most coaches really start by trying to uncover the derailers that the executive has instead of the differentiators. That’s where I like to start. For example, Jessica, if an executive is great on communication skills, why wouldn’t I want to leverage that to help others? Being better communicators under her leadership. Right, and do it more often, and so that comes from a model that I use called the coactive coaching model.

Claudio Diaz: [00:16:40.58] It really has five tenants almost like a star. And it starts and end with curiosity and listening. And then I use my intuition to help them discover their intuition about what’s good and what could be better. And that’s the word coactive. We’re doing this together. And from there, I help them form action plans to get that forward momentum and improvement and then teach them, unfortunately, the hardest thing, holding themselves accountable to executing those action plans, and especially if those habits are very embedded or ingrained in their life, i.e., if they have more gray, it’s going to be a little harder than an executive who might be a great 40 under 40, right? Anyway, as they go through those phases, I want them to then start being curious and listen for what feedback the environment is giving them so that they can again use their into wishing to adjust the action plans and continue that cycle. And so it’s an ever-evolving cycle. And what I do really after the first and second round is I’m just there as a guide on the side and hopefully I will work myself out of a job in executive coaching if I’m doing my job well with them. That’s not to say that I don’t want to continue to do it. I have someone named John and I’ll leave it at that who worked in an organization that I was with. And we’ve known each other for 16 years and he still reaches out to me. So those are things that I take great pride in. But if I can help you learn the model and be an intuitive listener, that creates solid action plans that move you forward and you’re constantly reading the field to see if it’s working, you’re on your own at that point.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:18:28.55] I love what you said about habits. And I’m reading I have a book right now. You mentioned the fearless organization I wrote that went down because I haven’t grabbed that one yet. But the book I’m reading right now is called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. And it talks it’s more about not habits for executives, but habits, how to create new habits and, and basically retrain your brain. So it’s that’s a really fascinating thing and a really challenging thing.

Claudio Diaz: [00:18:58.46] No, it is. Yeah. It’s hard to relearn how we learn. Right. You have to kind of take all those old habits that definitely aren’t working better and put in new habits. And even for well-renowned speakers, having a voice coach, for instance, even if they’ve done it for decades, it’s really critical. So I agree with you. I agree with your great book.

Break: [00:19:21.21] Let’s take a reset. This is Jessica Miller-Merrell, and you were listening to the Workology podcast sponsored by Ace the HR Exam and Upskill HR. We’re talking today about the role of the CHRO with Claudio Díaz.

Break: [00:19:35.35] Personal and professional development is essential for successful H.R. leaders. Join Upskill H.R. to access life training community and over one hundred on-demand courses for that dynamic leader, H.R. recert credits available. Visit UpskillHR.com for more.

The CHRO and Organizational Development

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:19:52.27] I want to move on to HR attack, which I feel like it’s a whole series of podcasts that that we could do on this topic, but the puzzle of HR attack selection is something that HR leaders are always trying to solve. Do you have a go to methodology or a checklist or just some words of advice for HR attack selection?

Claudio Diaz: [00:20:12.82] Yeah, sure. And this is very timely, Jessica. Briggs & Veselka just launched their first HRIS in their 50-year history. And so my initial investment as their CPO was with a consultant who helped me filter through the myriad of options. There are a gazillion HRISs out there and, you know, depending on your size, et cetera, you could end up looking through 30 and 40. Find a good consultant who knows just about all of them and let him or her help you whittle that list down. That’ll save you a lot of time. And then the key factor in deciding really what you need is to focus on where that proverbial puck is going and skate towards that in an organization that I helped. They chose the cheapest solution six weeks before I started. That was really their key success factor was cost. Nine months into my tenure there, the CIO and I made a decision to bail on that solution or that tool and start the process all over again. So you can imagine the total time for both of those implementations more than justified, having done it right the first time. And I know a lot of my peers are very detail oriented and will probably put out an extensive RFP, you know, a request for proposal. But what I did at Briggs & Veselka is because it’s a smaller organization, all you really need is an RFI, a request for information, and then hopefully you’ve already created a project team of key stakeholders. Get your IT professional in there, make sure that some of the key executives are in there, obviously your H.R. team and have them determine those key success factors that I just alluded to, but in priority order.

