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It's no surprise that HR is struggling—bored, burned out, and stuck in a cycle of repetition. They continue doing the same tasks, even when those tasks have become outdated. Just the other day, an HR professional asked me how to map competencies. I simply replied, "No one does that manually anymore; we use AI for that now."
The persistence of this old-school mindset in HR is truly mindboggling.
HR as a profession is exciting and full of potential. But it’s hard to feel inspired when you can't see its future. The truth is, there is an incredible future for HR, and it’s time for professionals to start building towards it. That means bringing HR into the 21st century and leaving outdated practices behind.
Imagine dedicating your energy to transforming your department instead of getting bogged down in mundane, repetitive tasks. How? Here are some ideas that I hope can excite you all.
Digitalise Competency MappingWhy spend weeks mapping competencies when AI can analyze roles, tasks, and performance data in seconds? With AI, you can instantly identify skill gaps and requirements, freeing up time to focus on strategic initiatives.
Digitalise Hiring Processes - No, I am not talking about ATS!Streamline your hiring process with LinkedIn Hiring Assistance and leave the heavy lifting to smart technology. Automate candidate sourcing, screening, and outreach so you can offload repetitive recruiting tasks and focus on the strategic, people-centric work that truly makes a difference—building relationships, shaping culture, and driving long-term success. Let technology handle the details while you concentrate on what matters most.
Build a Talent DatabaseWithout having that you simply have no talent management. This is the most exciting project you can ever do!
Upgrade Performance ReviewsSay goodbye to outdated annual reviews! AI provides continuous real-time feedback, automatically summarized at year-end, along with personalized development plans. This transforms evaluations into relevant, forward-looking tools for continuous growth, rather than backward-looking assessments.
Get Rid of your Traditional Performance Management SystemSay goodbye to the traditional performance management system with its dreaded 9/12-box grids, bell curves, and useless annual talent calibration exercises. These outdated practices stifle agility and waste valuable time. Instead, leverage AI-driven tools to provide continuous performance insights, real-time feedback, and dynamic talent assessments that adapt to evolving business needs. Streamline your process and focus on what truly matters: developing your people and driving impactful results. Currently, none of your systems are probably doing it.
Digitalise Training Needs AnalysisDitch cumbersome surveys, focus groups, and outdated multi-step processes. AI-powered platforms instantly identify skill gaps, recommend tailored learning paths, and seamlessly integrate with your performance management system.
Personalize Career PathingGeneric career ladders are a thing of the past. AI can design individualized career trajectories (in any direction), identify gaps and suggest tailored resources to support employees’ unique growth journeys.
Bin Employee EngagementAnnual surveys? Outdated. Move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to employee experience. Forget annual engagement surveys and cookie-cutter programs that fail to inspire. Instead, embrace Employee Experience Design powered by real-time data and AI-driven insights. Map out employee touchpoints, continuously listen to employee sentiment, personalize experiences based on individual and team needs, and create a workplace that evolves with your people. How? See below the process. Also, use systems!
Transform Learning with AINo more static LMS, outdated academies, workshops, mandatory training, or training applications. AI curates on-demand, highly personalized learning content aligned with both employee goals and business priorities. Your L&D strategy should be; Don’t make training mandatory, make competence mandatory. Assess, assess, assess and assess a little more and provide resources. The rest is up to the employees. L&D is dead and you know it! The internet out there is better than anyone you can hire so lean into AI education.
Dynamic Workforce PlanningStatic headcount plans can’t keep up with today’s pace. AI simulates multiple workforce scenarios, predicts future talent needs, and helps you adapt dynamically to change. You don’t need to sit on it for weeks or continuously do forecasts.
Simplify Policy DesignPolicy creation no longer needs to be a months-long process. AI tools draft policies in minutes, incorporating best practices, compliance requirements, and organizational data.
Enhance Succession PlanningSubjective succession discussions are limiting. AI predicts potential successors with remarkable accuracy, analyzing performance trends and behavioural patterns.
Modernize Compensation ManagementForget waiting for annual market surveys. AI analyzes real-time market trends and internal equity to recommend fair, competitive pay adjustments, ensuring your organization stays ahead.
Isn’t this the kind of HR that would truly excite you? Imagine identifying tasks that don’t need human intervention, implementing digital solutions to handle them, and focusing your energy on the human elements that make HR impactful.
Isn’t it thrilling to recognize that the performance management system isn’t working—and then redesign it into something that actually makes sense for your organization? And isn’t it empowering to explain to the CEO why the annual engagement saga is a waste of time, energy, and money, and instead, take the lead in designing employee experiences that truly matter?
Isn’t it exciting—and challenging—to have the freedom to do what truly makes sense for your business and your people instead of following others and old-school practices? Imagine the creativity, research, and problem-solving you get to unleash to fix what’s broken. Don’t tell me that doesn’t get you fired up!
HR is bored, struggling, and burned out because they’re stuck doing boring HR. They operate the same way as always, with no vision for the department’s future.
Instead of driving change, they’re posting on LinkedIn about how everyone hates HR and how isolated the department feels. Or, fighting for that seat in the boardroom. Our work is not in the boardroom, our work is in our department and on the floor with our people. We need very little time in that boardroom so the focus shouldn't be on that seat. The focus should be on transforming HR not just patching things up.
Nobody is going to come and tell HR how to transform itself—we need to tell the business. But are we? All I see are outdated practices. If one more CHRO mentions Gallup surveys or says "Hire for behaviour, train for skills," or “We launched a policy or training program to attract and retain talent” I might just die!
I just don’t understand how we don’t find joy in dismantling what doesn’t work and discovering new ways to do things. By doing this, we can transform HR step by step. Joy is in the building of something but HR is not building anything.
As I’ve said, HR is a rewarding and fulfilling profession, but only those with the right competence and expertise truly get to enjoy it. The rest will struggle, and when HR struggles, both people and the business suffer. It’s not easy, but when you have the expertise every hurdle is just an opportunity to find ways so you don’t have to deal with it ever again.
Take a moment before the year ends to ask yourself: Am I truly transforming this department, or am I just patching things up without making real change? Would I be proud to showcase my practices, policies, and processes to other companies? Would I be offering the same tired solutions as everyone else, or would I be the Google of HR in that room, setting the standard?
AI can do many things for HR, the only thing it cannot do is throw a pizza party!
How to start? Here is an easy framework to help you organise your thoughts:
AUDIT - MAP - MEASURE - IMPROVE - STANDARDS
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