AI, when properly deployed, can help us comb through unstructured data to elicit the attributes that define either implied or attested skills, interests, and opportunities for continuous talent development.
– Mark Stelzner, founder and managing principal, IA
Having founded the firm nearly 15 years ago, Mark Stelzner, founder and managing principal, IA spends a significant amount of his time thoughtfully balancing both evolutionary and revolutionary changes to the HR function. This includes actively encouraging his team to throw out the playbook each year. “If we listen – and I mean truly listen – the answers are more obvious than we think,†says Stelzner. He addresses how HR tech can help businesses to bridge the diversity gap in 2021.
In this edition of HR Talk, Stelzner discusses how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into workgroups to promote a greater sense of belonging. He shares how HR leaders can identify if businesses need a digital transformation roadmap, and more.
Key Takeaways on How AI Can Accelerate HR Transformation in 2021:
- Deploy AI to elicit the attributes that define either implied or attested skills.
- HR tech can do nothing more than to amplify the inequities that exist in organizations.
- A global skills taxonomy is essential for well-intentioned AI toolsets to comb out good candidates.
Here’s the edited transcript from our exclusive interview with Mark Stelzner:
1. Finding the right candidate amid mass hiring in a post-pandemic world will only compound. How can AI transform recruiting when the hiring season opens? What would this AI-led candidate assessment process look like?
In our research on ‘The War for Skills’, we have found that disruptive changes to the labor market will create challenges and opportunities for all industries and organizations.
The World Economic Forum’s ‘Future of Jobs’ report echoes our concerns. It states that, “the most in-demand occupations or specialties did not exist 10 or even 5 years ago, and the pace of change is set to accelerate.â€
Although AI can certainly provide relief to overburdened recruiters, all recruiting cycles require candidates to winnow a wide litany of skills and experiences to the ones most directly applicable to the opportunity they are pursuing.
Without a global skills taxonomy, however, good candidates may simply choose the wrong words and be dispositioned out by well-intentioned AI toolsets. There is much good work happening in this area, but we need to proceed cautiously and mindfully.
–  Mark Stelzner, founder and managing principal, IA
2. With remote work, businesses are finding it extremely challenging to balance their workforce needs. How can HR leaders create that equilibrium when it comes to employee well-being and meeting business goals?
Everyone is hurting in their own way right now, and not everyone is comfortable requesting assistance. HR can demonstrate strong people leadership by gently asking, “How are you, truly?†Then, they can listen without judgement and do everything in their power to support the employee with appropriately matched resources, programs, and service providers.
Organizations are hurting, too, and virtually no one is immune. Leaders can further help their employees and contractors by answering their questions honestly and transparently. “I don’t know, but I’ll try and find out.†is a perfectly acceptable answer, yet it is one that many leaders truly struggle to convey.
– Mark Stelzner, founder and managing principal, IA
Empathy. Transparency. Friendship. Kindness. Love. Truly human goals will always create business value.
Also read: Empathy in the Workplace: 12 Ways To Outweigh a Paycheck in the COVID-19 World
3. Is AI technology today truly transformative for businesses and HR processes? How can HR leaders identify if their businesses need a digital transformation roadmap?
The pace of change within a modern enterprise is relentless and dynamic, and we need to think about our people strategies and roadmaps in a similarly fluid way. It starts with identifying the organization’s true north and includes an exercise to qualitatively and quantitatively document what truly drives decisions, resource and capital allocations, and prioritization. We can then layer in technological enablement, but “digital†is too myopic of a lens for sustainable outcomes.
(AI) technology can be an accelerant to HR transformation, but it certainly cannot do it alone.
-Mark Stelzner, founder and managing principal, IA
4. The pandemic has given HR leaders a louder voice at the leadership table. How do you see this change for the global HR leadership? In what ways can HR leaders look at redefining their future to be at that seat?
I am candidly tired of these old missives and firmly believe that global HR leaders have never been in a stronger position to shape the future of our industry.
If the pandemic has taught us nothing else, we must shape this future in an image representative of the employees we claim to be our most important asset. Let’s use the seat and the table for firewood and set the HR industry on fire.
– Mark Stelzner, founder and managing principal, IA
5. In the aftermath of the #BlackLivesMatters movement, organizations have made public commitments to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) strategies. How can HR tech help businesses to bridge the diversity gap?
I would argue that HR tech can do nothing more than to amplify the inequities that exist in so many organizations around the world. That amplification, however, is critically important because the data needs to hold a mirror to the soul of an organization in a way that no one can ignore. We are not going to automate our way out of a foundationally human crisis.
6. Organizations have traditionally leaned heavily on workers’ age and generation to inform and differentiate their talent strategies. How can organizations integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into workgroups to promote a greater sense of belonging?
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine recently published a seminal research study that concluded, “A focus on generational characteristics is not supported by science and is not useful for informing workforce management decisions.†When we consider that everyone is a snowflake unburdened by generational stereotypes, we can thoughtfully consider the listening strategies necessary in recognizing those unique attributes in the context of belonging.
AI, when properly deployed, can help us comb through unstructured data to elicit the attributes that define either implied or attested skills, interests, and opportunities for continuous talent development.
Also read: Can AI in Recruitment Transform Hiring in a Post-Pandemic World? Q&A With DaXtra Technologies
7. What trends do you see in the future of work that HR leadership should look at as a blueprint for action during challenging times?
HR is ripe for reimagining the way we work. Our profession needs the equivalent of NASA’s Moon to Mars mission, a big idea that requires approaches and tools yet to be invented. We need a catalyst for change so significant that we will look back on this moment and wonder why it took so long to embrace a different mindset and operating model.
Imagine a world in which organizations and their HR teams work together to find new ways of boosting revenue and profitability without having to fire half their people. The pandemic has proven that previously immovable barriers to change are, in fact, quite possible with the right catalyst. Our future is not tethered to tired missives and past missteps, and I for one advocate for putting everything on the table for consideration.
About Mark StelznerOpens a new window :
With more than 25 years of HR transformation experience, Mark has spent his career fostering relationships through attention to detail, natural curiosity, and a self-deprecating sense of humor. By offering unbiased and candid advice to C-level leaders in nearly all geographies and vertical market segments, Mark has brought billions of dollars’ worth of value to his clients and employers. Named a Top 100 HR Tech Influencer by Human Resources Executive, Mark is also a member of the Forbes Human Resources Council.
About IAOpens a new window :
As advisors to senior leaders, IA supports strategic initiatives that transform the way organizations work. Whether large or small, public, or private, domestic, or international, the IA team support leaders and their teams in achieving outcomes that are truly unique to the organization’s culture and objectives.
About HR Talk
HR Talk is an interview series that features top people and talent leaders from HR tech and Fortune 500 companies who are redefining the future of work. Join us as we talk to these HR tech and people analytics experts to get in-depth insights, and some pro-tips on how HR tech can best work for you and your people. Â If you are a people expert and wish to share your thoughts, write to [email protected]Opens a new window .
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