HR teams don’t need more AI tools – they need a place to start

A recent (and in my view excellent) Harvard Business Review article by Herminia Ibarra and Michael Jacobides, explored why so many companies still struggle to capture real value from AI. Their point isn’t about the technology itself – it is that leaders rarely redesign how their organisations actually work.

That feels especially true in HR. Many HR teams are experimenting with AI tools for recruitment, analytics, or creating chatbots for handling policy enquiries and the like. But the biggest gains don’t necessarily come from automating tasks. They come from rethinking how work is organised, how decisions are made, and how people are developed.

The most forward-thinking HR functions are:

• Spanning boundaries – learning from peers in tech, data handling, and transformation roles, and exploring and sharing credible examples of AI in use.
• Redesigning workflows so AI takes care of pattern recognition and routine analysis, freeing HR colleagues for sense-making and dialogue with other people.
• Blending human judgment with AI-generated insights when making workforce and talent decisions.
• Re-training managers to coach their teams through experimentation, learning, and adaptation rather than inspection and control.
• Modelling adoption – HR leaders using AI in their own daily work to build fluency and show all around them that curiosity and imperfection, are part of progress.

At Enable-HR, we’re seeing the difference when HR leaders treat AI less as a project and more as a mindset shift. Those who combine automation with new ways of working and leading, are the ones who we believe, will realise lasting impact.

How is your HR team redesigning work to make the most of AI?

I’d really like to hear about your own experience in this rapidly evolving space. What’s working for you and what changes are you finding challenging?

Contact me if you would like a virtual coffee to chat about where you can begin.