Now that the initial shock of the AI tsunami has worn off, organizations around the world are working to define critical use cases and policies for generative AI (GenAI).

None of the key issues — especially the potential for job displacement, and risks to data privacy — has gone away.

But organizational decision-makers are slowly defining how and where they can get the most out of these general-purpose tools.

Emphasis on ‘slowly’.

A recent study by the Census Bureau and Goldman Sachs has found that while up to 15% of organizations in industries like hi-tech and science are adopting the technologies, arenas like Construction and Hospitality have so far mostly avoided them.

The average for all industries: Only about 7% of organizations are doing more than just experimenting.

Contrast that with, say, the torrid adoption rate of prior technologies like the Internet and cloud computing, and it’s clear there is still a long way to go for GenAI to become deeply baked into the work of many organizations.

That breathing room is a gift to HR, which now has the time to push for human-centric practices and policies.

Organizations that have already made the investment in the learning and compensation needed to encourage adaptability and innovation throughout the enterprise are best positioned to take advantage of these breakthrough technologies.

But because many organizations have not yet found how to help workers deal with the pace and scale of relentless change, the majority are still trying to find the best ways to gain the advantages that GenAI and related products can provide.

Why is this not the responsibility of IT? Sure, the technology function needs to be a symbiotic partner with HR, vetting software products and driving data privacy standards.

But IT typically isn’t prepared — or even appropriate — to help workers redesign business processes and re-envision their work roles, which are two of the greatest potential advantages from GenAI software.

That’s why HR must lead on the GenAI adoption process. And there are three key steps that those who lead in HR need to take.

First, HR must catalyze the Organization’s AI strategy for work

Early GenAI adopters have found a variety of potentially-transformative use cases, such as customer service (especially for the most repetitive problems) and software development (especially for code review).

But pushing for these kinds of use cases in isolation misses an opportunity to treat the AI moment as a catalyst for developing an enterprise-wide strategy.

As author Charlene Li points out in Winning With Generative AI, stakeholders throughout the organization need to be part of an intentional process for determining enterprise strategy, resolving key risks, and prioritizing opportunities for experimentation and innovation.

Without this kind of co-creation, many organizations will be tempted to simply look at GenAI tools to automate a range of tasks, completely missing the many ways that workers throughout the enterprise can turbocharge their work, innovating and collaborating far more effectively.

And if HR helps to ensure these processes will remain human-centric, it lays the groundwork for continuous transformation that can optimize for any subsequent breakthrough technologies.

Next, HR must provide the cookbook

The ideal result of such a strategy development process will be a portfolio of activities to leverage GenAI. Think of these as recipes in a cookbook.

(If you prefer sports analogies, think of this as a playbook, with game plans to be leveraged for solving a range of different problems.)

From simple use cases that help each worker to be more effective, to innovation-fueled processes to envision new products and services for the organization’s customers, workers throughout the organization need to understand processes they can follow — as individuals, as teams, and as cross-function collaborators — to envision new ways to create value.

For example, simply automating tasks with the intention of discarding workers may generate some short-term cost savings, but misses the opportunity — and the HR imperative — to help workers leverage GenAI to learn new skills and solve new problems.

That’s why HR needs to be the company-wide co-creator of these instructions and recommendations, so workers and teams have the guidance they need to get the most out of GenAI tools, and to ensure that no human is left behind.

Finally, HR Needs to Be the Change

Yet as critical as catalyzing strategic planning and empowering workers and teams can be, HR can only show the way if it is the first to adopt these technologies.

The best way for HR to have the credibility to encourage GenAI adoption for appropriate use cases is to start with HR itself.

For example, if HR wants to encourage employees to increase their effectiveness and streamline business processes, HR must demonstrate its capacity to do the same.

If HR suggests that GenAI can help people to better understand their own skills, and to develop new skills, that process should begin in HR.

And if HR points to the range of opportunities to help cross-enterprise teams to collaborate…Well, you guessed it. Start with HR.

By developing the GenAI cookbook or playbook for its own work, powering its own workers and teams, HR can not only encourage others to be innovative.

It has the opportunity to become a shining example of innovation for the rest of the organization.

It’s all about transformation — continuous, human-centric transformation

Before the global pandemic, I heard many who lead in HR around the world complain that they wanted a seat at the table for strategic decisions in the organization.

After a few years, the new complaint was that there were too many tables — too many issues that HR needed to treat as a top priority.

But what GenAI tools represent is an opportunity for HR to design a new table: Human-centric processes that continually leverage next-generation technologies to create value for all of the organization’s stakeholders.

And the first place to catalyze that continuous transformation is HR itself.

Gary A. Bolles is the author of The Next Rules of Work, Singularity University’s Chair for the Future of Work, and host for the AI track at UNLEASH World 2024.

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