HR’s role in AI transformation – skills, trust, & collaboration

Rebecca Warren and Michael Watson discussed the role of HR in AI transformation, emphasizing skills, trust, and collaboration. A survey with 700 executives revealed that while 92% use AI, only 21% scale it. The issue of “pilot purgatory” was highlighted, where pilots often stall due to lack of alignment and change management. They stressed the importance of a joint organizational AI strategy, AI ethics governance, and designing the day after the pilot. Key metrics included AI leaders achieving 15 times higher productivity and 93% of leaders viewing the head of people as critical. Trust, transparency, and involving employees were crucial for successful AI adoption.

Introduction and backgrounds of Rebecca Warren and Michael Watson

• Rebecca Warren introduces herself, mentioning her five-year tenure at Eightfold and her previous experience in talent acquisition and leadership roles.
• Michael Watson introduces himself, highlighting his over six-year tenure at Eightfold and his extensive HR experience, including implementing Eightfold in 2018.
• Both speakers express excitement about the topic and the audience, setting the stage for the discussion on AI transformation in HR.

Survey insights on AI in HR

• Rebecca Warren discusses a survey conducted with Thought Labs, involving over 700 executives, focusing on AI in HR and tech.
• The survey reveals that while 92% of respondents are experimenting with AI, only 21% are scaling it, indicating a significant gap.
• Rebecca introduces the concept of “pilot purgatory,” where AI pilots often stall due to obstacles and lack of progress.
• Michael Watson reacts to the pilot purgatory issue, emphasizing that AI is not a simple IT upgrade but a fundamental work transformation that requires HR involvement.

Challenges and importance of HR in AI transformation

• Michael Watson explains that AI is not a typical IT upgrade and requires a fundamental understanding of the current state and the transformation needed.
• Rebecca Warren and Michael Watson discuss the importance of change management and the need to involve employees in the process to avoid the “messy middle.”
• Michael shares a real-life change management strategy he used with recruiters, emphasizing the importance of communicating the benefits of AI to employees.
• Rebecca highlights the need for HR to focus on people and ensure that AI initiatives are done “with” employees, not “to” them.

The role of trust and transparency in AI adoption

• Rebecca Warren discusses the importance of trust and transparency in AI adoption, noting that lack of these can lead to fear and resistance among employees.
• Michael Watson shares his perspective on the fear factor, emphasizing the need for HR to build trust and transparency to ensure successful AI adoption.
• Rebecca and Michael discuss the critical role of HR in aligning with the CIO and other stakeholders to drive AI success.
• They highlight the importance of having a joint organizational AI strategy and creating an AI ethics or governance council to set guardrails and prevent trust erosion.

Strategies for overcoming pilot purgatory

• Rebecca Warren outlines three strategies for moving out of pilot purgatory: having a joint organizational AI strategy, creating an AI ethics or governance council, and designing the day after the pilot.
• Michael Watson emphasizes the need for a comprehensive strategy that includes input from all levels of the organization.
• They discuss the importance of setting clear expectations and involving employees in the process to ensure successful AI adoption.
• Rebecca and Michael conclude by reiterating the importance of trust, transparency, and collaboration in driving AI transformation in HR.

Rebecca Warren 0:00 Mike, hey! Hi and hello, everyone. Super excited to be here with the Argyle audience. We are talking about empowering workforce resilience and retention. I have a fabulous coworker with me today, Michael Watson. We will introduce ourselves and then jump into our content. My name is Rebecca Warren. I’ve been at Eightfold for a little over five years. It’s crazy how fast time has gone. Previous to Eightfold, I spent time in talent acquisition in many different spaces, including leadership roles in several areas. I came over to Eightfold without knowing much about Customer Success or tech to help build out the Customer Success team and had the opportunity to work with Mike. I did that for a couple of years and then moved into leadership there. Now I sit under Marketing and work in the Talent Center Transformation area, where we spend time connecting prospects and customers to the understanding of skills and thought leadership, focusing on talent rather than job descriptions or org charts. All right, Mike, over to you to introduce yourself.

