Trust-First AI in HR: Acelero Learning’s CPO on Listening at Scale, Hiring with Heart, and Personalized L&D

About this episode

Summary

What if the real power of AI in HR isn’t automation—but trust? Angela Briggs-Page, Chief People Officer at Acelero Learning and a Head Start alum, shares how her team uses AI to elevate human-centered practices across a mission-driven, early childhood education workforce.

She explains how AI transforms thousands of open-ended survey comments into timely insight—capturing tone, emotion, and patterns—so leaders can respond in hours, not months.

Angela details how the time saved gets reinvested into designing better experiences: welcoming, belonging-rich onboarding; ongoing coaching; and real career pathways.

In hiring, Acelero automates credential and compliance screening while keeping judgment and empathy with people—anchored by the principle “AI recommends, humans decide.”

She also unveils a pilot for AI-personalized learning paths tied to role, goals, and feedback, plus the change practices that make adoption safe: transparent modeling, peer champions, and psychological safety.

Expect practical guidance on measuring “time to value,” choosing best-of-breed tools, and leading AI efforts that start—and end—with people.

Timestamps

[00:45] – Guest intro and Acelero Learning’s mission in early childhood education

[01:17] – Where AI moves the needle: listening at scale and turning comments into action

[04:40] – Using freed capacity to design human experiences: onboarding, coaching, career paths

[06:11] – Hiring in a tough market: “AI recommends, humans decide” and values-aligned job posts

[09:51] – Piloting personalized learning: AI-curated paths, micro-learnings, and early success signals

[12:22] – Change that sticks: transparency, peer champions, psychological safety; ROI as time to value

[16:19] – Lightning round: top misconception, the metric that matters, and best-of-breed vs consolidation

[21:44] – Closing advice: lead with your people and start with one real problem

Takeaways

- Use AI to synthesize open-ended survey feedback in hours, track tone and momentum, and act while trust is fresh.

- Reinvest saved time into human touchpoints—design onboarding, coaching, and career pathways that deepen belonging.

- Apply “AI recommends, humans decide” to hiring: automate credential checks, keep empathy and mission fit with people.

- Write inclusive, values-driven job posts and targeted interview questions with AI’s help to attract mission-aligned talent.

- Pilot AI-personalized learning paths tied to role, goals, and feedback; measure engagement and real-world application.

- Normalize AI use through executive transparency and peer champions; judge pilots by 30-day time to value and added capacity for high-touch work.

Sponsor

Wisq introduces Harper, your AI-powered HR service bot designed to act like a virtual HR generalist for every employee.

No more waiting on emails or digging through policies—Harper gives your team instant answers to HR questions, helps them navigate benefits and policies, and even routes more complex cases to the right person.

By handling the repetitive requests, Harper frees up your HR team to focus on strategy and people, while ensuring employees always feel supported. It’s a smarter, more consistent way to deliver HR services at scale.See Harper in action at https://www.wisq.com/