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.

#HRTechChat: Unlocking HR Excellence with Lucia Valerio's Transformative Strategies

Tiffani L. Gray brings over 20 years of experience to this #HRTechChat, where she speaks to Dylan Teggart about lessons learned, collaborative teams, and conversational AI. Currently, she holds the position of Payroll Manager at Riverside Health Systems, overseeing payroll for 11,000 employees. Tiffani's impressive career includes working in payroll for the state of Virginia and serving as the Director of Membership of the Hampton Roads Chapter of PAYO (2020-2021 Past President) and Secretary of the Virginia Statewide Payroll Conference Board. Her outstanding contributions were recognized in 2022 when she was awarded the prestigious Payroll Professional of the Year by the VA Statewide Conference. In May of the same year, she was inducted into PAYO’s National Speaker Bureau and accepted as a Contributing Writer for PAYTECH magazine.

#HRTechChat: Streamlining Payroll with Tiffani Gray's Expert Insights

#HRTechChat: Connecting Technology and Employee Experience with Kamal Pradhan

Every now and then a book comes along that challenges the status quo.  A book that has the capacity to help us look at what we are doing today and see that we can do better.  The Five Talents that Really Matter is such a book.  Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton, through scientific research, have identified the talents that really matter.  They cut through all the noise surrounding what leaders do and how the absolute best achieve success.

Talents are different from what we see in the market today—they are not a product of competency models or building lists of experiences or capabilities—they are not the output of 360 assessments from leaders or peers that can often suggest room for improvement.  “Talents cannot be learned or taught.   They are the natural characteristics we are all born with.”

Talents are a part of who we are and how we think (innate), consistent over time and resistant to change (enduring), and present in our daily work and in our lives (pervasive).

So, what are the Talents that really matter?

Setting Direction
Harnessing Energy
Exerting Pressure
Increasing Connectivity
Controlling Traffic

In this first podcast in the 5 Talents that Really Matter Series, we meet Barry and Sarah, learn about how they arrived at the five talents, and receive an overview of how the current way we evaluate and hire talent is flawed, and what can be done moving forward to select and develop talent with a high probability of success.

At a time when several studies have shown between 50-70% of new CEOs fail within the first 18 months (CEB), and 50% of externally hired executives and 35% of internally promoted leaders fall short of performance expectations (DDI), isn’t it time for a new approach?

#HRTechChat: The Five Talents That Really Matter with Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton

With consistent churn in leadership roles at all organization levels, we have to step back and ask the question:

- What are we missing in our selection process?
- How do we continually make poor selection decisions?
- And why aren’t we doing better?

Let us start with how we can get caught in the “likeability trap.” Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton, in The Five Talents that Really Matter, found that likeability factors have a significant impact on how a candidate is perceived. The problem is that likeability will not correlate with whether the candidate can perform in a specific role. Throughout my career I have seen organizations select highly likeable candidates that go on to fail in the job, often within the first 6-12 months. In the selection discussions, likeability is often defended as the criteria and can often win out over the discussion on potential performance.

In this podcast, join the conversation to learn more about:

1. How we can mislead candidates.
Do you think it is possible to mislead candidates in face-to-face interviews? I have seen this multiple times—candidates feel they had great interviews, and then are shocked when they do not get the role. Misleading candidates can not only create negative experiences for them, it can also damage a company’s brand.
2. How 360 Assessments are subjective at best and biased at worst.
3. How misaligned incentives with search firms can advocate for candidates that may not be the best choice.

In this session, Barry and Sarah offer a path forward for how to audit and evaluate your selection process.

“Their strategy is to introduce tools and processes that guide the hiring, selection, succession, and promotion decisions toward a defined structure that has measurable outcomes.”

With each leadership selection decision, company performance is on the line—we can improve selection and have an enormous positive impact.

#HRTechChat: What Companies Get Wrong About Selection with Barry Conchie and Sarah Dalton

As workforce expectations evolve and hiring challenges mount, the need for seamless, scalable recruitment strategies has never been more critical—especially in industries where speed and simplicity make or break business outcomes.

In this episode of #HRTechChat, 3Sixty Insights’ Dylan Teggart sits down with Heidi Barnett, former CEO of ApplicantPro and now President of isolved Talent Acquisition to discuss the recent merger between the two companies—and what it means for the future of talent acquisition.

Heidi brings her marketing-first mindset to HR, unpacking how ApplicantPro’s streamlined, high-conversion applicant tracking capabilities are now being scaled through isolved’s expansive HCM platform. Together, they explore the rising pressures on HR teams in SMB and mid-market companies, the realities of modern recruitment in high-turnover sectors like restaurants and healthcare, and the critical role AI and automation play in supporting overworked managers.