Michael Watson 1:18 Thank you, Rebecca. I appreciate it. Michael Watson with Eightfold. I’ve been with Eightfold so long I remember Rebecca’s first day with us. That’s a little over six years now; it was six years this past January 3rd. Prior to that, I was in HR (Human Resources) for 25 years, and I’m a former customer of Eightfold. I implemented Eightfold back in 2018—talk about an early adopter! Not many of us in HR were using AI (Artificial Intelligence) then. I implemented it and used it all through 2019 with real success. I came over here and built out the Customer Success team for the first five years, and for the last year, I’ve moved over to something a little bit closer to my heart: Customer Enablement. I love working with customers from your side of the table. I enjoy enabling them in the platform and cutting down on the mistakes I made when I was a customer, focusing on adoption, change management, and all that good stuff. Great to be with you all today, and I’m looking forward to the conversation.

Rebecca Warren 2:24 We’ve got lots of learnings and lots of stories, don’t we, Michael? We do. Okay, so we did a survey with ThoughtLab of over 700 executives regarding their thoughts on AI, HR, and tech. We’re going to talk about some of the things we’ve learned. We are looking at a slide right now that says, “Beyond the IT Upgrade Myth.” What does that mean? When we talk about using AI as an IT (Information Technology) upgrade—like a software update—we think we just click “Install,” grab a coffee, and wait for the ROI (Return on Investment). That’s not really how it works. The data tells a different story. While everyone is experimenting—92% of the folks we talked to are “doing” AI—only 21% of that group are actually scaling it. That’s a big gap. What we’re seeing is a phenomenon called “Pilot Purgatory,” where folks say they are going to do AI, they start a pilot, they hit an obstacle, and then they stall out. They may quit, get a new team, or start over again, but very few of these pilots ever see the light of day. Mike, I want to get your reaction to Pilot Purgatory. What are you seeing and thinking about that?

Michael Watson 4:02 Well, when you look at that quote: “AI isn’t plug-and-play; it’s fundamental work transformation that stalls without HR.” The reason for that is that this is not just your typical IT upgrade. I wasn’t nervous about whether I would lose my job when we went from Windows 11 to Windows 12, or when we switched SSO (Single Sign-On) providers. This is fundamentally different. We can almost throw out the term “upgrade” because many people are starting from scratch. When I see that 21% number, I think of Josh Bersin and his research on high-performing companies. I’d bet that the 21% aligns with his data on forward-thinking companies. It’s okay where you’re at; this session isn’t meant to make you feel bad. We want to help you move along.

Rebecca Warren 5:19 I think that’s right. People have the right intentions, but it either gets too complicated, uncomfortable, or scary. As you said, it can’t just be about the tech; it has to be about the people, too. If we treat AI as a tech upgrade, you’re going to see failure in work transformation.

Michael Watson 5:57 I’ll share a real-life change management strategy I had when implementing this with my recruiters. They constantly heard from me that once Eightfold was in place, it would give them work-life balance back. No longer would they have to source late into the night. I kept reinforcing that it wasn’t going to replace them; it was going to give them their life back so they aren’t sourcing on their laptops at 10:00 PM on the couch. When pilots stall, it often comes down to change management and the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).

Rebecca Warren 6:49 I love that. If we aren’t paying attention to what’s important to people, we’re doing stuff to them instead of with them. We have to work with our teams, otherwise, we end up in that “messy middle” where folks feel stuck. I’ve been kicking around the idea that we are moving beyond “change management” and into disruption. AI isn’t coming into the workforce quietly; it’s coming in with a bang.

Michael Watson 7:53 The companies in that 21% leaned into it. They realized they could either see it as a disruption or embrace it and figure out how to leverage it. Eightfold gave us carte blanche to figure out how to use AI to do more with less. It goes back to culture. Are you an encouraging culture, or is everything locked down? Some things you won’t be able to change—like data restrictions from Legal—but otherwise, you shouldn’t stay stuck.

Rebecca Warren 8:58 Let’s look at alignment across the organization. Often, AI gets siloed in tech. I love what you said about not worrying about your job during an OS upgrade. But now, we have to think about it. Mike, you remember my first day in Customer Success. I told you, “You are taking a chance; I don’t know anything about this.” I used to tell people I was “uncomfortable” every day. I eventually changed that word to “challenged.” I am challenged and uncomfortable because I don’t know everything, but I have to shift from knowing all the things to learning all the things. Our new normal isn’t predicting five years out; it’s aligning inside the organization to be as transparent as possible.

