The Future is Now: How HR and L&D Professionals Can Master AI

The rapid acceleration of AI adoption has created a turning point for HR and Learning & Development professionals. No longer can they afford to simply observe from the side lines – they must now actively lead their organizations through this technological revolution with confidence and strategic insight.

TL;DR: 

• HR and L&D practitioners need to be viewed as strategic influencers who must guide AI adoption across businesses
• Fear of AI stems from lack of knowledge – developing deeper understanding builds confidence
• Human and digital workforces will collaborate, requiring rethinking of organizational structures
• Change management and stakeholder engagement are critical for successful AI implementation
• AI should augment human capabilities rather than replace them entirely
• HR and L&D professionals must develop practical skills to lead AI transformation

What makes this moment particularly challenging is the complexity surrounding AI implementation. HR leaders are suddenly expected to understand not just the technology itself, but also navigate the ethical considerations, governance frameworks, and change management strategies required for successful integration. 

Without developing these capabilities, they risk losing their seat at the table when critical decisions about organizational transformation are being made.

Throughout our conversation, we explore how fear often stems from lack of knowledge, and why developing practical AI skills is essential for HR professionals who want to maintain strategic influence. 

We discuss the delicate balance between embracing automation while preserving the uniquely human aspects of work, and why transparent communication is crucial when implementing new technologies. 

Rather than seeing AI as a threat to jobs, we position it as an opportunity to elevate HR work by automating administrative tasks while creating space for more complex, relationship-driven activities that machines cannot replicate.

Exciting New HI for HR and L&D Professionals Course:

Ready to move beyond theory and develop practical AI skills for your HR or L&D role? We're excited to announce our upcoming two-day workshop specifically designed for HR and L&D professionals who want to confidently lead AI implementation in their organizations. 

Join us in November at the beautiful MCS Group offices in Belfast for hands-on learning that will transform how you approach AI strategy. 

Check here details on how to register for this limited-capacity event - https://kierangilmurray.com/hrevent/ or chat https://calendly.com/kierangilmurray/hrldai-leadership-and-development

Chapters

• 0:00 AI's explosion in business
• 7:42 Strategic HR influence in the AI era
• 13:13 Fear and organizational structures
• 17:34 Practical implementation challenges
• 21:05 Effective change management

Transcript

Kieran Gilmurray: 0:04

Claire, you and I spoke a little while ago. We actually did a podcast series on HR and AI, and now we're about to do the same thing again, because I don't think there's been a time where AI has been hotter and if you and I live our values, we've talked about people strategy, hr strategy, technology strategy, ai strategy, business strategy. We talked about you know people strategy, hr strategy, technology strategy, ai strategy, business strategy. We talked about those consistently, but it feels like something has happened in the market, where ai really is rocketing into every business that I'm coming across. Are you seeing the same thing?

Claire Nutt: 0:38

absolutely, and I think you cannot start to read articles or to see what's best practice or talk to organizations without them actually bringing it up as a topic. It's, it's everywhere, and in the past, people were dabbling in it and trying to explore what is it and understand it. We've so quickly moved into gosh. We really need to get a handle on the deeper level of understanding. What are the complexities with this? What ethical considerations do I need to look at? What are the complexities with this? What ethical considerations do I need to look at? What are the risks and governance that I need to lay, and how do I talk about it at a strategic level so that I have power and influence to actually direct the future of the use of AI in business as well? So there's a whole host of complexities, I think, that are coming forward much quicker than we were ever expecting.

Kieran Gilmurray: 1:26

Yeah, and a lot of complexity. And then I'm seeing a lot of people jumping on the AI bandwagon who may not necessarily know what they're talking about in any regard. So let's see if I've been absolutely transparent. I don't know why this growth, this sudden spurt, has happened, you know, to get this demand to go through the roof. So why do we think ai is such a critical skill for hr and learning and development professionals at the moment?

