Earlier this month, Oakleaf Partnership and The Coaching Solution brought together a group of HR leaders to discuss navigating change in the AI era, expertly facilitated by Martin Tynan of New Tribe Consulting and Liz Jewitt-Cross of Future HR.
We had a refreshingly honest conversation about the gap between AI adoption and AI value.
Adoption is no longer the question
On the surface, the technology applies everywhere and the pace of change will now only continue to get quicker. Most organisations are no longer asking whether to adopt AI. They are asking how to move beyond experimentation and deliver meaningful business outcomes.
McKinsey's latest global research found that 88% of organisations are now using AI in at least one business function, up from 78% a year earlier. Yet nearly two thirds have not begun scaling AI across the enterprise, and only 39% report a measurable EBIT impact at enterprise level.
Leadership alignment
A recurring theme in the room was leadership alignment. Different ExCos approach AI through very different lenses: productivity, cost reduction, growth, innovation, customer experience, risk or governance. McKinsey's research suggests the organisations creating the most value don't focus on efficiency alone. They combine efficiency objectives with growth and innovation ambitions. Without a shared view of the business outcomes AI is intended to deliver, it's easy for organisations to end up with disconnected pilots, competing priorities and limited impact.
Investment is skewed towards the technology
Deloitte reports that 78% of organisations plan to increase AI investment. Of this investment, 93% will be focused on the technology and only 7% on people and capability. More than two thirds of organisations expect 30% or fewer of their AI experiments to reach scale in the next six months.
Clearly, the balance needs to shift towards addressing the human elements of AI value creation.
The words leaders use matter
Language emerged as a particularly important topic. Terms such as efficiency automation and AI first can be interpreted very differently by employees than intended, creating uncertainty rather than engagement.
Thank you to everyone who attended, to our facilitators Martin Tynan and Liz Jewitt-Cross of Future HR, and to Selina at The Coaching Solution, for such valuable perspectives.
