Building People Systems That Actually Work
Over a decade of experience transforming talent operations, organizational development, and people systems in fast-moving, regulated, and fully remote environments, where strategy meets execution and ideas must deliver real results.
Nicole Shumosic | People Operations & Organizational Development Leader
About Me
My Background
I bring a people-first, talent-focused approach rooted in psychology and industrial-organizational psychology. I look beyond outcomes to understand what is driving behavior, decisions, and engagement, and design systems that reflect that insight.
My experience has shaped a strong bias toward clear expectations, thoughtful execution, and seeing work through.
I have spent over a decade working across talent acquisition, people operations, and organizational development, primarily in fast-moving, highly regulated, and fully remote environments. I focus on turning strategy into practical systems people can understand and trust.
I partner closely with executive leadership, people teams, operations, IT, finance, and frontline managers and contributors to solve problems that are often messy, urgent, or have outgrown their original structure. I am frequently brought in when something is broken, unclear, or scaling faster than the infrastructure supporting it. I build clarity from complexity and create sustainable solutions that hold up under pressure.
How I Create Impact
Organizational Development & Change
I help organizations understand how work actually flows, then redesign systems so they scale effectively and remain resilient over time. I lead transformational change in environments where evolution is constant and perfection is not the goal. Pragmatic progress is.
Talent & Engagement
I work across the full talent lifecycle with a strong focus on engagement, leadership experience, and organizational clarity. Engagement improves when people understand expectations, feel genuinely recognized, and trust the systems around them.
People Data That Tells a Story
I design surveys and analytics that leaders can understand and act on. I prioritize actionable insights over aesthetic dashboards. If the data doesn't help someone make a better decision, it's not useful.
Building & Running People Programs
I lead people platforms and programs from conception through adoption, including design, rollout, communication, and long-term sustainability. I am comfortable owning large-scale initiatives and being accountable for measurable outcomes.
case study
Building a Net-New Recognition and Rewards Platform
Iris Telehealth
Project Lead • Secured $100K+ in funding and delivered company-wide recognition system from strategy through launch
The Challenge
Iris Telehealth lacked a centralized recognition system. Recognition happened inconsistently and manually, creating confusion, perceived inequity, and frustration across a fully remote workforce. There was no infrastructure to celebrate wins, reward performance, or build a culture of appreciation at scale.
Spending tied to recognition was also difficult to track. Without a centralized system, there was limited visibility into how funds were being used, making it hard to manage budgets, ensure consistency, or understand the true investment in recognition.
My Role
I led this initiative end to end, from building the business case and securing executive buy-in to redesigning what recognition looks like across the organization. I directly managed the team responsible for the rollout and rebuilt the workflows for each recognition program, creating clear structure, governance, and consistency across the company.
What I Delivered
  • Built and presented a compelling business case that secured over $100,000 in funding
  • Led ongoing communication and coordination with the external platform partner, translating business needs into system configuration and ensuring the solution matched how the organization actually works
  • Designed recognition programs, eligibility criteria, approval workflows, and governance structure from the ground up
  • Partnered closely with IT, Finance, People Operations, and business leaders across departments
  • Created comprehensive enablement materials including leader toolkits, quick-start guides, FAQs, and launch communications
  • Ran structured beta testing, gathered feedback, and refined the program before full rollout
  • Established clear tracking and governance for recognition spend to improve visibility, consistency, and budget accountability

The Impact
Iris launched its first company-wide recognition platform on schedule and without launch issues, bringing consistency, visibility, and fairness to how recognition shows up across the organization. Leaders now have clear, easy-to-use tools to recognize their teams in meaningful ways. The platform also provides reliable visibility into recognition spend, making it easier to manage budgets, track usage, and understand how investment in recognition connects to engagement over time.
Nonprofit Leadership
Organizational Development and Consulting
Children's Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Organizational Development Consultant · Engaged as an external expert to redesign compliant, cross-functional systems that support sustainability, legal defensibility, and mission-critical care
Context and Scope
I was brought in as an external organizational development consultant to help a mission-critical nonprofit address operational inefficiencies, strengthen cross-functional coordination, and prepare the organization for growth. This work takes place in a highly regulated environment governed by HIPAA, legal standards, and forensic integrity, where documentation and processes may be reviewed in court and directly impact prosecution outcomes.