Claire Nutt: 1:52

I think, specifically in the context of hr and lnd, the use of ai. It's really opened up opportunity and I think that allows those professionals to start to re-evaluate their work and their teams. But not only that the impact that that potentially has across an organisation. Because, let's be honest, we know AI is not going to replicate absolutely everything that humans do. It cannot formulate emotional relationships, it can't understand empathy. There's very, very complex decisions that human resources and learning and development professionals need to make, but we do know that there is a significant amount that it can do for us and if it's used in the right way, it is our ally.

Claire Nutt: 2:40

I think now HR practitioners are being looked at as that strategic influencer, so they're being asked to give advice in the direction of the business and if they're not, they should be in that room giving that advice too, because they need to have the power to influence with evidence-based practice, with critical understanding and knowledge and also hands-on skills on that, because it runs the risk of, I think, organizations dabbling in HR but not understanding it in depth and if you cannot understand and talk about it at a strategic level, you're never going to be able to advise and influence that direction and, as I said, there's so many implications of implementing AI across a business and we think about the future, workforce skills and even the skills gap we have at the moment.

Claire Nutt: 3:30

You know the the IT critical skills have been widely reported across the UK for a number of years and the gaps that exist. We're now in a space where we're asking individuals to upskill in techniques and in understanding and knowledge of a brand new technology that everyone's starting to explore. So we need to think about how we're redistributing skills, what impacts they have on structures, what your strategy maybe looks like now and how quickly that's going to change in 12 months time as well. There's a lot of future planning that we're not sure what the future is bringing until we start to look at some small high impact areas that are low risk and then scale meticulously through that process.

Kieran Gilmurray: 4:12

Yeah, and I think this is an opportune time as well, isn't it, as folks are coming together to plan their budgets, plan their business, technology and people strategy for 2026 and 2027. I'm noticing a lot of fear in the market as well, because we're talking there about a couple of things, you know. One is you know, hr or, as I like to say, people strategy and learning and development strategy needs to be in the room to have these conversations. But you need to earn the right to be in the room as well, and there's no use telling people you know, do what I'm telling you to do, not what I say, or not what I do, rather. And therefore, as you said, you know, we need to learn ai skills as hr and ld professionals, and that goes without saying.

Kieran Gilmurray: 4:50

I think that teaches you a big thing as well about what you're actually asking other people to do. So it's very, very different using the technology and understanding it and being tactical and being strategic and then rolling it out across your own hr lld team and then telling the rest of the business to actually do this. Those are, those are different skills and actually, when you were talking about tech a moment ago, I seen a little while ago, modern announced that because they believe that ai is going to become so important and this new term, agentic labor, digital labor they're talking about those flattening organisational structures and talking about how human and digital workers will work together. Because they believe it's going to be so important, they're actually combining the roles of the CHRO and the CTO. Saying it's interesting, isn't it in the future, that digital and human workers will work together?

Claire Nutt: 5:44

The organisational organizational chart, for what it is currently, will be very dramatically different than before, and learning and development professionals and HR are going to be the people who lead this absolutely, and even if organizations were to stop and just take an objective view of their current structures and play with that and start to look at the roles that people do and really think how could I augment that role Not necessarily replace it, but just augment some of those skills? Is that 40% reduction in what they're doing? Is that skill then redistributed to teach others? And are we investing that back into learning and development to teach others? And are we we investing that back into learning and development?

Claire Nutt: 6:28

Um, and even the learning and development role, if you think about content creation gosh, when I think back and the, the amount of time and the resources it would have taken to deliver and create content that's business relevant that has significantly reduced with the access to the different AI tools that organizations now have. I was actually delivering a course last week and I was chatting to an organization and she would have used the likes of YouTube, some video recording, in the past. She's now using AI to develop all of her organization's content and they have thousands of employees and she's one individual that's curating that and I think that that brings me so much joy because that is someone who recognizes the value that AI can actually bring to their role and their business, but they've also used it in a way that's impactful across the organization.

