As we start the new year, we're sharing the latest from our partners, product updates, and fresh thinking from people leaders reimagining how work gets done.

Introducing the Zal.ai Thought Leadership Network

The Zal.ai Thought Leadership Network elevates Chief People Officers and Chief Human Resource Officers shaping the future of performance, culture, and people strategy.

We look to this community to listen, learn, and stay grounded in the lived realities of modern People leadership. Through open dialogue and shared perspective, these practitioners help surface what’s working, what’s breaking, and what needs to change - advancing more intentional, human-centered approaches to how work gets done.

Meet our Inaugural Thought Leaders:

• Amy Dennis, Viridian Advisors

• Amy Giggey-Burns, PHR, Talent to Team

• Ben Dattner, Ph.D., Dattner Consulting LLC

• Desiree Therianos, Vice President of Human Resources, HOPPR

• Em Kintner, 1-800-People-Ops

• Eric Martin, SHRM-SCP, PMP, Blue Pinnacle Solutions

• Sarah King, King Consulting LLC

• Stela Lupushor, Reframe.Work Inc.

• Stephanie Shuler, Chief People Officer, LifeLabs Learning

• Tem Lawal, Ph.D., Ellum Leadership Advisors

Insights From the Network

The 2026 New Year’s Resolution for HR Leaders

As workplaces transform rapidly, where should HR leaders focus? Sarah King, founder of King Consulting LLC, makes the case in The 2026 New Year's Resolution for HR Leaders: mastering conflict resolution, deepening business acumen, and showing courage in difficult conversations are the keys to driving performance success. Read the full article →

Overhauling the Performance Review Process

Modern performance reviews are broken. In "Overhauling the Performance Review Process," Tem Lawal, Ph.D., explains why conventional evaluations fail both employees and managers, and offers a framework for making reviews more meaningful and actionable. Read the full article →

Product Update

We kicked off 2026 with one of our biggest usability upgrades yet.

Fresh New Look - We’ve redesigned key parts of Zal.ai to make the experience faster, clearer, and easier to navigate. We've introduced a new navigation bar for quicker access across the platform and a redesigned Inbox experience with a cleaner, more intuitive layout.

Review Season, Made Easier - Leaders can now add optional review cover pages to set context, share resources, and brand the experience for review writers. We have also updated custom rating scales and tracking peer nominations with a new, streamlined progress view.

But that’s not all - We also shipped a handful of improvements to make everyday work in Zal smoother, from better email links and login redirects to cleaner goal approvals.

Coming in February

We're launching in-app support and a Help Center to make training, rollouts, and day-to-day questions easier. Everyone, from admins to managers to employees, will find answers right when they need them, keeping reviews and feedback moving smoothly.

Share Signal. Cut Noise.

We're just getting started in 2026, and we're grateful to partner with HR leaders committed to doing performance management differently.

Thank you for being part of the Zal.ai community.

Sincerely,

The Zal.ai team