CHROs can lead growth via redesign

In 2025, CEOs are focused on fostering growth, primarily by embracing innovative technology. As more CEOs recognize that technology like generative AI (gen AI) is crucial in driving growth, they are focused on using it to scale productivity and optimize resources.

According to 2024 Gartner research, 86% of CEOs reported they planned to use AI to maintain or increase revenue last year and in 2025. However, organizational design poses a challenge for organizations as they try to adopt and integrate new technology fully.

To effectively adopt AI, organizations need an OD that is agile and collaborative, promotes data-driven talent, empowers teams and has strong leadership. Unfortunately, many CHROs lack confidence in their current design, with 58% believing their OD isn’t flexible and 40% finding it hinders employee productivity.

See also: AI training revolution: Upskilling for a new era

Redesign for future technology adoption

CHROs and their teams understand that without significant changes, the obstacles from current organizational structures will prevent them from preparing the workforce to fully benefit from both current and future technological innovations. Despite the key role they play, only 44% of CHROs in the July 2024 survey responded that they are confident they can deliver on their OD goals in the next 12-18 months.

In 2025 and beyond, most CHROs will redesign their organizations to improve current and future adoption of new technologies. Progressive CHROs won’t jump to a full redesign but will prepare their OD for technological innovation in two distinct phases:

• Near term: Minimize the barriers in the existing OD that prevent successful technology integration.
• Long term: Consider new structures, where appropriate, to enhance OD agility.

Near term: Minimize existing OD barriers that prevent technology integration

Friction in the workplace is perceived as a barrier to getting things done, and the 2024 Gartner research found it’s on the rise, with 67% of employees in a high-friction environment, up from 64% in 2022. However, targeted friction can be beneficial when integrating new technology, provided CHROs take the following actions:

Design workflows for collaboration between humans and technology: CHROs should use areas of friction as a catalyst for process transformation, allowing greater collaboration between employees and technology like gen AI. Effective integration between employees and technology fosters adaptable human-AI workflows with:

• Process analysis for risks and complexities of assigning tasks to humans vs. technology
• Collaboration guardrails for human-AI partnership
• Evaluation of what worked well and what needs improvement

Embrace intentional workflow friction for productivity: While leaders aim to eliminate friction, integrating new technology like gen AI benefits from intentional friction points. These intentional pause points allow employees to scrutinize AI-generated work, reducing errors and unwanted friction later on. CHROs should collaborate with IT to ensure effective human-machine interaction.

Long term: Consider new structures to enhance OD agility

Because talent is a priority consideration, CHROs’ early involvement in strategic planning and technology road mapping is critical to ensuring their workforce is protected against unanticipated talent risks. CHROs should consider three long-term actions to ensure transparent career-pathing and prevent attrition:

1. Flatten hierarchies without eliminating people: When technology reduces talent demand, CHROs should streamline hierarchies and focus on reskilling and redeploying employees. This strategy reassures employees that the organization is committed to their careers and will fulfill that commitment by forming collaborative human-technology teams. Short-term investments in talent processes are now crucial to support future reskilling and redeployment, preventing attrition and maintaining a skilled workforce.
2. Embrace technology democratization by piloting fusion teams: Fusion teams—multidisciplinary teams in which business and technology experts work together and share accountability—drive a democratized digital model. CHROs should partner with CIOs to shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, empowering business functions to form fusion teams. CHROs can facilitate this by orchestrating communities of practice for consistent skills development, shifting from episodic to embedded, agile learning within fusion teams.
3. Boost agility with self-nominated team rotations: CHROs should offer rotational, on-the-job learning to encourage participation in fusion teams and digital skill development. One organization successfully implemented a draft system where employees self-nominated for team rotations over 18 months, allowing them to learn new digital skills they would have otherwise not learned in their existing roles. Key strategies included allowing staff to choose their top three preferences for rotations and keep consistency among teams with the same product owners and team members paired together.

As technology rapidly changes, CEOs are depending on CHROs to redesign how employees work to realize the ROI of technology investments. HR leaders who adapt their OD to improve the adoption and integration of technology will be better positioned to realize its full benefit and positively impact their organization’s growth and competitiveness.