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Welcome to our latest edition of Always Learning, where we spotlight leaders shaping the future of human resources and learning and development. In each interview, we explore how these leaders approach their work and keep pace with a rapidly changing field—and hear about the learning experiences that have shaped their careers.
In this conversation, Next Shift Learning’s Tina Hossain sits down with Morgan Williams, founder and CEO of PeakHR, an organization redefining how HR professionals learn, connect, and grow.
With HR leaders under pressure to deliver strategic value while navigating near-constant change, Morgan discusses how her cohort-based model offers something rare: real talk, relevant learning, and authentic community. “There’s no HR for HR,” she says—and PeakHR exists to fix that.
In this interview, Morgan shares why cohort learning is more effective than ever, what HR can learn from sales and engineering, and how she’s building a more inclusive, honest, and connected future for HR leaders everywhere.
💡 Looking for ways to strengthen your people function? Download our Practice-Forward Guide to Leadership Development.
The Story Behind PeakHR
TINA HOSSAIN, NEXT SHIFT LEARNING
Thanks so much for joining us today, Morgan! To start off, give us a quick introduction to PeakHR and your role in it.
MORGAN WILLIAMS, PEAKHR
It’s great to be here. Thanks for having me.
PeakHR is multifaceted—I like to think of it as a flywheel. It has a cohort training component for human resources professionals, with topical conversations from the generalist through the director level. There is no HR for HR, and this is built to fix that.
There's also a cohort for the HR-curious. You can't join any HR communities until you're in HR. So, this provides an opportunity for people to get a sense of whether they’d like to be a part of this space.
For those at the director level, if you don't have a VP, CPO, or anybody else pushing you to excel, how do you learn? That's why I wanted to create PeakHR—to fill that gap.
The other side of the company offers fractional services, so I can also help with project-based or interim HR support.
Why Learning Needs to Look Different
Key Takeaway: HR leaders should learn from folks across functions who can stretch their thinking—not only other HR leaders.
TINA
You alluded to a lack of support for HR leaders as they develop. Have you experienced that firsthand?
MORGAN
Oh, absolutely. In my own career, I’ve been lucky because, even though I didn’t always have formal training, I did have access to a fantastic mentor.
I'm trying to replicate that with the cohorts in PeakHR. I bring in different thought leaders, people who have stretched my thinking, and have them share their thoughts and voices to help spur important conversations because that’s been so impactful for me.
My own experiences have also influenced PeakHR’s approach in other ways. For example, in this field, I've hardly ever seen people who look like me. So I really try to consider all the spectrums of diversity in this program: racial diversity, age demographics, sexual orientation—all of it.
I want people to have conversations and be able to identify with topics that are important to them because these topics will affect their employee populations as well. Even if you don't have diversity in your workplace, I want you to be able to experience this in this space of learning.
Here, we talk the real talk. We talk about mistakes, failures, and how we've grown from there. It's not a perfect PR image—it's the real us.
This is different from a one-off experience like a conference, where you may not even get to ask a question, especially if you’re an introvert. Here, we talk the real talk. We talk about mistakes, failures, and how we've grown from there. It's not a perfect PR image—it's the real us.
The other thing that sets PeakHR apart is that we don’t just learn from HR leaders. By design, the cohorts get exposure to all types of thinkers. For example, I bring in people from engineering because I love the engineering mindset: being able to test, learn, and iterate.
I also bring in people from marketing and sales. We are constantly marketing and selling to our internal customers—that is, our employees—whether we realize it or not.
Finally, we work hard to build trust and authenticity among the cohort. You can ask real questions. We like to say it's Vegas. What you ask here stays here.
The Power of Cohort-Based Learning in Times of Change
TINA
I love that you mentioned the cohort aspect. Cohort-based learning is central to how both PeakHR and Next Shift Learning help people learn and stretch themselves. What do you think makes this approach particularly effective for the HR and L&D leaders in your cohorts?
MORGAN
What makes it really effective—particularly right now—is that HR is evolving very quickly. A cohort-based learning model allows us to keep up.
For instance, our next topic will be navigating DEI-inclusive hiring and immigration policy—both topics in flux in the news right now. The cohort format allows us to approach these topics immediately instead of waiting a whole year and saying, "Let's talk about something,” but it's already stale.
The cohort format allows us to approach these topics immediately instead of waiting a whole year and saying, "Let's talk about something,” but it's already stale.
TINA
Something stands out to me about what you’re saying: in times of heavy change, the cohort model becomes a fast way to learn about what's happening, get more context from organizations, and then quickly learn what people are trialing.
MORGAN
Absolutely. It makes all the difference. And the other way cohort-based learning helps is related to something I learned during the pandemic: so many people in HR have no real HR community. So, a cohort becomes a place where you're learning alongside people who may be having similar experiences and confronting similar challenges.
How HR Leaders Can Learn from Other Functions
Key Takeaway: If you want to influence the CFO, passion isn’t enough—you need to speak their language.
TINA
What's a misconception about developing people leaders or HR leaders that you wish more companies understood?
MORGAN
Everybody thinks that the key to HR development is simply to get deeper into HR. And yes, that’s important. But one thing I’ve realized is that it’s almost more important for us to understand other areas of the business.
