Lucia Valerio, the head of HR at Lexar since 2023, boasts a remarkable 20-year journey in the HR world. Her expertise lies in HR strategy, where she has been instrumental in driving organizational growth and revolutionizing employee engagement through transformative HR strategies. In a conversation with Dylan Teggart, Lucia delves into her principles on revisiting the fundamentals, its implications for HR leaders and businesses, and the transformative impact of new trends and technology on the future of work.
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Transcript:
Dylan Teggart 00:00
Hey everyone, this is Dylan Teggart. I’m here with my next #HRTechChat. Today I am joined by the great Lucia Valerio. She is an HR leader with 20 years of experience. She focuses on HR strategy driving organizational growth and engaging employees through transformative HR strategies. Right now she’s the head of HR Lexar International. And Lucia, thank you so much for joining us.
Lucia Valerio 00:36
Thank you, Dylan, it’s a pleasure to be here and have a great having a great chat with you and talk about some of our HR topics. Yeah,
Dylan Teggart 00:48
thank you. And if you don’t mind, do you mind telling people a little bit about yourself. So as they get acquainted with you and your experience, or,
Lucia Valerio 00:57
well, long career, in HR really focus, excuse me, on or 20 years of experience in technology companies also in startups are really, you know, in focused on organizational growth and optimizing HR strategies, really, I love to drive people centered initiatives, and implementing, you know, effective HR business strategies always looking towards, you know, being part of the business, but also driving the business forward, and really looking at results that are going to improve company and business performance. And throughout my career, you know, how many different roles and positions and currently excited about my role with like SAR International, as the head of HR there as that company continues to grow and be a leader in, in the in the technology space?
Dylan Teggart 02:04
Nice. And for people who don’t know, see I have talked before? So if it seems like I’m diving into some things I already know about her that that’s a little bit why. And that’s because I want to set up my first question, which is, in conversation with G. And I had before she talked about going back to the basics. And one of the main principles behind the actions you take in an HR role and mission statements is going back to the basics. So what does that kind of look like for you? And what are the most essential basics if we want to put it that way? And is there something people tend to miss? When they’re trying to keep it simple? And they just aren’t getting it? Right.
Lucia Valerio 02:50
Right, it’s definitely you know, from a personal perspective, really, the principles of going back to basics in HR really, is the alignment with the future of HR, and organizational effectiveness across all of the functions within the space of HR and the business. For me, really, it means prioritizing fundamental HR principles, like you know, fairness, equity, transparency, open communication, communication across all levels, in the organization, and of course, employee engagement. And as we know, today’s culture, you know, across all businesses, is consistently changing. Also, what I believe are some of the clear principles around and clear policies, which mean we need a consistency across some of our processes, but continually changing as the landscape in the business changes. Another area I look and focus on is continuous learning, both personal and allowing, you know, the business and the employees to have that capability or that chance to do those, that continuous learning and, and learning initiatives, and really, buying those to be the essential basics to contribute to a very positive work culture, and focus on organizational success. So those are kind of, you know, a generalized area that I focus on when I look to being back at the base level, so much change is happening, but we sometimes I tend also to lose sight because it’s just, you know, let’s get things done execute. Yet trying to get a holistic view of both internal culture and external, what’s happening outside in the world. Elite allows us to be able to address and talk about, you know, the ever changing landscape and in business and in companies
Dylan Teggart 05:01
So when you think of, you know, some of those things you said, like, the culture is, you know, the culture inside and outside of the workplace is consistently changing. So kind of having certain things that remain steady, and I’m assuming those certain things are like payroll, you know, someone having someone to talk to communication? I guess, in your experience has there been, you know, in these periods of change, what normally suffers the most within an organization, like what do people quickly kind of lose sight of, but they should, they should, you know, kind of keep their eyes on the ball for
Lucia Valerio 05:45
