TP's Alan Winters on the Potential for AI to Help Its People Build a Better Workplace

AI (Artificial Intelligence),  Hiring

The chief people and diversity officer will speak to attendees at the For All Summit™ in Las Vegas April 8-10 about how his company is using AI to support employees.

A global company the size of Teleperformance (now going by TP) — operations in 100 countries — means that hiring processes have to be efficient. Their target? From application to job offer in just seven days, a breakneck pace made possible by technology.

But Alan Winters, chief people and diversity officer at the company, says the company takes care to ensure decisions remain human. Their approach will be shared in detail at the For All Summit on April 8-10 in Las Vegas.

We spoke with Winters about the current HR landscape, technology’s role in driving excellence, and what advice he has for other HR leaders in our latest “How I Got Here” conversation.

What’s your daily routine or morning ritual to start the workday on the right note?

Winters: I normally have the first 30 minutes blocked off for no meetings, to allow me time to address any critical priorities that evolved overnight. As a global organization with operations in 100 countries, we operate 24/7. If you look at my calendar, it’s color-coded. I'll look at the week coming up and my meetings and what's critical, especially anything with due dates or deliverables, just to make sure I'm ready. I've got notepads for one-on-ones and meetings to help me keep things organized, which relate to what's whatever's on my calendar.

In addition to my morning routine, I also have a Friday afternoon routine to help end the formal workweek. On Friday afternoons, I dedicate an hour or so to visit LinkedIn and reach out to someone from my network who I've not contacted in a while. I send an e-mail via LinkedIn — just checking in to keep my network alive and help maintain strong professional relationships. That could be someone within TP, someone at a company I've worked with in the past, or just people I've met through network connections.

What was the turning point that sent you down the path to your current role and work? Any advice you would give to your younger self?

Winters: The turning point that led to my current role was four years ago at TP, when I was in a board meeting where we reviewed normal business topics. At the end of the meeting, I typed an e-mail and sent it to our CEO highlighting items that I thought were missing or areas where I felt we needed to add more focus. One of those items was the need to have a global head of HR. I shared some key reasons for my recommendation, and what I thought the company should do. The CEO reviewed my recommendations and passed around my suggestion for a Global head of HR to other members of the executive committee. A few committee members agreed, and then they asked me to step into the role. That's how I got in the job I'm in today.

The advice I would give to my younger self is to fully participate when attending a meeting. If you're invited, don't just sit on the sidelines. Be actively involved.

An example: Before my time at TP, I was the head of customer care at another company. At that time, we had regular meetings with all the C-level executives of the company. In the middle of the boardroom was a big table, with chairs all around the outside. The first time I attended the meeting with my boss, he sat down in a chair on the perimeter of the room. However, I sat at the table.

And others were all looking at me like, “What are you doing? You can't sit there. That's where all the C-levels sit.” And I said, “Well, if you're going to invite me to the meeting, I'm going to sit at the adult table and participate.”

Hear more from Winters and other leaders from great workplaces at the For All Summit in Las Vegas April 8-10! 

What’s the biggest workplace or HR challenge facing leaders in the year ahead? What should be top of mind?

Winters: HR is facing several challenges this year, including the unknown impacts of AI on organizations, its managers and people. Also, significant geopolitical changes. Some highly visible companies have rolled back DEI programs so the pendulum is swinging there, and I think it is going to have a massive impact on how people approach sourcing and hiring, which will have an impact on culture and employee experience.

How is AI changing how you do your work? Any big lessons or takeaways?

Winters: At TP, we use advanced AI tools to help collect and analyze data on a large scale, which empowers our management teams and TP Experts to make stronger, more informed decisions in support of our clients and their customers. It requires us to think more strategically to identify and understand what challenges we are trying to solve.

For example, when recruiting for our front-line TP Expert roles globally, our goal is to get a candidate from job application to job offer in just seven days. That includes interviews, assessments and evaluations. We use AI tools to help us scale recruitment activities to hire the right qualified candidates, but it’s also important for us to retain people as part of the equation when making the final decision.

What’s the No. 1 thing that companies are not paying enough attention to when it comes to AI and/or workplace culture?

Winters: When it comes to AI and workplace culture, I recommend avoiding the pitfalls of implementing an AI program just for the sake of implementing an AI program. In some cases, AI-powered tools might be a strong solution, which is great. But before making that decision, it becomes critical to really drill down and pinpoint the problem you’re trying to solve. Then from there, find the best solution.

If you think about the Six Sigma approach, the Five Whys, ask why you're going to do this. Why do we need this? What problem or problems is it going to solve? And then try to understand the potential unintended consequences. If you try to automate everything to save money, it’s important to understand the downstream impact.

Today’s advanced tech tools are likely to allow organizations to automate around 90% of the hiring process. But if you're a people-focused company, do you really want that? It would result in new employees’ first experiences with the company being 100 percent automated, with them not really understanding the organization’s culture and people.

What is your favorite piece of career advice you’ve ever received? Why?

Winters: “Don't let perfection be the enemy of good.” Most of the time, good is okay, just so you can move fast to get things done. If you wait for perfection, it's never going to happen.

The other one is: In one minute, I can change my attitude. In that minute, I can change my entire day. This mindset helps you reframe things and put issues or problems or challenges in context, to avoid having one issue derail your day, week, or month.

Also, I’m fond of a famous quote from Maya Angelou: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

What book or podcast would you recommend to our community of leaders trying to build better workplaces and companies?

Winters: “Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI.” It’s very relevant for TP, as we’ve been accelerating our digital transformation with advanced AI tools that empower our people to deliver simpler, faster, more empathetic and safe solutions to clients.

If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about how workplaces operate in the world today, what would it be?

Winters: I would change how people connect with each other because I think that's going to be even more challenging as AI becomes more advanced from a human perspective.

How we manage and engage with each other matters so much. If you think about the amount of information that you can collect to understand someone better and how that information should be connected to help them onboard in a professional role, I think that’s really important.

When you hire someone, they've got this short runway to be able to add value and produce in their new role. So, if you’re looking at their mid-year or annual appraisals to determine if they are aligned with your culture, then you’re making decisions — whether it’s a promotion, an evaluation, corrective action or termination — simply by looking at the data and not having connected with the employee. Then you’re really not helping that person.

Stronger connectedness and relationship building helps you make decisions about that whole person, versus one piece of information. It may be that they're performing at a certain level, but have you done anything to help them get up to speed quicker?

Ted Kitterman