Claudio Diaz: [00:22:01.51] Because unfortunately, cost is oftentimes most prevalent but don’t discount the integration with your current systems, or the implementation time frame, or how user-friendly is this model, etc. It’s that team then that can analyze all the RFIs you get back more objectively because now we know what is the priority, which key success factor do we need to focus on more so than others. And I will say that if I were to throw in one more tip for anybody out there that’s about to launch this, communicate it from the word go. I think that one thing that’s often done too late is communicating to all of the end users, hey, we are about to embark on this journey together. I believe as early as you can let the entire organization know that you’re going through this change so that they can adjust accordingly. And believe me, telling them about it for the first time, three weeks before you implement will surely bring much more doubt and resistance than allegiance, because we all know change is not easy for some folks. So you really need to give them that time. So I would say just focus on the RFI, get that project team to work as well as possible together towards the optimal solution, and communicate early to the masses that you’re going through this process.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:23:29.53] I feel like what you’re saying is you’re basically giving me a roadmap to effective change management, not just in HR technology selection, like cheat sheet here, how to make sure this is going to stick and people aren’t freaking out and they’re going to implement the HRIS and it’s going to go hopefully smoothly, as smooth as possible. How important is change management to something like this, to an implementation like this?

Claudio Diaz: [00:24:02.01] Yeah, well, you’re talking to an OD professional, so to ask how important change management is is is almost a given right. A lot of people have read John Kotter. He’s got an extensive change management model, eight steps. And I’m also certified in EDCAR. But like I said earlier, I like simplicity. And William Bridges has this thing called the transition model, and I love it for its simplicity. He basically says, Jessica, that we all go through three simple stages when we go through change, ending what currently is, the transition phase, and the new beginnings. And so communicating to those three phases at the right time will help everybody evolve to the next phase. For instance, in ending, there’s a lot of uncertainty and confusion, you know, dare I say emotion as to why we need to change. Right? So you help them understand that the old HRIS did have some key features and we’re going to look to keep those in the new one. But it can’t keep up with our growth. And in fact, it’s not only costing us time, it’s costing us money and making all of you less productive. So, see, that’s a key communication during the ending phase. And then during transition, you’re going to get some resistance, right? You’re going to be asked for details that potentially you might not have the answers yet on.

Claudio Diaz: [00:25:28.86] It’s OK, in my opinion. So you communicate how the new system can meet their primary needs. For instance, I would say you’ll no longer have to wait for HR to return your call 48 hours later because there’s a self-service portal in this HRIS that can give you all your answers or most of your answers immediately. And so by starting to talk about those features in the new beginning that they will experience, they can be motivated to then accept it with open arms. And then obviously in the new beginning, that’s where you train them. That’s where you train them so well that they become just as much of an expert of the new system as they were of, of the old system. So I’m going to use a word that I’ve said before. All of this takes time, so don’t expect it to work if you try to fit all this in during the last month before implementation, if we were running you and I just got creative initiative, more than likely we take our time. Why? Because we need that time. Right? I think everybody should do the same thing with something as important yet tactical as in HRIS.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:26:38.64] Well, you’re speaking my language here with the, with the importance of processes and communication and time. I think that most of the time, unfortunately, when things fail, it’s because we didn’t properly prepare and take the time needed to be able to.

Claudio Diaz: [00:26:55.95] That’s right.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:26:56.43] To launch a project, whether it’s an implementation or some other program.