Michael Watson 10:48 I agree. If the CIO (Chief Information Officer) and the CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer) are not hand-in-hand, it’s going to fall down on either the technical side or the adoption side. It’s called “Human Resources” for a reason; we need to watch out for the human in this equation. If it were up to engineers or the Board, it might be all about “maximum efficiency,” but HR has to be the governor. We owe it to our employees to position this correctly so we can continue to innovate while maintaining our great talent. You have to be ready for those “I’m not sure what’s next for my role” conversations.

Rebecca Warren 12:30 The CIO and CHRO alignment is the biggest predictor of AI success. These AI leaders—the top performers who moved out of the “messy middle”—are seeing 15 times the productivity of their peers. Their secret sauce isn’t better data or better LLMs (Large Language Models); it’s that the CHRO is the core architect of the people strategy, aligning with the technology. 93% of these leaders say the Head of People is now the most critical person in the room.

Michael Watson 13:58 I have an old book here, Winning by Jack Welch. He says that if your CHRO is not the right-hand person to the CEO, and they are just an afterthought for processing workers’ comp claims, you’re in real trouble. We see this in our own organization with how Magda is aligned with things. It’s critical.

Rebecca Warren 14:41 I’m going to throw out a spicy take: If the CHRO isn’t in the AI room from the beginning, the organization has decided that adoption is optional.

Michael Watson 15:22 I agree with that. It doesn’t matter if it’s just the engineering team using it to produce code. What do we say to the entry-level software engineer we just hired? Are we re-educating people on how to write prompts? HR’s role is critical regardless of the department.

Rebecca Warren 16:46 When there isn’t trust and transparency, there is fear. Large-scale disruptions require employees to feel their leaders have their best interests at heart. When employees quietly “protect” their roles or managers don’t know how to measure performance, adoption stays shallow. We need the “human in the lead,” not just “human in the loop.” When people feel heard, the fear factor goes down. The stat that 70% of employees are worried about being replaced is a number I am not okay with.

Michael Watson 19:10 Regarding that fear factor, I am actually trying to build my replacement with AI here at Eightfold because I have more meaningful work to do. I want AI to handle the repetitive tasks—creating decks, scripts, and course descriptions—so I can have more one-on-one interactions and visit customers on-site. AI is here. You had a choice back in 2018; you don’t have a choice anymore.

Rebecca Warren 20:50 Exactly. We want augmentation. We have to move from being a “knowledge expert” to a “curious learner.” As a leader, it’s not about being the smartest person in the room; it’s about curiosity and strategic thinking. Mike, tell me about moving toward potential rather than just hiring based on a resume.

Michael Watson 23:42 It goes back to augmentation. I used to use the analogy of the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper and the pill. As soon as I use a tool like Eightfold, I have “incredible intelligence” because the system looks beyond the resume. I continue to have intellectual curiosity; I’ve even built agentic bots here. Now, I’m building AI agents that can deliver classes. Instead of me hosting classes for two weeks, an agent does it, which allows me to spend more in-person time with new customers. It enhances my job; it doesn’t replace me.

Rebecca Warren 25:10 To get out of Pilot Purgatory, here are three things you can do:

1. Organizational AI Strategy: This isn’t just a slide deck. Leadership must agree on why we are using AI, where it is allowed to change work, and who owns the consequences. It must be a joint effort between IT and HR.
2. AI Ethics and Governance Council: You need guardrails or “bounce ropes.” This defines acceptable risk and who decides when AI behavior isn’t okay. This gives teams permission to move fast within boundaries.
3. Design the “Day After”: Most people skip this. What happens if the pilot works? What if it doesn’t? You need timelines, owners, and adoption expectations. Uncertainty feels risky, so transparency is key.

Michael Watson 29:48 And don’t try to “boil the ocean.” Find the forward-thinking silos in your company to start with. Proof the concept there and then roll it out. I haven’t seen any of our customers with 60,000 employees roll out an AI philosophy to everyone all at once. You have to learn and scale.

Rebecca Warren 30:54 Exactly. You have to be with them, not doing things to them. Mike, your last 20 seconds?

Michael Watson 31:34 Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself. When I was a customer, I didn’t know everything about AI, so I tried to learn. When I came to Eightfold, I hired people like Rebecca who are smarter than me. Be humble, admit what you don’t know, and build a great support team.

Rebecca Warren 32:07 Curious learner, trust, and transparency. I love it. Thanks, everyone, for joining us!