HR teams today are facing intense pressure to lead transformation in a business landscape that technology is turning on its head. But too often, HR and business leaders are thinking all wrong about the relationship between technology and transformation.
“Transformation is not about tech; it’s about becoming,” Jason Averbook, senior partner at Mercer, told a crowd of nearly 100 at the HR Executive Strategy Summit on Monday in Las Vegas, a gathering of senior HR leaders that came on the eve of the start of the HR Tech conference.
The real focus of the future of work
Employee fears about being replaced by AI are persistent, driving the notion that human and machine workforces will be distinct components of the talent ecosystem of the future. Yet, Averbook said, that’s not the case—and building strategies around the notion can lead to ineffective workforce planning.
“The workforce of the future isn’t human or machine—it’s human with machine,” he said.
HR’s focus had traditionally been on “counting heads.” That shifted to “making heads count” in recent years, as HR prioritizes employee experience and engagement to drive performance. Now, HR’s remit, Averbook said, is navigating “human-machine teaming.”
In a presentation following Averbook’s, Kathi Enderes, senior vice president of research and global industry analyst at The Josh Bersin Co., said that AI has the capacity to “elevate human capital” instead of “destroying jobs”—if HR can help organizations use AI well.
Understand what humans do best and what machines do best, Averbook advised. Then, envision how those capabilities fit into the broader architecture of business goals.
“If you do that, you’re a superhero going forward,” he said.
Tech as a starting point
As HR functions run with the mandate for transformation in this new world, they often think tech first—because they don’t have a “digital mindset,” Averbook said.
“The minute they hear the word ‘digital,’ what do they think? Tech,” he said. A true digital mindset, however, empowers teams to move fast, fail fast and experiment. An 18-month rollout won’t cut it today, Averbook noted.
“When we think about a digital mindset, it’s not about the tech you use; it’s about how you think when technology is changing everything,” he said.
Don’t celebrate go-lives, for instance, Averbook said; instead, focus on the “go-begins.” Stop treating tech like a rock—that is unmoving—but rather like a pet that you need to tend to continuously. Invest in getting the people and processes in order first—so adoption can flourish—before the tech.
“If HR leadership teams aren’t thinking this way today, we need to get there,” Averbook said. “Otherwise, they’ll put AI on top of what they have and say the AI doesn’t work; it’s like putting digital lipstick on an analog pig.”
Change management over “changefulness”
Enderes cited company research that 92% of CEOs say they’re heavily investing in AI, yet only 7% are actually generating new revenue through the technology.
“What’s in the middle?” she asked. “It’s the people, the culture, the readiness.”
Preparing an organization for transformation isn’t a static venture, one that the term “change management” suggests, Enderes said. Particularly with AI, which is constantly changing, HR needs to help their organizations lean into “change agility.”
Reserve change management, Averbook added, for making processes stick—where there is a beginning and an end. For change impacting and involving people, like AI transformation, he favors the term “changefulness,” which suggests an “always-on,” evolving approach.
“We can’t do change like we used to,” Enderes noted.
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