Claudio Diaz: [00:27:01.74] Yeah. I like to think that in resources there’s really only three: time, talent, and treasure. Right? Treasure? Money? Obviously, we can make that up if we lose a bunch of it. Even talent, we can outsource and get new talent. You will never gain that minute that you just lost. So treat each minute as it’s golden and make the most of it. So yeah, I agree. Time is one of those resources that we shouldn’t play around with.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:27:27.21] I want to go back to your career at, at Disney. And, you know, that’s where really this all started for you. And it’s known for so many things, but amazing innovation.

Claudio Diaz: [00:27:37.68] Oh yeah.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:27:38.43] What is something that you, an experience that you took from your time at Disney that you’ve been able to bring forth with you throughout your entire career?

Claudio Diaz: [00:27:48.87] Again, I’ll keep it simple. I like thinking in threes. I think the brain works easier in threes. And let me start by saying that most people don’t realize how disciplined Disney is and everything they do. And at the Disney Institute, I used to have executives tell me that their pockets weren’t as deep as Mickey’s, right? And I would remind them that Mickey had the ka-ching because they prioritized effectiveness over efficiency. So I would say that’s the number one thing that I’ve carried throughout my career. And, and trust me, that’s somewhat of an oxymoron to an accountant like me with Six Sigma training. And I’ve been taught that efficiency rules. Right? But we should never let efficiency trump effectiveness. So I’ve used that throughout my career. And that first phase then sets up the second mantra that I learned at the mouse house, and that’s that innovation comes through inclusion. Luckily for us, inclusion is a big word today and a lot of people are using it, unfortunately, sometimes in the wrong way. But I would now rather comb through a bunch of great ideas after having done this for over two decades in different ways, from a bunch of well-represented groups of associates, then to simply accept my fellow executives’ first viewpoints, right. Too often we as executives are so far removed from the current client context. Right? So we piece together an inferior idea that’s an offshoot of what worked years ago, never realizing that we should include as many people as possible from the front lines in innovating the new solutions in that new environment and, and, back to time, it truly does save time and then helps them because they are now part of the solution that increases their engagement.

Claudio Diaz: [00:29:42.85] All the positives that you can think of that come from that. So we in essence, let it build, build it from the bottom up, if you will. So I would say that’s the second item. Innovation really comes through inclusion. And I’d say the third item is the consultant’s mantra, which is really you’re out to create solutions, not to sell product. And even though an organization is dependent on either its service lines or its products for revenue, if all I want to do is sell my product and a lot of sales professionals are guilty of this, they will overlook a grand opportunity to give them even greater solution that might not have immediate product sales, but ultimately will win them for life. You’ll be their trusted advisor. At Disney Retreat, every single guest, as exactly that, a guest in our home, and we customize everything, every interaction we have with them to make them still feel good, even if they get the American Express statement. Forty-five days later, they’re still saying it was worth it because we created memories that lasted a lifetime. So I would say those are three things that really are key principles. I still follow effectiveness over efficiency. Innovation comes through inclusion and make sure you’re living the consultant mantra of solution before product.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:31:13.94] Well, thank you. And I’m thinking about your career and all we’ve talked about. I want to go back for a bit and talk about accounting, right? This is where you went to college for. And I find it fascinating because I don’t think I know very many people that work in H.R. that also have an accounting or finance background. And I personally, I think we need more of those kinds of people in human resources. And I find it fascinating because we don’t have enough people and with this background. But HR metrics are so central to everything that we do. Can you tell us a little bit about how this work and then, you know, you talked about EBITDA, why these things are so important for the CHRO role? Again, just maybe reinforce. I feel like we’ve covered it, but it needs to be mentioned at ad nauseum. If we need we need more business in our H.R.

Claudio Diaz: [00:32:08.62] I commend you, Jessica. Yeah, even though we. Yes, I think we covered it. You’re right. I do agree with you that we need to restate that if your listening audience hasn’t heard it well enough. Yeah. The accounting degree basically gave me a different vantage point than most of my peers have. I learned how to do H.R. through the lens of business, and I really believe that helped me be able to justify the growth I had in my teams in one organization. I started with four and before I left it was over thirty.

