In this HRTech Interview, Meg Donovan, Chief People Officer at Nexthink chats about the various factors influencing modern SaaS business work trends:
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Hi Meg – take us through your journey in the B2B SaaS marketplace and the biggest people management takeaways you’ve come away with over time?
While B2B Saas presents its own challenges, people are people regardless of industry. Growing and scaling a business involves the same problems across all sectors – problems which need agile people who are willing to take risks, fail, and try again. But one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that technology has to serve people, not the other way around.
A common mistake HR departments make is to expect some new tech solution to solve all their problems. Big software implementations are hard and while they may solve some issues, they can create others. Every new implementation has to be done smartly in a way that makes HR faster, more efficient, and unlocks capabilities they didn’t have before.
Tell us more about being Chief People Officer at Nexthink and what that entails day to day?
When I arrived, the mission of Nexthink was to delight people at work and that was something that really spoke to me, because ultimately my vision of what HR should do – build and a culture at work that allows everyone to have a great experience.
At Nexthink we’re obviously approaching that from an IT perspective, but I’ve taken it as a personal mission to extend it across the organization through programmes that improve management practices, beautify our offices, or just allow employees to be proud to work here.
Being CPO at Nexthink is a complicated job, but at its core it’s about creating an ecosystem of tools, opportunities, and collaboration that gives everyone the best experience they can have.
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What do you feel Chief People Officers’ in B2B SaaS set ups should be more attentive to as the marketplace shifts and workplace trends rapidly evolve, with GenZ redefining a lot of norms?
Right now I think that one of the biggest shifts that tech companies are dealing with is around workplace flexibility. During Covid we saw what hyper-flexibility could look like, but now the industry is swinging back the other way. It’s a tricky balance to strike as, in general, I don’t believe virtual collaboration is as impactful as face-to-face. However, flexibility is crucial, which is why we’ve not mandated people to be back in the office three, four, or five days a week like some other companies.
Ultimately, each business will decide for themselves what they need, but I think it will be at least five years before we start to see new settled norms emerge around the issue.
Can you take us through some of the HRtech you’ve often used to drive HR and people management goals and take us through your thoughts on the changing scope of HRtech the way you see it today?
One of the biggest developments around HRTech in the last few years has been the explosion in the quantity – and crucially the quality – of data available. What used to taken hours of painstaking manual analysis can now be automated to give us critical insights in a few minutes. With that in mind, we’re keen to invest in best-in-class HR analytics as that is helping us prioritize and eliminate problem areas far better than ever before. We still have to be careful about drawing too many conclusions from limited datasets, but the potential of AI-powered HR analytics is truly astonishing.
How have you been using AI powered HRtech to drive organizational goals in recent years?
Implementing AI has to be done carefully, as it can go wrong quite easily. However, we’ve just implemented a tool to help summarize interviews and feedback to streamline the recruiting process which has made a significant difference. One of the biggest issues with recruitment is that HR is always waiting for feedback on one candidate or another from line managers. Having automated notes has sped up the process dramatically.
And, not only does it allow us to be more agile, but it’s also enabling improved hiring decisions. Because full interview transcripts are always available, we’re better equipped to dig deeper into any potential issues while also making sure that the entire team is on the same page and using the same criteria to judge candidates.
Can you talk about other known Chief People Officers from the B2B Tech / SaaS market and what makes them stand out?
There are so many wonderful people I’ve met during my career, but in particular Kathy Cullen-Cote at Teradata has been a phenomenal friend and mentor for me. She’s taught me so much and I couldn’t ask for a better role model of an empathetic and humanistic leader. Nobody can be at their best all the time, but Kathy has always put people first and approach difficult situations with grace, which I find inspirational.
Five daily practices you feel every Chief People Officer should integrate as part of their everyday work habit?
- Spend time to build your network. Connect with people on LinkedIn or attending HR conferences, either virtually or in person. You never know when you’ll discover something important or met someone who can teach you something.
- Similarly, make sure you’re sharing ideas and understand the latest trends. HR is about people and people are constantly changing, so if you’re not reading about what is going on with corporate culture and how you can improve your organization, you’ll be left behind quickly.
- Talk to people across the organization at all levels. If you only see part of the picture, you can’t understand the pain points of swathes of the organisation. What are the BDRs dealing with? What are the concerns of marketing? By taking the time to catch up with people outside of your usual circle – even if it’s only an impromptu lunch break – you’ll discover aspects of the business you never even thought about.
- Take a walk outside. Every day.
- Give someone some positive feedback. Culture isn’t just something that lives in the ether, it’s practiced every day. If you want a positive, happy workplace, find a way to manifest that by giving praise where it’s due.
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Meg Donovan is the Chief People Officer at Nexthink, leading the global HR function. Meg has two decades of HR experience across all aspects of HR. Prior to her role at Nexthink she held positions at PTC, Mueller Systems, and OnProcess Technology. She holds a Bachelors of Science degree from Simmons University.