HR’s role in creating a sustainable generative AI strategy

Charlene Li graduated from Harvard Business School the month the World Wide Web was created. In the ensuing decades, the disruption expert and bestselling author has seen the advent of social media, digital transformation, collaborative technology, Web 3.0.

“With generative AI, it is something very, very different,” she said.

In the nearly two years since generative AI hit the mainstream with the release of ChatGPT by Open AI, the technology has already started changing the way people do things and even their relationships with one another, Li said during the opening keynote at Tuesday’s  HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas.

“It calls into question the very existential [issue] of, what does it mean for us to be human?” Li said.

The tech can certainly generate human-like content. Li showed an example of an avatar she created with Simulus AI that can lead full trainings, be translated into 70 languages and answer questions in real time.

However, as much potential as that technology can bring to functions like HR, few people professionals are harnessing its full power, she said. Li conducted a live poll of the audience and found that about 28% of those in attendance said they use gen AI every day; about a third use it a few times a week.

Many HR professionals are caught in a “push and pull”—not wanting to miss out on the value of generative AI for HR but also wary of the changes it will bring. HR professionals must not just “dip their toes” into generative AI, but dive in with great confidence, she advised.

Apart from the impact generative AI can have on HR’s work—from performance management to recruiting to learning and development—HR professionals have an inherent responsibility to become leaders in generative AI.

Li said employees are looking to leaders like HR to guide their own understanding and acceptance of generative AI: How safe is the technology? How will it change jobs? What’s the best way to use the tools?

“If you’re not using [generative AI] on a regular basis, if it hasn’t transformed the way you work, how can you begin to transform your organization?” she asked. “If we want it to be successful and beneficial to employees, to ourselves, to society, it’s incumbent upon us as leaders to learn it and use it for good. Because in the wrong hands, the technology can do so much damage if we’re not there to counter that.”

Li offered three essential steps that HR leaders can help their organizations take to become more proficient at leveraging generative AI:

1. Lay the foundation

Now is the time, she said, for organizations to draw the line on generative AI. She cited one company whose leadership team gave all 600 employees access to comprehensive training on AI and instructed them to start incorporating the tech into their daily routines. The company created a dashboard the entire company could see that rated each employee with a green, yellow or red light—signifying how much they were using the tech. The CEO told employees that, in six months, there would be no more red lights at the company—everyone would have either started to embrace AI or rethink their relationship with the organization.

Charlene Li, HR Tech 2024 opening keynote speaker

“Think about the other technology that has come along: desktops or laptops, email, collaborative tools like Slack, Google searches—they’re table stakes now,” Li said. HR can help leadership approach generative AI with the same mindset.

“You have to be able to guide your organization and say, ‘This is what we have to do for the future, and we’re going to go grab it now,’ ” she said.

A key piece of laying the generative AI foundation is training leadership. While many companies encourage employees across all levels to pitch ideas about leveraging generative AI, if the company’s most strategic thinkers aren’t properly trained, the organization’s generative AI strategy won’t be effective.

She recommends HR help set up a “secure AI playground” for leadership to experiment and enstate comprehensive generative AI training for the top two levels of executives. Importantly, she advised, treat the prompts that the team starts using as intellectual property and help leaders focus on crafting effective prompts.

For instance, for robust responses from generative AI, the prompts need to be robust, she noted. And at the end of the prompt, ask the tech if it has any clarifying questions—just like you would with a copywriter or an assistant.

Generative AI is so much more effective if you approach it not as a piece of tech but as a thought partner and sounding board with which you are having a real conversation, she said.

2. Set your generative AI strategy

At its core, Li said, “strategy” is “where you will play and how you will win.” Often, she said, organizations she works with will bring her what they call a strategy for generative AI—but it’s really just a list of use cases.

Strategy needs to be about thinking big, starting small and scaling fast, she said. That work should be undertaken by what Li calls a minimum viability team of strategic executives, digital/AI professionals, product team members, commercial representatives and HR.

Generative AI will change jobs, reimagine careers, knock down career ladders and create them anew, shift how employees are hired and developed—so, HR needs to play a “crucial role” in developing generative AI strategy.

“This is an AI transformation—AI is the digital part, but transformation is the people part,” she said. “Fundamentally, this is a people issue.”

A generative AI strategy should include preparation stages like investing in training, conferences and workshops, and the development of governance and policies that cover everything from data security to ethical guidelines to how to communicate the strategy with transparency.

Instead of creating a 12-month strategy, stretch it to 18 months—and audit it every quarter, Li advised.

As the strategy is rolled out, HR can help leaders get comfortable with the “messy middle”—they’re not resisting AI but likely haven’t quite arrived at the full realization of its power for the organization.

“The reality is that it’s incredibly messy,” she said. “There is no such thing as a strategy that will be executed exactly the way you thought it would. I invite you to revel in the messiness.”

3. Embrace the future of work

As HR professionals help their organizations integrate generative AI, they need to remember that the future of work is still being written.

One reason so many employees are anxious about embracing AI is they’re afraid of not being in control. However, effective leaders of the future will understand the power of external forces like the advancement of technology.

“We were never in control in the first place,” she said, noting this is an important distinction that can help both leaders and employees rethink their relationship with AI—and to be “in command” of it, not in control of it.

“We don’t have all the answers, but leadership isn’t about having the answers,” she said. “It’s about being able to ask the right questions to direct people in the direction they need to be in.”

HR professionals should be prepared to answer three questions of themselves:

1. What is my role in leading the generative AI transformation?
2. How will I serve as a role model?
3. How will I assure stakeholders about the coming changes?

Asking the right questions will be key to leading the culture change that will enable organizations to integrate AI effectively. Organizations that struggle to have a generative AI strategy take hold need to examine their beliefs and behaviors—which, together, Li said, form the basis of company culture. Identify the beliefs and behaviors that will allow the business to harness AI and use those to replace the beliefs and behaviors holding the company back.

“You have to actively create culture,” Li said, noting that culture change will be the differentiator between companies that can harness the real potential of generative AI—and those that aren’t scratching the surface. “I do believe, in the end, that AI can make us better humans.”

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