From applicant matching and video screening to managed recruitment services and mobile-first candidate engagement, Heidi explains how isolved and ApplicantPro are combining forces to help businesses move faster, hire smarter, and reduce operational friction—without sacrificing human connection.

What makes recruiting harder than ever in today’s labor market? How can AI actually restore humanity in the hiring process? And how can HR tech providers meet the needs of growing businesses across a fragmented talent landscape?

Tune in as Heidi shares practical insights on speed-to-hire, employee retention, and why the future of recruiting is both tech-driven and deeply human.

#HRTechChat: Heidi Barnett on ApplicantPro’s Evolution and Integration with isolved

As organizations face growing complexity and rapid change, the need for simple, integrated HR solutions is more urgent than ever—especially in industries where high attrition and operational efficiency collide.

In this episode of #HRTechChat, 3Sixty Insights’ Dylan Teggart sits down with Ahmad Noordin, VP of HR Technology at a leading U.S. property management company, to explore how HR and IT can partner to drive better employee experiences without overcomplicating processes.

Ahmad shares how his background in both technology and HR uniquely positions him to bridge the gap between functional needs and technical capabilities. Together, they discuss the growing shift toward simplification in HR tech, the role of no-code and low-code platforms, and why ease of use has become a competitive advantage in workforce technology.

From selecting practical solutions and balancing vendor partnerships to embracing AI as a wrapper for fragmented systems, Ahmad unpacks how organizations can reduce friction, improve usability, and deliver faster outcomes for managers and employees alike.

How can HR and IT avoid working in silos? Why is simplification the new sophistication? And where does AI fit into the evolving digital employee experience?

Tune in as Ahmad offers clear, actionable insights on uniting people and technology in pursuit of seamless, human-centered HR.

#HRTechChat: Ahmad Noordin on HR-IT Collaboration and Simplifying Employee Tech

Small businesses face growing complexity in HR, payroll, and benefits—but too often, leaders carry the burden alone. In this episode of #HRTechChat, Dylan Teggart talks with Meredith Reilly, Chief Sales Officer at isolved, about why it’s time to stop going solo.

Meredith shares how modern HR demands strategic partnerships—not just tools—and how activating an “advisory village” can help leaders scale smarter. From tech fluency to cultural alignment, they break down what today’s HR advisors must bring to the table.

If you’re still treating vendors as service providers, you’re missing the point.

Tune in to learn how synergy, not solo effort, drives results.

Meredith Reilly on Building Your Advisory Village and Scaling HR Strategically

AI is changing the game—but not in the way you think. In this episode of #HRTechChat, we’re sharing a special swapcast from the PeopleTech podcast hosted by Mark Feffer, featuring Samrat Krishna of Darwinbox.
Samrat unpacks how AI agents are killing the “toggle tax” and rethinking enterprise software altogether. Instead of juggling dozens of systems and interfaces, agents now act on your behalf—fetching info, taking action, and streamlining workflows across platforms.
They dig into the mechanics of MCP (Modular Component Protocol), how Darwinbox is building for agent-first environments, and what HR leaders should automate today to unlock strategic headspace tomorrow.
If you think AI is about replacing people, you’re asking the wrong question.
Tune in to learn how to shift from assistance to agency—and why that shift changes everything.


#HRTechChat: Darwinbox’s Samrat Krishna on Killing the Toggle Tax and Unleashing AI Agents at Work

In this episode of #HRTechChat, Dylan Teggart sits down with Heike Wiesner, Global Sales Growth Director HCM, and Alastair Pride, Managing Principal Consultant, of Unit4 to explore the evolving role of payroll as a strategic business driver.
They discuss how cloud migration, integrated ERP systems, and innovations like Unit4’s Payroll Navigator are transforming payroll from a back-office function into a core asset for workforce planning, compliance, and employee trust. From real-time visibility to faster, smarter deployments, Heike and Alastair share how Unit4 is helping organizations simplify complexity, boost efficiency, and adapt to shifting workforce demands.
If you think payroll is just about getting people paid, it’s time to think bigger.


#HRTechChat: Heike Wiesner and Alastair Pride on Payroll Trends and Innovation at Unit4

The buying cycle for enterprise software and technology shouldn't be a power struggle between departments. 3Sixty Insights is a research, advisory, and consulting firm providing deep understanding of how to bridge the gap in perception and priorities between stakeholders. Through our research, we unearth strategic approaches for streamlining the decision-making process, successfully managing solutions, and maximizing value from business software and technology investments.

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