We’re being asked to make really strategic decisions, and we need to understand and quantify why we are pushing for something.
For example, HR leaders may think, “I’m making a case for something. Why not lead with passion?” Well, passion isn’t going to work on the CFO. The CFO will need a different kind of argument. These are strategies we haven’t always learned, and we need insight into how other parts of the organization think.
It’s a lot of trial and error, trying to break things down and understand what matters to the CEO, what matters to the CFO, what matters to the COO. Then, you can speak about your initiatives from their point of view.
This is especially important in the current climate: learning to articulate your argument in a way that will reach the other side of the table.
Essential Skills for HR Now: Communication, Adaptability, and Trust
Key Takeaway: You don’t need to have all the answers. But you do need to communicate that you’re here.
TINA
On that thread, how do you see the skills that people leaders need to be successful evolving over the next few years?
MORGAN
I've been telling people to focus on agility and communication. It’s a very complex time, with confusion and change. If you’re not over-communicating, your employees are probably fearful. It’s okay that we don't have all the answers right now. But we need to communicate.
The message to get across is, Hey, I'm here with you. We need to embody that. We have to stay open and agile and work alongside the business and the employees to understand what’s needed and be ready to respond.
TINA
I'm hearing some undertones of lessons that I know you learned during the pandemic, especially around adaptability and building trust.
MORGAN
Definitely. Before the pandemic, HR tended to work in a very siloed way. During that time, we pivoted quickly to start information-sharing on a large scale.
Those experiences have influenced how I approach our PeakHR cohorts. What information can we share so that we don’t have to start from scratch? How can we learn from each other’s mistakes?
It’s really a community mindset—you want to talk with people who share similar concerns, where you can talk about things that matter, where you can feel heard.
The cohort is also a place where you can say: I don’t know everything. In HR—and I experienced this during COVID—you’re always supposed to have the answer. You’re always supposed to be there for everyone else. So in a cohort with other HR professionals, it almost becomes like group therapy. It allows people to adjust, to build resilience in times of change.
Making the Case for Learning (When Budgets Are Tight!)
Key Takeaway: Your sales team has a learning budget. Does your HR team?
TINA
Those of us who work in this space understand the tremendous value you can get from this kind of experience. But how do you describe the value of investing in learning to stakeholders outside of the people function?
MORGAN
We give learning budgets to everyone in the organization. But where does HR get their L&D?
The first thing I would say is to look at your sales teams. What conferences have they attended? What budget have you spent on them? Then look at your HR team. This is where you are likely to see drastic budget differences. And I think that's really important. We give learning budgets to everyone in the organization. But where does HR get their L&D?
Next, you can have a conversation about budget maximization and impact. Conferences, while they're great, are also very expensive. There’s the ticket price, there’s the hotel cost. And what about the connectivity afterward? This is what I think is really special about a cohort experience. We're having constant conversations. We're networking. You’re in the community forever. That’s much more impactful than a conference that you leave, where you may not even talk to the other attendees again.
What does impact really look like? Who do you want your people to learn from? When I’m making the case for learning, these are some of the questions I ask.
Morgan's Learning Mindset
TINA
Where do you go to learn about trends, changes, and new best practices in people management or HR?
MORGAN
I spend a lot of time reading. I read books. I look at the newspaper. I'm subscribed to almost every HR newsletter that you can think of. I'm in multiple communities, and I reach out to people I want to learn more from.
I always tell people: just send that email. And when I say that, I’m not asking you to do something I wouldn’t do!
TINA
Think back to your favorite learning experience. What made it special?
MORGAN
Honestly, I have to say—my mentor. I would not be in this career without her, and I would not be teaching or training people without her.
I still go back to our notes. I’ll reread an email from forever ago. She was just so instrumental in a way that’s still changing my life.
One thing I'll never forget is that when I asked her, how can I ever repay you? She said, pay it forward. That's a value that I'm trying to live every day. And I’m constantly thinking about how I can duplicate that experience I had.
Looking Ahead: The Future of HR Learning
Key Takeaway: Learning can’t be the first thing we cut. People crave it.
TINA
What else would you like to share that we haven’t discussed today?
MORGAN
People are looking at dollars and trying to cut education. That’s not it. It’s just not it. People crave learning. We need to remember that.
I think one thing to emphasize is that we have to continue doing this. People are looking at dollars and trying to cut education. That’s not it. It’s just not it. People crave learning. We need to remember that.
TINA
With that in mind—what's your vision for how the PeakHR alumni community continues to grow and support each other right now?
MORGAN
I'm trying to service a community. For me, it's constantly, what do y'all need? What are you curious about? What do you want?
We're coming from all these different workplaces. So it can’t be a preset dream or vision. It’s about them.
That's the part that I love about the community: we're all learning together.
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Huge thanks to Morgan Williams for sharing her insight and leadership with us!
👉 For more leadership development strategies, download our Practice-Forward Guide for building world-class programs (even with a small L&D team).
Ready to bring the Emerging Leaders Program to your org? Our founders, Tina and Sergio, are eager to discuss how we can tailor our approach to fit your needs.
Get in touch today. We can’t wait to connect with you!
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