The organization serves children who have experienced abuse and trauma. That reality raises the stakes of this work. Systems must be compliant, precise, and consistent, while also supporting staff who do emotionally demanding work every day.
My Role
I serve as a part-time consultant and board leader, including Chair of the Strategic Advancement Committee. I was engaged as a subject matter expert in organizational development to assess how the organization operates across programs and functions and to help redesign systems so they are clear, compliant, and sustainable.
While I am an outsider to daily operations, I work closely with leadership and program teams to influence decisions, guide change, and ensure improvements are practical and respected across the organization.
The Work I Lead and Influence
Building Compliant, Consistent Operating Systems
I focus on strengthening documentation, workflows, and role clarity across programs to ensure consistency, compliance, and defensibility. This includes aligning SOPs and processes with HIPAA requirements and legal standards, knowing that this work may be scrutinized in prosecution and judicial settings.
Clarifying Roles and Cross-Functional Accountability
I help define and refine roles so responsibilities are clear, strategically aligned, and appropriately distributed. This work reduces friction between teams, strengthens accountability, and improves how the organization functions as a whole.
Improving Cross-Functional Efficiency
I identify inefficiencies across programs and functions and work with leadership to streamline how teams collaborate. The goal is not speed for its own sake, but smoother handoffs, fewer breakdowns, and systems that support both quality and care.
Advising on Regional Expansion into Rural Counties
I am advising on the launch of a first-of-its-kind regional program that extends the organization's services into rural counties. This work involves helping design the operational model, governance approach, and supporting systems needed to scale responsibly while maintaining compliance, quality, and mission integrity.

The Impact
This work sits at the intersection of compliance, care, and sustainability. When systems fail in this environment, the consequences are real: legal risk, compromised cases, staff burnout, and harm to the people the organization exists to protect.
My role is to help the organization operate in a way that is thoughtful, defensible, and humane. That means building structure that holds up under scrutiny, supporting teams doing incredibly difficult work, and ensuring the organization can grow without losing trust, clarity, or mission focus.
case study
Making Engagement Data Actionable for Leaders
Iris Telehealth
People Analytics and Engagement Lead • Redesigned engagement strategy across multiple employee and partner populations to shift from data collection to meaningful, repeatable action
The Challenge
Engagement scores were declining across multiple groups, including the medical group, corporate teams, and external partners. While survey data existed, leaders struggled to understand root causes or translate results into action.
Surveys were often treated as a “check the box” exercise. There were too many different surveys, too many questions, and no consistent cadence, which led to survey fatigue, fragmented insights, and limited follow-through. Feedback felt abstract and disconnected from day-to-day realities.
My Role
I owned the engagement strategy and people analytics approach across employee and partner populations, partnering directly with department leaders and executive leadership to redesign how we collected, analyzed, and used engagement feedback.
My focus was building a repeatable model that could scale while still producing insights leaders could act on.
What I Delivered
  • Designed a consistent, repeatable engagement framework used across medical, corporate, and partner populations
  • Partnered with executive leadership to significantly reduce the number of surveys being sent and limit the number of questions per survey
  • Established a more predictable cadence to reduce fatigue and improve participation and trust
  • Redesigned engagement and eNPS surveys to be clearer, shorter, and more relevant to real work
  • Built department-level dashboards and reports leaders could understand without translation
  • Facilitated one-on-one sessions with leaders to walk through results and identify realistic, business-driven priorities
  • Shifted the focus from one-time survey events to ongoing feedback loops and follow-through

The Impact
Leaders gained clear, actionable insight into what was driving engagement across their teams and partner groups. Action plans became more focused, realistic, and tied directly to business outcomes. Engagement conversations shifted from defensive posturing to constructive problem-solving, moving the emphasis from collecting data to creating change.
Because the approach was consistent and repeatable, leaders developed more confidence in the data and how to use it over time. Engagement insights were also used by Sales and Marketing to support customer conversations, providing credible, data-backed talking points around employee experience and engagement that helped build trust and close deals.
Case study
Building a Scalable, People-Centered Recruiting Framework
Iris Telehealth
Talent Partner · Helped evolve a one-size-fits-all hiring approach into a repeatable, flexible framework that supports consistency, growth, and strong candidate experience
The Challenge
When I joined, recruiting followed a very basic, one-size-fits-all approach. Processes were largely cookie cutter, with limited flexibility for different roles, teams, or situations. While functional, the approach left little room for nuance, consistency, or growth as the organization evolved.