Kieran Gilmurray: 7:19

So it's interesting that, because obviously you and I work with a lot of businesses and professionals on a weekly basis, I am seeing a lot of fear in people's eyes, and I think that fear is down to, you know, not understanding the technology. Or, as a friend of mine said, ciarán, if it bleeds, it leads, and by that they meant if it's in the news, it's never going to be that. Ai actually augments, creates more opportunities, you know, allows you to enrich the role that you actually have, as opposed to, you know, enlarging it by more tasks. It allows you to automate and digitize the things that you're actually doing that are important, let's be honest here, but nobody wants to sit doing all the mundane stuff, whereas now, if I can get technology that frees up time, then, to your point, I can then choose what I want to do with that time.

Claire Nutt: 8:08

In theory yes, but obviously a lot of organizations.

Claire Nutt: 8:13

Their primary focus is to make profit as well, so they will look at the redistribution of resources and what cost savings that potentially brings that potentially brings.

Claire Nutt: 8:26

So, inherently, if AI is replacing low-level and mundane administration, those automated repetitive tasks, if organizations are not sensible about the resources and human capital that they currently have, they potentially are going to lose those people, and that may be intentionally or unintentionally.

Claire Nutt: 8:43

If they work to develop and enhance the skills of those individuals, those people could be the future leaders of the organization and that's why it is so important for organizations across all of their employee levels, but particularly at that strategic level, to empower those people with the right knowledge and understanding of AI from professionals that have experience, like you and I, and understand how it impacts their business, how it can be used responsibly and how can they actually I mean, could they create a business case and stand in front of the board and deliver that with impact and understanding and evidence base to actually influence the direction and future of their organization.

Claire Nutt: 9:25

I think that fear will dissipate when individuals invest in themselves and their organizations in that training and that understanding at a deeper level and developing, I think, sometimes skills and talking to others who have maybe explored opportunities, to where you have maybe explored opportunities, so where you have peer-to-peer learning and you can learn from each other or other case studies. That helps to dissipate a lot of that. But, like you say, I firmly believe fear comes from lack of knowledge and the more you develop that knowledge, the less fear and the more confidence is there around AI.

Kieran Gilmurray: 9:59

Go back to a point you said a second ago, though. You know organisations, and let's make no excuses here. They are in business, unless you're not for profit or in the charity sector. That said, they have to make more money than they actually spend. But there is that worry unless you position things correctly and you know what I call organize or or deliberately plan great change management, which is, you know, good communication and everything then you are at risk of failing, because if you implement AI, automation, data analytics, all the skills of the future and we keep saying skills of the future, we mean skills of today, of now.

Kieran Gilmurray: 10:34

The future is now Then you're in danger of sending the message that every time I introduce a new technology, then you're going to get fired and we'd love your ideas and we'd love you to automate your work. Message that every time I introduce a new technology, then you're going to get fired and we'd love your ideas and we'd love you to automate your work. And, by the way, when you automate and digitize your work, thank you very much. Now get your coat. Time for you to go, now that we're that little bit more efficient. But if you do do that first of all, I'm not going to sign up if I'm an employee and secondly, if I keep making headcount redundant, then that's called operational efficiency, which is absolutely 101. But to your second point who's actually going to do the new and exciting work, and why are we not focused on 10xing?

Kieran Gilmurray: 11:13

our own personal performance by using these tools to literally target that repetitive but sometimes, or more often than not, necessary work to allow us to even add more extraordinary value. We're very one-sided, aren't we? Or are we on our conversation?

Claire Nutt: 11:29

yeah, I think. I think it depends on the perspective you take with it, and if you're the employee or the employer, you can have two different perceptions on that too. If or impacted or impacted or impacted yeah.

Claire Nutt: 11:45

Well, if we even think of it as organizations bringing in this new technology, whether they build it themselves or they purchase it and they scale it across the business, that's fantastic, but you will need people that understand how to use it. So you still need to invest in training and development for those individuals to understand what is it doing? What's the guardrails, where's the governance? What data is it processing? How have we communicated this across the business? So you are going to, yes, elevate performance and productivity and save that time and some of those skills, but you are going to have to invest that somewhere else in the business.