I think, getting, you know, getting that feedback. But, you know, I, you know, lots of companies, I’ve done tons of surveys across many of the organizations I’ve worked for, and, you know, addressing, find to address, you know, as many of these elements sometimes becomes a challenge, you know, in terms of the feedback we get, but I think it’s really prioritizing based on, you know, where the company is moving towards what our commitments or goals or values are, and continuously spearheading areas that will, you know, ensure, like I mentioned, some of those key areas, consistent processes, allowing, you know, having continuous learning engagement of employees, really, you know, looking at how the landscape is evolving, and trying to see almost trying to forecast, where we’re going to evolve and in, in our, in our organizations to ensure that, you know, we, we try, we can take a point in time, we will consistently have to adapt as, as an HR team and, or as an HR leader to, you know, try, and it’ll foresee how and where things are headed. So that we internally, I know, in HR can be that business. And it’s more than just a business partner to the to leadership and to the business. But it’s also, you know, sitting side by side, almost like holding hands, as we were going through the journey and maintaining, you know, that, that, you know, looking at things like data driven, you know, inclusive inclusivity, all of these key challenges are going to continuously be there, it’s just a question of how we, you know, how HR would, would be that front runner, and in today’s world, HR is the front runner, who must be the front runner across the organization.
Dylan Teggart 07:50
And when you’re kind of looking for those changes that are happening, outside of work, and but also by, you know, and also trying to understand the world of work, and the world at work, especially with new generations, you know, obviously, I’m assuming, part of that occurs through just you conversing with people and kind of picking their brain about like, what’s how they’re feeling. But outside of that, are there certain places you look, to that, to maybe catch some of the more overarching trends that occur that are maybe not just coming in from the individual level? But are, you know, bigger trends within HR within the workforce, the workforce culture, you know, nationally or globally? Where do you how do you kind of keep pace with that?
Lucia Valerio 08:39
A lot of I mean, you’ve learning is consistent, you’ve got to be I am consistent in terms of the learning and being as up to date as you possibly can, but the type the amount of information, as we know, throughout many years, just, there’s so much out there to be able to, to choose from and to learn from. And I think, you know, being at the forefront, you’re always I always feel like I’m still trying to, you know, learn the newest, you know, technology in HR, their newest change and in DNI or, you know, what are some of the key areas in employee well being, I think staying connected with industry, peers, with experts, using whatever tools are at disposal, that are so many out there anyways, and really understanding what are areas that are most going to cause you know, have the most impact. New generations that are entering the workforce have so many different expectations. So we have to understand and learn what are the you know, what, what, what drives a new generation, and that’s not going to stop, it’ll continue to move on every generation or every, you know, every time every process that we move forward, and then understanding they are different experts stations are different values, basically requires everyone to adapt. And it’s an adaptation strategy. Not only HR strategy, adapting, but personal strategy adapting to, you know, what are your basic, you know, people’s basic values. And it’s, it’s hard to say, you know, and put everything in a small little box and say this is, you know, these are the values, values change, people change, and basically requires everyone to adapt. And I think ensuring that there is alignment with, with evolving workforce dynamics, and it is one of the key words is this dynamic that we see consistently moving forward. And understanding that there’s so much out there in terms of, you know, learning tools, seminars, you know, all of the capabilities, but being able to pick and choose, is, is becoming, I think, has become a lot more difficult. But having a focus, like, you know, wanting to be more data driven, or inclusivity. And it’s that focus at that point in time. And ensuring that, you know, we were able to, to, to meet the needs, using, you know, learning capabilities within both personal and within company, are the companies we work I work with?
Dylan Teggart 11:33
And what are some of the things you’ve learned so far, you know, that have really kind of changed your perspective, and kind of helped you feed into that adaptation strategy, which I think is a good way to put it. Like, what are the what are some of the things you’ve learned? And have there been any kind of any surprises? That you’ve kind of uncovered? I guess you could say, during your time working where, you know, you thought maybe things were going to be this way when you got into it? And then this is the reality of it, or this is how people are human nature maybe was a little different than you expected? I guess, if that makes sense. Right?
