Like any seasoned gardener knows, a green thumb alone doesn’t make a great garden. It’s a confluence of a skilled workforce, intentional but flexible strategies, and the right environment for the bounty—and in many ways, developing an AI-ready workforce requires the same approach as ripe, juicy beefsteak tomatoes right off the vine.
HR pros play an increasingly important role when it comes to readying the workforce for the AI transformation. The function is tasked, of course, with optimizing HR workflows with the burgeoning technology, but leaders also play a key role in skilling employees and supporting change management along the way.
“There are going to be job losses with AI, but there will be job additions as well with new types of technology and getting even the technology infrastructure,” said Richard Smith, who runs the Human Capital Development Lab at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. “How do organizations make that shift is a key question.”
Smith told HR Brew that while there are, of course, companies that will favor downsizing their headcount for AI systems and a smaller skilled workforce, “the enlightened approach is a real focus on the reskilling needed, and we see this with certainly the tech companies.”
Luckily for HR and learning and development pros (L&D) that the tools and strategies needed for upskilling and reskilling are also undergoing their own AI-powered transformation, offering organizations and employees more training tailored to their individual professional goals and learning styles.
“The reskilling challenge—when you begin to think about it—isn’t just the pocket of people. It’s, ‘How do you get everyone in your organization to step up to this?’”
Smith said early research into the ongoing AI transformation suggests that HR plays a key role in a broader organizational transformation, and to yield the ripest fruit, a skilled workforce is only one component of a strategy to fully prepare the organization for AI.
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“What we’re seeing is it’s not just the way that HR people are managing the talent,” he said, adding that skills, organization structure, company culture, and leadership are all needed to deliver AI transformation.
Smith added that companies also need to look at organizational structure itself because the “old job descriptions and KPIs” can get in the way of AI’s potential. HR is accustomed to policing job descriptions and overseeing the interdependencies associated with each role, and now some HR leaders are calling for additional flexibility in this transition period.
Organizations that are “more people-centered” and “innovation oriented” have the requisite culture required to best adopt AI, Smith claimed. Leadership buy-in is also required. Leaders in organizations that are ahead on AI are leading by example, taking risks in experimenting with the new technology, and encouraging their employees to develop their skills in the field, he said.
With a skilled workforce, flexible org structure, innovative and creative culture, and AI-friendly leadership, companies can uniquely unlock the potential that AI offers their businesses.
“I would maybe encourage HR leaders…[to] come up with their own unique practices for their organization. I think too many times, HR leaders are always looking for best practices and what ends up happening is that they can all end up doing the same things,” Smith said.
“What that does is it actually reduces competitive advantage, and I encourage HR leaders to really think about their human capital system and think about it as something that could potentially be a strategic advantage for the organization.”