Claudio Diaz: [00:32:38.59] And I believe that’s because the accountants, like lawyers, like engineers, are very skeptical. Right? And they want you to prove that your idea has merit or sustainability. And so for the past 16 years, I’ve been in the accounting industry having to force my proposals through the wringer before I presented to them of is this justified from a business perspective and having the anchors of business knowledge, I was able to then convert the soft side of H.R. to hard realities of business for them. In other words, they started realizing that things like treating people poorly cost real money, when you’re A player left to go to your competitor because they hated the supervisor in the way the supervisor treated them. And all of a sudden now we are in the lurch, right. We don’t have anybody to attend to our probably highest client and we need to get someone up to speed real quickly, etc. Real money is then spent, real labor dollars and real training dollars are then spent. You could have avoided that by simply teaching your leaders to create a culture that thrives and is very much a belonging spirit, the higher level of inclusion, I’d like to, I’d like to always say that beyond inclusion is the sense of belonging.

Claudio Diaz: [00:34:08.56] So anyway, back to your question. I really do believe that my education luckily for me, the education at a college helped me, but most of my education has really come from my experience in working with accountants who forced me to listen to them and translate what I’m proposing in their language. Just critical, really critical.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:34:34.31] Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. I can hear the passion in your voice, the love of what you do, the enthusiasm. It is definitely contagious. I know that people that are listening they have learned from, from what you have shared today. So thank you so much, Claudio, for, for chatting with us today.

Claudio Diaz: [00:34:54.11] Well, Jessica, I want to say right back at you, you are doing so much for knowledge management, not only in the HR space, but the Workology space. Right? And everything you’re doing through these podcasts is really not only helping individuals, but I hope helping organizations. It was a pleasure to be part of this today. Thank you for the opportunity.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:35:13.61] So where can people go to connect with you and learn more about the work that you’re doing?

Claudio Diaz: [00:35:20.12] LinkedIn is probably my, I’m in LinkedIn every single day. So I would say it’s probably the one area that if you write me, I can probably get back to you in twenty-four to forty-eight, depending on what I’m doing or if I’m traveling. But I’d say LinkedIn, you can reach out to me using LinkedIn.

Jessica Miller-Merrell: [00:35:39.80] We’ll will connect you to Claudio’s LinkedIn on the show notes. So you’ll be able to access that there. Thank you again for taking the time to chat with us. It was it’s been really awesome.

Claudio Diaz: [00:35:50.60] Well, it’s a pleasure, Jessica. Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Closing: [00:35:53.60] Are you loving the Workology podcast? Our Workology community reaches over 600,000 H.R. leaders every single month. Want to be a sponsor? Reach out to us at Workology.com/advertising.

Closing: [00:36:07.43] There have been so many changes in H.R. in the past decade, but we’ve never lost our focus on the people. I love the focus on organizational development and project management. This is a critical skill and experience that all H.R. executives and really all HR leaders need to have in order to really take our teams and how we support our businesses to the next level. HR teams are now being formed around an H.R. executive-level role, like the CHRO, or Chief People Officer, who are more connected to the strategy and operations of the overall business. You heard that from Claudio. He talked about understanding things like EBITDA, the business, the revenue, what are sales drivers. These are critical to the success of the organization as well as the CHRO. This means that the CHRO position has a large role in technology selection, adoption training, and so on. I appreciate Claudio for taking the time to share his experiences with us today.

Closing: [00:37:11.09] Thank you for joining the Workology podcast sponsored by Ace the HR Exam, and Upskill HR. This podcast is for the disruptive workplace leader who’s tired of the status quo. This is Jessica Miller-Merrell. Until next time, visit Workology.com to listen to all our previous podcast episodes.

Connect with Claudio Díaz.