Lucia Valerio 12:13
Yeah. It’s a good, good way to look at it. And it’s, it’s the, when I look at it, it’s really, the shifts and the capability to have an agile mindset. And Agile is an old word. I’m sure there’s probably, you know, newer ways to say that, because it goes back to the basics, I want to know, kind of the first question being, you know, how do we, you know, from my perspective, it’s really having that openness to understand that, you know, it’s different, it’ll be different, there’s shifts, there’s, you know, adopting in a different way, you know, different trends that are happening, different employee expectations, so what I’ve learned is to kind of say, okay, you know, you’re going into one specific, we can call it, you know, challenge in a corporation, with preset ideas, this is how I did it in the past. But I think really staying mindful that there are new ways there are possible different things to adapt to. And sometimes it is difficult, because, you know, like, oh, this has worked in the past, will it work again, and maybe it will, but it’s always for me, it’s been keeping that vision of openness or that capability to say, I want to have an open mind to be able to understand and take, like, we just spoke about, you know, different learnings, different areas where, you know, you’re able to, you know, know that, you know, this type of technology is going to present new, you know, different, you know, solutions for a company and different challenges. Understanding, you know, that this flexibility that individual HR leaders have to use within their strategy that, you know, flexibility of, you know, work, you know, things will change. And it is challenging, you know, personally, there’s there, you’ve got to always be thinking and trying and, you know, balancing act within the scope of HR, but also it’s, it’s a business, it’s the nature of the business that, you know, we want to, you know, do the best we can both individually personally, but as a business leader, we want to ensure that we’re addressing and bringing the company and making the company successful. And adapting to those changes globally. We rarely now talk about locally, we’re always talking globally because we’ve been doing that for a long time. Because that’s the mindset we want to attract. You know, for example, candidates global candidates The businesses are global. So that shifting those the mindset is, is a challenge. But it’s also exciting for me personally, because it just, you know, it opens my eyes every day to something new, something different, different ways of learning also, and understanding how, how HR has such a big impact, and continues to have a big impact and bigger impact, because everything is around what revolving around world culture, and adopting, you know, different trends. But also evaluating before we jump in, and sometimes we tend to not evaluate or evaluate, not enough, there’s not enough evaluation on what we want to do. But we sometimes have no choice to just jump in and, you know, get things going in terms of solutions, or, you know, working, you know, getting those challenges behind us and moving forward.
Dylan Teggart 16:08
And in speaking of kind of, like finding solutions and challenges, you know, I often hear from people, you know, you know, this is how we’re going to outsource this or that service, because, you know, get it off our plate, or we just can’t handle it. But I feel like for someone like you has the experience you have it What if someone wanted to do the reverse? And you know, instead of outsourcing, you’re using something like a PEO or a different service provider, let’s say you wanted to bring it in house, like being white, you wanted to bring some HR services in and house via payroll? Or, you know, just basic HR, let’s say, how would you recommend someone goes about doing that? And will have, would you? What are the kind of the main pillars to setting that up with it, you know, within an organization?
