MEDIJATOR Andreja Bakula

Guest Andrea BakulaHosted by Srđan ŠimacMay 3, 2026

Andrea Bakula

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Andrea Bakula calls herself an 'HR midwife.' She shows up to companies that often have 'nothing' in terms of HR structure, but have good people, and together, they build everything from job descriptions to onboarding processes. Her promise is bold: within four weeks, she improves hiring, performance management, and reward systems, allowing businesses to dedicate at least 30% more time to their core operations. Bakula, a psychologist and owner of AB.PRO business services, brings a deeply human perspective to a field often reduced to 'resources.' She explains why language matters, why empathy must be paired with sharp execution, and how even the fastest-growing businesses can stabilize their people operations. This conversation will make you rethink not just your HR processes, but how you define and value the people who make your business run.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Andrea Bakula describes herself as an 'HR midwife,' working with businesses that often have no formal HR processes but a strong team. Her point is that a consultant's role isn't just to fix what's broken, but to co-create foundational structures from scratch, especially for small businesses where the lack of process can unravel existing teams.

Her own career path began in kindergarten, mediating disputes among children, a pattern that continued through school and led her to psychology. The lesson here isn't 'follow your passion'; it's that the work you are uniquely suited for often reveals itself through lifelong, involuntary habits long before you recognize it as a professional calling.

Bakula’s LinkedIn profile promises to improve HR processes in four weeks, allowing clients to spend 30% more time on their core business. This isn't just about efficiency; it highlights that a consultant’s real value is buying back a client’s most precious asset — their focused time — by offloading and streamlining critical support functions.

She pushes back on the term 'human resources,' preferring 'human potential' or simply 'people,' and in her posts, she uses 'employees—people.' The language you choose for your team isn't just semantics; it shapes how you perceive and interact with your most valuable asset, shifting from a transactional view to a human-centric partnership.

A construction client with 70 employees, having grown rapidly, reached out because their lack of structured HR processes was starting to destabilize the company. This shows that while growth can happen without formal systems, the absence of clear roles and procedures eventually becomes a critical drag, making foundational HR a necessity for sustained scaling.

To create accurate job descriptions for the construction client, Bakula had field workers describe their own roles, delighting them that their input was sought. The most effective job descriptions aren't generated from templates or management assumptions; they emerge from the direct experience of those performing the work, fostering both accuracy and employee engagement.

Bakula emphasizes that while she is a 'warm person,' she is 'sharp when it comes to business,' stating she 'gets sick' when deadlines or agreements are not met. For a consultant, this balance of approachability and strict adherence to professional commitments is crucial for effective collaboration and delivering tangible results.

Andrea describes the employee lifecycle as a 'bus ride,' where everyone — from drivers to passengers — must know their role, the destination, and why they are on board. This metaphor underscores that an organization functions best when every individual understands their place and purpose within the collective journey, not just their specific task.

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