As we shared in our Celebrating Female Trailblazers in Learning & Development article, we had the opportunity to interview inspiring female leaders in L&D. We loved sitting down with Laurel Serra, one of our valued partners at PayrollOrg, to hear her words of advice on developing leadership qualities and aspiring to leadership positions.
Can you please tell us about your role at PayrollOrg?
I am the Director of Education Services at Payroll Org, formerly known as the American Payroll Association. I’ve been a member since 2017, and I started attending Congress, the annual conference, and networking with everyone at that time. I also taught Payroll courses, teaching everything from IRS tax law, to fringe benefits, to management styles, to HR. And then in 2018, I applied for Payroll Org’s Prism award. The Prism award is for an organization who has improved their processes and procedures to be aligned with best practices in the industry. We won! And then, a few years later, my role became available at Payroll Org and I knew that working for them would be the perfect next step in my career. And it’s so rewarding, I love being in this position as the Director of Education Services. It has really been an incredible journey and I can’t even explain how proud I am of it.
How does your organization partner with HC?
How do we partner with HC? It’s more like, how do we not partner with HC! We are currently preparing for a product launch and every day I’m talking with someone at Holmes. Our partnership has been an incredible journey. I love discussing product enhancements, how to best incorporate AI, and analyzing results together. I think the dynamics of the partnership have really changed over the last couple of years. To me, it’s almost as if there’s really no separation between the two companies. If someone at Holmes leaves their role, I’ve lost a team member, and when new team members join, I’m gaining a new team member. It has been so cool to watch the relationship grow and to celebrate successes together. And we are also able to be honest when there are challenging topics to discuss. It’s like a tango that we dance together. And if you’re winning, we’re winning.
Why do you enjoy working in L&D?
I’m passionate about training and helping professionals learn and grow in their careers. And I also love working at PayrollOrg because I love numbers. I remember when I was an exchange student in high school, and I studied abroad in Austria where every class was in German. My favorite class that I took was math, and it was because it didn’t matter what language was being spoken, the numbers were always the numbers. And I think that is why I love Payroll so much.
What advice do you have for aspiring leaders?
Don’t be afraid to bring your own seat. Don’t expect there to be a seat given to you. Don’t be afraid to fight and make yourself heard and to be confident in the knowledge that you have. I remember some experiences where employees would come looking for the Payroll Director and would ask “where is he?”. And I would say to them, “I’m right here.”.
We’ve got to get away from this second guessing ourselves and this impostor syndrome and start owning who we are. It’s those little nuances of doubting yourself, that others are going to jump all over and see your weakness. It’s like they can smell it, they can smell that doubt within you, and they will go right for it. You must get to the point where you are very confident in who you are. Stand firm in what you say. If you don’t know an answer, or you don’t have any guidance, it’s also okay to acknowledge that and say that. And when you are in those moments, you must acknowledge how you’re going to work to find a solution or an answer. When people see that you’re willing to take those extra steps or to fight for the organization or the profession, they can start to see the bigger picture. It’s important for all leaders to understand how the entire organization operates, not just your department. Success comes from gaining knowledge and doing the research.
