We hosted a conversation recently with Robert Buckley—Chief People Architect and HR leader in a fast-moving biotech company—about AI in HR.

What struck me most wasn’t whether people believed AI matters anymore.

Most already do.

The conversation was much more practical than that.

HR leaders were talking about the things already sitting on their plate:

And underneath all of it was a bigger question:

How do you move from experimenting with AI… to actually building it into the way work happens?

How do you use it in a way that genuinely helps with the outcomes HR teams are already trying to drive?

At one point in the conversation, Robert used a phrase that really stuck with me: “Activation energy”

This is the amount of effort, friction, uncertainty, and change it takes for someone to actually start using something consistently.

And honestly, I think that explains a lot of where teams are right now.

It’s not that they’re resistant or dismissive. It’s that most organizations are still somewhere between experimentation and habit.

I think a lot of HR leaders are trying to figure out where AI actually creates leverage.

The pressure on HR teams right now is real.

Managers need more support.
Communication needs to be clearer.
Teams are moving through constant change.

And somehow, most HR teams are being asked to do more without dramatically increasing resources—in fact, most resources are being cut.

That’s why this conversation matters.

AI has the potential to create capacity around the work that matters most with…

Better thinking.
More consistency.
Less time spent on repetitive work.

But none of that happens automatically.

People don’t change how they work because a tool exists. They change when something becomes useful enough, simple enough, and valuable enough to become part of their normal rhythm.

If you’re thinking about AI with your team right now, start with your most important outcome.

Not: “How do we use AI everywhere?”
More like: “What’s the outcome we’re trying to achieve… and where could AI help us make progress faster?”

Maybe it’s…

Don’t try to force adoption.

Just focus on making meaningful progress on the things people already care about.

Here are the types of things I’m hearing in my conversations:

“We’ve experimented, but it still feels scattered.”
“We know there’s value, but we haven’t fully integrated it into the way we work.”
“I’m trying to figure out where this actually creates leverage for our team.”

Most HR leaders aren’t sitting around wondering if AI is important.

They’re trying to figure out where it actually fits.

Final thought: I don’t think the organizations that benefit most from AI will necessarily be the ones using the most tools.

I think they’ll be the ones that get the clearest about the outcomes they’re actually trying to drive… then using AI in ways that genuinely help create progress around those things.

At the end of the day, the goal is to create more capacity for the work that matters most.

I’d love to hear what you’re experiencing in your own organization!

Warmly,
Steve

Sent from Campfire—a hub for developing leaders at scale.