Lucia Valerio 17:03
Right. Good, Greg question. And, of course, it’s, it all depends. There’s so many, and you mentioned, pillars are so many areas, within both internally to HR and externally, across the business. Looking at it specifically, from, you know, the question is really, can you know, is it sustainable? will it provide the business, the company with the services we need to provide, and the strategy capabilities for our workforce, and I’ve also crossed across our clients or our customers, those, you know, we’re, you know, we’re doing we’re thinking about this for a reason, is there a challenge? are we lacking, you know, in terms of HR capabilities, when we’re, you know, using a PTO or vice versa? You know, and we want to, you know, have, you know, have you have a strategy around, you know, maybe, you know, reducing costs, and you know, appeal would be less costly or vice versa, however, we want to look at that. But there are definitely areas where, you know, I, I’ve had experience, and just, you know, ensuring we’re doing this analysis around what does it look like? What is the picture? And what are the causes that are getting us to think this way, you know, first of all, and then, you know, how do we want to execute? It’s my colleague, basic project management, if I can call it that way, we’re looking at our scope, we’re looking at our problem, can we do this? And are we able to do it successfully, be it you know, bringing in HR into back into the company versus outsourcing it, or outsourcing given tools or technology a lot of, and I think, in today’s from what I’m understanding in today’s, you know, kind of workforce world, we’re trying to, you know, offload if I can use that word and say, you know, we can do this cheaper externally, you know, and or we can have this service or use this tool and into, it’s also a question of integration and how, how is it seamless? At the end of the day? I believe it’s what it how is it seamless for the business, for our employees and for HR as a whole, in terms of, you know, where we’re going to see ourselves in a in a few years from now, is this going is having a, you know, bringing in the HR you know, pillars and functions back into the company? Is that, you know, is this Do we are we planning to, you know, what are tangible results for the future and it’s hard to predict the future but that’s what we hear we’re kind of here to do is strategize what we want to do we want to do improve cause you know, we want to have, you know, better, maybe ROI is the cost savings or, you know, ensuring that we’re improving productivity? Both, you know, from an employee and business perspective, you know, what, what are how are our, you know, our competitive advantage in terms of, you know, our employees and our business? What is this impact? So it has to, from my perspective, making such big shifts, you know, require a tremendous amount of, of study analysis. And, you know, sometimes we think, Oh, it’s, you know, the business moves so fast that, you know, it’s like analysis paralysis, but we still have to do that, we still comes really also back to the basics, we, we tend to, you know, sometimes I’ve seen it myself, and I have to pull back and say, Hey, hold on, we haven’t thought about this, can we, you know, let’s do this. And it also, there’s, there’s, you know, they try continues, and continues to try it out. And, you know, if we are successful, we will make it successful be and we will be successful, I think that’s really looking at our alignment and ensuring that we’re focused on, you know, employee productivity, employee satisfaction, how are we, you know, looking at our competitive advantage, as a company, and in around the employee strategies that we designed when we’re doing when we’re making decisions around, you know, be bringing up our HR function in house, and, or, you know, putting out calling, you know, bringing it outside of our organization. And it all it is based on, on what, what the company with companies have an appetite for and have capabilities. And a lot of it is also based off of, you know, how we transform, it’s a transformation for an a vision of what this transformation is going to look like.
Dylan Teggart 22:06
Interesting, and yeah, that analysis. The, the analysis part, I feel like, I know, yeah, you can get in the weeds a little bit, you know, like, would you call it, analysis paralysis, right. But I think, oftentimes, especially today, with how much new technology comes out, there’s always that like, kind of like shiny new object, thing that happens, where people are just, like, got to go get it, you know what I mean. But I think it’s important, like you said, to step back, and I think that’s something that really does come with experience is the ability to see this exciting thing, pause. And then look at it analytically, and just be like, Okay, this is actually what it really does. Let’s, let’s be honest here. And while it is marketed, well, maybe this is the reality of how it’s going to impact us.
