About humanworks8
Our Values
Champion People
Lift people up. Never lose sight of who makes everything possible in the first place.
Be Authentic
Follow your instincts. Honor your vision. Stay true to your dreams.
Elevate
Never settle for the easy answer. Pave a better, brighter path.
Breathe
Pause & reflect. Find energy in balanced well-being.
Wonder
Be curious & be in awe. Always believe in what could come next.
The 8
At humanworks8, our solutions are grounded in “The 8” universal truths about people – both in life and at work. These truths guide every people leader in your organization, capture the employee experience, and bring both clarity and a directional compass to your cultural evolution.
Each of The 8 truths translates to a core people touchpoint that exists in every organization. When these touchpoints are strengthened, they enliven workplace culture and drive meaningful business results.
Everyone’s Unique
Activate Instincts & Discover Talent
Get the right people into the right roles, performing at their best.
When you can work in a style that feels natural, you thrive. Using the Three Parts of the Mind framework, we’ll help you understand each individual’s strengths and instincts, so you can activate their most productive ways of working. That’s how you find, welcome and engage the right person for the right role.
Everyone’s Unique is a gateway to your recruitment strategy and Talent Discovery.
Everyone Believes
Identify Values & Energize Systems
Define vision, elevate values and operate a living plan of action.
We all rely on our core values to guide our decisions, and our actions are fueled by aligning to a common goal. By articulating your organization’s vision and determining a strategic plan of action, you present a clear beacon for your team. Then, we design processes that help everyone rise to the challenge and create clarity at every level of operation, energizing disciplines that produce confidence, accountability and results.
Everyone Believes is your North Star to Strategic Planning.
Everyone Connects
Develop Relationships & Foster Teamwork
Guide teams to work at their highest collective potential.
An organization is most effective when it champions people and when relationships are built on trust and collaboration. Teamwork takes deliberate action and ongoing nourishment. We help you create interactions among team members that develop and unite well-connected, high-performing, diverse teams.
Everyone Connects is the invisible bonds between people and Teamwork.
Everyone Contributes
Question Together & Communicate Clearly
Build disciplines for effective interpersonal & team communication.
Effective communication is at the heart of how successful organizations operate, supporting an environment where all voices are heard and valued. Establish an internal communication strategy built on consistency, honesty and proactivity that results in an environment where team members share knowledge, speak up and fuel your business with fresh ideas.
Everyone Contributes is the single source of truth around Communication.
Everyone Rises
Improve Performance & Encourage Development
Improve performance at work and in life.
Every individual is responsible for their own performance, and performance matters every day. Design and model performance engagements that spark meaningful conversations and make the learning greater than the experience. Equip everyone with opportunities to know, own and act on both their workplace performance and personal well-being.
Everyone Rises is at the heart of work and life Performance Management.
Everyone Learns
Strengthen Confidence & Inspire Leadership
Strengthen confidence and grow capabilities for leadership moments.
Leaders who show up best when it matters most are those who understand themselves first. Leadership begins with individual confidence, built from the inside out. Define your organization’s unique model for leadership by initiating leadership development experiences that are practical, flexible and aligned to the real needs of your organization.
Everyone Learns is never-ending Leadership Development.
Everyone Thrives
Create Clarity & Embrace Change
Create clarity during onboarding, offboarding and restructuring.
Change is constant, and organizational changes – whether small or large – command substantial attention from the people navigating them. Successful transitions are built on core values, communication and clarity. Forge pathways to what’s ahead through purposeful planning and consistent people processes, empowering individuals to flourish through the new or unknown.
Everyone Thrives is your navigation focus through Transition & Change.
Everyone Matters
Bring Work to Life & Life to Work
Establish an environment that recognizes the value of each person.
Every human is inherently significant. Everyone’s dreams, talents, instincts, quirks and characteristics play a vital role in bringing your business to life. Your employees produce the pulse of your company, and when they’re nurtured and elevated, business grows and potential expands. Now more than ever, facilitating conversation and action to design an environment of belonging across your talent canvas is a business imperative.
Everyone Matters is your core principle of Belonging.
Our Team
Our team exists to end the idea that work happens apart from life. The four of us spent much of our careers building and living in an award-winning culture that celebrated individual strengths, championed unified systems and prioritized well-being. We designed a people-first workplace where every action was aligned to “gutsy” core values that echoed the lived experiences of real employees. After seeing how delicate and vital a people-centric culture was to the success of the business, we made it our mission to help leaders create organizations where people can breathe, belong and grow.
Shawn Gulyas, Founder & The Thought Catalyst
Called the “visionary architect of the next generation of workplace culture practices by Forbes,” Shawn exists to design and facilitate creative experiences that challenge one’s thinking and action – helping individuals and companies find their authenticity, breathe into their well-being, and elevate their people touchpoints. After a career filled with growth and learning in Human Resources leadership, Shawn decided to venture out and get his hands dirty with other organizations in need of bringing their work to life through championing people. Think of Shawn as a “jump-starter” of ideas around the belief that everyone matters and as a leader who creates cultures and communities where values, natural instincts and well-being are the essence of success. Other things Shawn believes in: Peace, Wonder and Yoda.
Rebecca Swanson, Co-Founder & The Talent Connector
Rebecca’s ability to make optimistic human connections with ease and foster meaningful relationships has contributed to a recruiting career that has spanned more than 20 years. She is an employer brand ambassador, linking all talent actions back to the organization’s core purpose and values to ensure she’s connecting the right people to the right opportunities in partnership with hiring leaders. Rebecca has a demonstrated history of securing talent in a variety of disciplines and has had focus on human resources, compensation management, career development, and talent lifecycle engagement. At humanworks8, think of Rebecca as the talent connector, weighing in on all things talent lifecycle – from first impression to onboarding. When she’s not professionally networking, Rebecca appreciates time spent socializing with friends and family, practicing yoga, and enjoying life with her husband and three dogs through good food, hiking and travel.
AJ Kruse, Co-Founder & The Concept Illustrator
AJ needs to make things make sense, not only for himself, but for you as well. His resilient curiosity is illuminated by people and discovering how they work. This quality, along with his knack for joining backstage design and front stage presentation has guided him through a dynamic professional career that began in elementary education and has continued in organizational development. For humanworks8, think of AJ as someone who holds fast, lighting the path to improvement and handing you tools to make the journey a success. What else makes AJ tick? Faith, family and Friday night pizza.
Sarah Marshall, Co-Founder & The Experience Architect
Sarah breaks down the big picture into calculated actions. This can be said for whatever she’s working on – from building an intranet site to kicking off a new strategic plan of action. Sarah excels at envisioning, planning and executing strategies around organizational communication and employee engagement, and loves tapping into her creativity for core values and team development engagements. At humanworks8, Sarah serves as the experience architect, building the roadmap for communications and people experiences.
Jeanna Bunke, Business Growth Leader
With a background in recruitment, education and non-profit work, Jeanna brings her passion for relationship-building and dot-connecting to humanworks8. Using her capacity to connect with people from diverse backgrounds, Jeanna meets people where they are at, with an emphasis on respect and trust. At humanworks8, Jeanna spends her time creating, nurturing and maintaining relationships in an authentic manner. Her creative ideas and passion for telling the humanworks8 story contribute to the growing community of business leaders leveraging people-centric solutions to help their organizations elevate culture and efficiency. Jeanna also enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, exploring Milwaukee’s food scene and singing in the cover band, Stray Voltage.