Claire Nutt: 12:23

So it's not a like for like um replication and, remember you and I have talked about this a lot, we are talking about human and the genetic workforces together. You know, we and I do firmly believe that there is a lot that ai cannot bring that human intelligence has, firmly believe that there is a lot that AI cannot bring that human intelligence has. And I do see AI is our as our superpower when it's used in the right way to augment our own rules, to increase our own performance and ultimately achieving those overall organizational strategies and objectives. If you look at it from a different perspective. It's been very widely communicated in the news about Microsoft, for example, you know one of those AI first organizations and the restructures that they've gone through in the last three to four years because and they've been open about it, because they have that those people are actually delivering for your business.

Kieran Gilmurray: 13:23

See, that's the interesting bit, because I see a lot about microsoft. But what about what I describe, as you know, practical belfast, practical northern ireland firms like practical irish? Where is the, the case studies, where's the size for them? Where is the? Let's not scare the living bejesus out of the moments where we suddenly make this technology, you know, more practical and more real, because you know it doesn't matter where I am globally in northern ireland, exactly the same. You know you want tech that works and if the moment I'm scared, at the moment I'm confused, like how do we bring that to life for folks? How do we get them to understand, understand agentic AI and not put their head in the sand, because these are, let's be honest, technical terms that I need to know, but you're now frightening me. So how do we fix all of that? I think bring it back to basics.

Claire Nutt: 14:15

This is about identifying opportunities in human resources and in the learning development environments where AI can actually bring value. This is not about starting to replace individuals in your organisation. If you can develop understanding at a deeper level of what it is, how it impacts roles and what it has the potential to do, you then need to get into a space of nearly auditing your employee life cycles across the business. What does HRr and lnd spend their time on? Identify those opportunities that are high volume and low risk and test them. You know, use them as pilots, test those internally and if you can get good feedback and I mean good feedback on those processes, on what's worked well, what doesn't work well and what needs adjusted, you'll be able to scale that across the business in bite-sized elements and you will start to see the value in the return in that too. But I think until you actually start to identify the opportunities, this will feel overwhelming and it will feel you know where do I start. How do I start to start with a business case? Do I start looking at products? Do I go and speak to a professional? You know what do I do with ai in my business. That can be really overwhelming, especially, especially at a strategic level, because you're still trying to meet those overall organizational objectives and match that strategy so that the business does grow, um, but there's so many other things you need to consider.

Claire Nutt: 15:43

You talked about change management there. You need to have the ability to influence the stakeholders and bring them with you through that change management process. And it does not matter what you're changing and this isn't just AI, it can be anything that you're introducing that's new into the business. Humans do not like to be changed. They resist it, and that is a natural human behavior that we all possess. I don't like it, but yet I have to lead it and lead organizations through it so many times and I think to be that key influencer in in the stakeholder groups and to bring those people along with you.

Claire Nutt: 16:20

You said it yourself it's communication. Are you telling organizations? It's a plan. This is what we want to go with. This is what we want to explore. Here's the key objectives and metrics that we're hoping to meet, but here's what we're going to need you to do for us. Yes, there's going to be a little bit of pain. Yes, you're going to have to learn new skills. You're going to have to test them. You're going to have to test them. You're going to have to develop them and you're going to have to develop your understanding. But look at this future vision that we have, look at the space that our organisation is in and look at where you sit in that organisation too. That it's a very complex process. I've tried to describe it very simply, but communication and stakeholder engagement is critical for any of those change management processes.

Kieran Gilmurray: 17:05

I think, recognising those stakeholders in the first place. But go back to something you said earlier on. I think we need to be more transparent. As businesses, you know we're here to make profit. Here's the implication of learning this technology, because someone said to me they're quite violent, they were too, said if you've got to break my leg next Thursday, tell me, why don't just break it and then explain it to you? And if you do, I'd be slightly more accepting of it. What about the risk of doing nothing then? Why don't we just stick our head in the sand for a little bit longer?