Lucia Valerio 22:58
I agree totally. And I love the word pause. It doesn’t mean no, we’re not going to do it. It could mean pause now, and let’s think about it. And so maybe it’s not for the moment. And I’ve always used that I said, Let’s just pause for a second, maybe we’re not ready for this tool, or whatever the strategy or, but we will be in the future. Or it seems like there’s a consistent brush to you know, implement this, or this new tool, or this this technology or this type of strategy. And I find that if we pause and understand the impacts on our company, for culture, and how it will align with the workplace, with the business, how we’re going to transform, I think those are just some key basics. And you know, with that in mind, you know, and sometimes it is the light bulb goes off. And yes, this is what we need, we need to have this tool, this training, you know, we can use so many different aspects. Because it’s a need, and you know, it works out and it’s successful. That’s great. But it’s, it’s, it’s all it’s not a moment in time, and it’s going to evolve. So we always have in my mind, it’s always Okay, how’s it going to change? Didn’t Yeah, we’ve got this new tool. How’s it going to change this new learning? LMS, whatever we want to call it, but how is it going to change and allow us to change and transform? And I think streamlining, you know, continues, you know, these, all of our great buzzwords, like streamlining data centric, you know, having, you know, the capabilities, those will never change, but it’s just how they adapt to the day to day that’s, that’s happening in in the way we work in our work cultures and our workforce dynamics. To me, that’s important, but it’s, it’s, it’s okay to pause sometimes, and I know sometimes it gets It becomes frustrating for from a both an HR business and employee perspective. But it’s okay to pause to kind of, you know, rethink, you know, realign. And sometimes it’s great, I like we’re all just gung ho and going forward, because it just needs to happen. And that’s, that’s what makes, that’s, for me the exciting part of human resources of, you know, being part of a, you know, leader in, in HR is really to, to look and have this open perspective. But also to understand, you know, the business, the business needs to function, the business needs to run, we’re, we have clients, we have customers, we have employees, and they everything has to, no, it’s a global, internal global element and function that that needs to that we need to understand. And it’s it is it’s, it’s, it’s a challenge, but it’s exciting, it’s fun to be able to use the word fun, because you’d never stop there. There’s this constant, okay, what’s that? What’s going to happen here? How does this work? You know, what, what data analysis are we going to do with this data, you know, what are going to be the employee experiences, and that’s, you know, allows me also to be mindful of, of how to, to, you know, improve and keep HR at the forefront of any business that, that I’ve been working with.
Dylan Teggart 26:32
And speaking of, kind of new technologies on the forefront, you know, obviously, everyone seems to be talking about AI, artificial intelligence all the time. And I and I do feel like, that’s me personally, I do feel like that’s one of those things where we need to pause and like, take a look at what it’s really doing. Because you can add AI to anything and people get excited. But for you, with AI, you know, what kind of metrics are you looking for, for that technology specifically? In? Do you think it’ll actually make a you know, I’m sure down the line, it could make a tremendous, tremendous difference. But today, like in 2024? You know, what impacts? Do you really expect? And do you see any significant shifts in work culture occurring because of it? Or are we still quite a quite a ways away from that?
Lucia Valerio 27:29
Oh, yeah, AI is everywhere. And it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s so it’s an amazing, it’s an amazing change changed and change that’s happening within, you know, the work, the world of work, and nearly my approach to evaluating the AI evaluating AI impacts on work culture is really aligning with the workplace and business transformation, we’re continuously want to transform be better, do better. It’ll have, you know, better results, be, you know, more attentive to our customers, you know, make, you know, have an impact on the bottom line. And I anticipate a stream streamlining HR processes that, I mean, I think, you know, over the years, you know, AI coming in, I’ll probably even before it all the there was, you know, there were ways to streamline HR processes. And I think improving data analysis, those are areas that AI will impact is impacting. And really, it’s to help make better decisions. And at the bottom line, enhancing employee experience and ensuring that we’re, you know, our end result our customers our business is, is, you know, at the best event, that peak of its existence, if I can put it in that way. I do recognize, however, there is a need for Responsible AI, in the sense of, you know, just like you said, it’s the newest thing, Everybody’s rushing towards it, let’s pause, take a minute step back. Do we all really need all of this is it you know, what do we pick and choose? And having that, that, you know, knowledge to be able to pick and choose? And it comes back to the previous question now, how do you keep up to date with, you know, what’s coming out, and it’s so difficult, but I think it’s your center and say, Okay, I want to improve this aspect, or I need to, you know, there’s a challenge that we’re being presented in this area, or this pillar of HR or employee engagement or, you know, in the company. So it’s that whole analysis. And really, you know, responsibly I in you know, is implementation we address the potential concerns About different elements that AI, you know, everybody says, Well, we have job displacement or you know, things are going to change in our work culture. So I think that, again, that comes back to, to the fact that, you know, there is it’s changed, it’s, it’s, it’s, we have to look at it sometimes with broad scope lenses, and sometimes through microscope, and ensure that we have a balanced approach to leveraging the technology, all technologies, and they are in sorry, in HR, and really being able to stay mindful that chains, you know, the adapting to AI, and its impact is key is key to making choices of how a power company and how HR is impacted by the Can we call it a revolution? I’m not sure. But at least you know, evaluating what it means and how it’s being used in, in your space in the specific organization that that that we’re in.