Training and documentation were minimal, which made it harder for the team to maintain consistency and onboard new team members as hiring needs changed.
My Role
I partnered closely with my team, hiring managers, and HR team members to evolve our recruiting approach over time. While I was not the formal lead, I oversaw and helped shape many of the changes, with a focus on building structure that could scale without losing the human side of hiring.
My goal was to support a repeatable framework that created clarity and consistency, while still allowing flexibility for case-by-case decisions.
What I Delivered
  • Helped design a recruiting framework that balanced consistency with flexibility
  • Partnered with the team to adapt workflows for different roles, teams, and hiring needs
  • Supported the creation of training tools and SOPs to help team members run the process confidently
  • Worked with the team to standardize key decision points and communications
  • Brought a strong people-first lens to candidate interactions, including rejection conversations
  • Regularly received unsolicited positive feedback from candidates, including those not selected, about the clarity and respect shown throughout the process

The Impact
Recruiting evolved into a more consistent and scalable framework that the team could adapt as needs changed. New team members were able to ramp more quickly using shared tools and documentation, while experienced recruiters retained the flexibility to apply judgment when appropriate.
Candidate experience improved noticeably. Even when candidates were not selected, many expressed appreciation for the transparency, communication, and respect they experienced, reinforcing the organization’s employer brand.
How I Lead and Build People Systems
My operating philosophy
I believe effective people systems are built at the intersection of clarity, trust, and follow-through. Across organizations, teams, and contexts, my work consistently focuses on making complex work understandable, sustainable, and human.
1
Clarity is the foundation
If people cannot understand how a system works, it will not work. I start by removing unnecessary complexity and making expectations, roles, and decision points clear. Clarity builds trust, reduces friction, and creates the conditions for people to do their best work.
2
Launch is the beginning, not the end
Change does not fail because of bad ideas. It fails when communication stops and attention moves on. I design systems with ongoing communication, feedback loops, and visible follow-through so change holds after launch, not just during it.
3
Data should drive decisions, not activity
I use data to answer real questions and support better decisions. Collecting information without action creates noise and fatigue. The goal of analytics is not reporting. It is clarity, accountability, and progress.
4
Structure should protect people, not burden them
Good structure reduces burnout. Clear processes, role clarity, and reliable systems free people from unnecessary cognitive load and allow them to focus on meaningful, high-impact work.
5
The people closest to the work shape the strongest solutions
I involve the people who will live with a system in its design. Co-creation leads to better adoption, stronger outcomes, and solutions that last. Top-down mandates rarely hold without shared ownership.
6
Systems must be built to evolve
Change is inevitable. I design systems that can scale and adapt without constant reinvention. Flexibility is not a lack of rigor. It is what allows systems to stay relevant over time.
7
Getting it right matters more than getting it perfect
Progress that works in real life matters more than theoretical perfection. I focus on building systems that hold up under pressure, improve over time, and deliver meaningful results now.
Why this approach works
This philosophy has guided work ranging from enterprise-wide platform launches to high-stakes nonprofit consulting. It leads to systems people trust, leaders can rely on, and organizations can grow with.
Why Work With Me
If you are looking for someone who can step into complexity, ask the right questions, and build structure that actually sticks, I am that person. I do not just design ideas. I stay close to the work, the people, and the follow-through.
I thrive in environments where things are still evolving and the path forward is not always clear. Getting it right matters more than getting it perfect. I build people systems that scale, hold up under pressure, and make sense to the people who use them every day.
If your organization needs someone who can own people initiatives end to end and make them work in the real world, not just on paper, I would love to talk.
What I Am Looking For
Roles where I can:
  • Build, fix, or scale people and talent systems
  • Lead or heavily influence organizational development and engagement work
  • Partner closely with executive and functional leaders
  • Translate people data into clear, business-relevant action
Titles that tend to align with my work:
  • Talent or People Strategy Leader
  • Organizational Development Lead
  • Manager of Talent Development
  • People and Culture Leader with Organizational Development scope
Get In Touch
(570) 677-5498
nicole.shumosic89@gmail.com