Claire Nutt: 17:36

because this will go away or yeah, yeah I think already I'm sure I mean you live and breathe this, karen, day in, day out, with your business. I live and breathe it about 40 percent of my time in my business and even I struggle to keep on top of things and actually your articles that you you put out in your webinars and your podcast. Sometimes, when I get 20 minutes, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna listen to the latest what's happening in the world, and it blows my mind every time I hear about something new, good and bad. Because, let's be honest, you know organisations are still testing this, they're still trying to determine what's the outcome that they're going to get from it and where's the value, but where's the risk? It moves so fast. We've seen that kind of curve of technological advancements and then you shared it before we hit the era of AI. What are we talking now, 2021? It just skyrocketed and it went almost vertical. If you do not keep up with what's happening, you're going to struggle to understand a lot of it.

Claire Nutt: 18:38

And the advancements because we're using AI for the advancements they're getting faster and shorter and faster and shorter and faster and shorter. Perfect example any organization that uses Microsoft for the likes of their employee accounts. Everything's AI enabled. Every single one of their packages and applications has now AI inbuilt. I guarantee you, every single person that has a smartphone it now says ai enabled or ai powers, whatever it might be. You can't buy a new laptop and your model without the exact same technology. You're inherently going to use it through your day-to-day life and I would always.

Claire Nutt: 19:16

This is a question I always ask organizations why is there so much fear when it comes to the business? We're happy to embrace it and use it in that relaxed environment that is our day-to-day lives, where it makes our lives easier. Why do we not consider the application where we can make our business environments and work easier, better, faster, shorter and more high performing as well? Um, so, yeah, so we could talk about this forever, but it's a highly complex area with a lot of things and considerations too. But I think, coming back to the fear piece and the change, if that is managed well, with leaders who are confident in AI, who understand their strategic influence on how to influence stakeholders in that change management process, and they can clearly communicate across the business why the change is happening, they're more likely to have a successful outcome as well.

Claire Nutt: 20:11

And it goes without saying. Don't try to replace everything with AI, because it's not a one-size-fits-all.

Kieran Gilmurray: 20:17

No, you can't play a round of golf with just one 7-iron, nor can you play a round of business with one AI. Now, there's good news coming here. Now we have to tell the audience. First of all, we're going to continue this podcast series about six or seven episodes to try and demystify AI, hr and L&D. But you and I need to fill a gap in the market. You and I really need to help professionals, because that's what we're passionate about the first instance. So what are we announcing today?

Claire Nutt: 20:46

I am delighted, I'm so thrilled, because this has been an idea long in the making for both of us, where we've identified that gap. So we are going to empower HR and L&D professionals, where we're delivering a two-day in-person workshop. So this is AI for HR and L&D professionals, where we're delivering a two-day in-person workshop. So this is AI for HR and L&D professionals, built by experts for professionals and co-delivered by yourself and me. And we're going to be in the wonderful offices of the MCS group in the Yurt in Belfast Absolutely sensational location.

Claire Nutt: 21:20

But this is more than the next AI course that you've been to. This is getting into the detail of what it is. What's the risk, what are my considerations, how do I use it? Ciarán, you're going to do some fantastic hands-on work as well. We're going to also have some peer-to-peer learning, so getting to know the people in the group and understanding and learning from others. What's worked well, what's their thoughts and ideas, um, but I think more importantly, they're going to walk away with confidence so they can actually influence and lead the future of their organizations.

Kieran Gilmurray: 21:55

So I'm so excited about this yeah, I'm excited about you know practical as well'm excited about you know practical as well. None of this. Of course, you'll get a little bit of what AI is. That's the necessary foundations.

Kieran Gilmurray: 22:06

But you and I have got frustrated time and time again by reading content by professionals who may not be the strongest, shall we say, in the HR, l&d and AI. You and I have got frustrated. You know, attending courses where you get talked at for lots of hours something that's highly practical, highly relevant, you walk away with the confidence, the skills and the capabilities you need to actually drive the conversation in this and own this for the rest of your business. That's the exciting thing. Now we've got frustrated. Now we're going to do something about it. So folks can't wait to launch the rest of this podcast series and can't wait to share the details and the landing page for this particular two-day course in November at the end or sorry, at the end of November in Belfast, in some of the most amazing surroundings. Thank you everyone for listening in. Look at the comments, look at the description of this podcast and webinar and video cut to see where that actually is. See you all soon. Bye.