Dylan Teggart 31:18
Interesting, yeah, I think that all tied into kind of into the greater arc of the way you kind of look at things, which is right. You know, I think it’s, it’s measured, but it’s curious, I guess, you could say of the way a way it kind of comes off, which is, which is always good. I think. You know, you don’t want to be entrenched in an in a mindset. But also, you want to have some basics, I guess, essentially, are some fatness and pillars of, of the way you do things, but also being curious. So I think that’s, that’s, it’s kind of vital to take that approach, especially, I think you gain more experience. Right?
Lucia Valerio 31:58
And it plays a significant role in HR. We’re, we have to, like, if we, you know, I think from my perspective, also, it’s really, there’s going to it’s going to touch and it’s been touching areas in terms of recruitment, performance management, I mean, you know, workforce planning, metrics, analytics, really, it didn’t, you know, we have to look at how we leverage the any of these tools that are out there as a form, for me, it’s a form of automation. And, oh, it’s a form of what are some of the repetitive things, tasks and items that we’re, we can, you know, I’m, you know, for sure, that’s, that’s, that’s what I want to do, I don’t want to spend time doing certain things that I can get, you know, a tool to help me do, you know, data analysis, you know, yet, when you look at, you know, the decision making process, these are, again, tools to assist for, you know, to make these, these, these strategic decision decisions across the organization, and ensuring that, you know, we still keep what I call the personalization of our employee experiences. And, you know, I do anticipate in AI, really, it’s, it is enhancing HR efficiency, and effectiveness, yet requiring us to continue to evaluate and adapt, to ensure, you know, we were responsible, we use it ethically, there’s, there’s many areas, AI is just a huge global, continuous, that, that really, you know, focuses on, bigger, better. And, and I think, you know, with everything that we’re hearing it is, I know, I’m a I’m a big adoption of the I in tech, I know, I’ve implemented many technologies in HR, in different scopes and roles in my, in my career. And without that, I don’t think, you know, I don’t think HR would advance to where we are today and such a, you know, an eye call Avant Garde type role within an organization in terms of strategy and implementation of policies across the spectrum of HR and across the business.
Dylan Teggart 34:32
That’s, I think that’s a good place to leave it. I want to thank you so much for chatting with me today. And yeah, hope you enjoyed it. And if anyone is looking to find you or reach out I know you have I know you do have a LinkedIn would people be possible to reach out to you there? Absolutely.
Lucia Valerio 34:53
Absolutely. You can reach out to me through LinkedIn, I love to collaborate, learn read about, you know, different, you know, areas that are growing in the scope of HR and across the business of course, you know, how, how work, culture is shifting and consistently, you know, driven by different, you know, adopting a I, you know, working remote work, you know, basically, you know, employee engagement, I think, you know, collaborating with different mindsets is key to continue to understand and, and know what, what’s coming in the future. We can’t predict things but we can learn from our past and continue to build for the future and for future generations. As HR we become mindful of, of how we’re growing in, in in in the realm of human resources.
Dylan Teggart 35:56
Let’s well, we’ll leave it there. And thank you everyone for tuning in. And we’ll see you next time.
Lucia Valerio 36:01
Thank you so much, Dylan. It’s been a pleasure.