What you should never delegate

We delegate to AI to automate tasks and processes, improve decision making or create new products and services.
It will process your data for the purpose of correctly managing your presence on the social network., Faced with its spectacular and tempting advances towards efficiency, there are functions that AI should not perform in a People department. This is not a defensive statement., but rather an invitation to reflect on an adequate distribution of human-machine tasks. We are moving towards an ethical and productive collaboration with AI and the best way to divide the work part of a prior decision about what we want to preserve that remains human. Let's look at some examples.

AI does not have the ability to design global strategies or determine objectives. will attend and give inputs and proposals in that process, but the relationship with the business, understanding a changing context, The connection of interests and objectives or the iterative process to formalize a solid and viable strategy can and should only be in the hands of people.

AI increasingly assists in selection processes. Allows you to reach more candidates with less effort, screen resumes, analyze the digital footprint and identify the most appropriate candidates. You can even conduct first interviews in processes that would otherwise take a long time.. In any case, face-to-face and human decision interviews cannot be delegated. Non-verbal communication, Personal connection and interaction or intuition are aspects that are lost or minimized with screens and distance involved.. With a growing demand for talent we will need to seduce by adding human and artificial skills in balanced proportion, taking maximum care of the candidate experience.

AI also allows mechanizing transactions and certain decisions in administrative procedures. We will give more and more space to robotic process automation (RPA), but your design and government will remain human. Only people have the global vision of the process, we must monitor it and adjust it as necessary. The deployment and support in the implementation of these tools requires sensitivity and exclusively human skills..

AI will not be able to solve problems between people nor take disciplinary measures. It's more, The role of the People area should be to prevent some problems from occurring as much as possible.. Personalized human interactions require empathy, understanding and individualized attention. Emotional and relational intelligence complement artificial intelligence. The People area must design work and take care of relationships to try to avoid problems and have the capacity to intervene to solve them.

Key decisions like Hiring or terminating will always require sensitivity and human judgment.. The intuition, empathic listening, Relational intelligence or the perception of fit in the organization's culture are examples of human capabilities., in my opinion, little digitizable. The final decision to hire or fire a person should always be made by a human being and communicated personally.

The People areas will also be key in the development of awareness and regulations to ensure ethical and humane technology development. They can promote forums, conversations, procedures and controls that regulate responsible delegation of decisions in AI. It involves promoting collective consciousness, train and accompany with safety guidelines, transparency and ethics to all people who participate in the development of automated systems. Determining which decisions with an impact on people are delegated to AI is a task 100% humana.

Can you imagine a collective bargaining between a union representative and an AI? Science fiction and guaranteed failure. Negotiating with unions or employee representatives or managing labor disputes requires empathy, effective communication, Negotiation and conflict resolution, skills in which people should shine.

Let's also connect for a moment with the covid-19 pandemic. The People areas had to focus on managing an exceptional massive situation and they shone in most cases. Promote well-being and help people in difficult times in a close way It is a role that technology cannot fill.. We empathize with people like us. Any attempt at digital empathy is a substitute to meet a human need.

Let's also talk about learning. What we need to stimulate in all people and for life. On many platforms, content and ability to personalize the experience we have, we need to design strategies aligned with the business and stimulate and accompany people to learn. A common challenge for any organization. The People area is the one that must motivate and enhance the learning capacity, accompanying each group and individual., promoting their curiosity and need to learn.

Stimulating and facilitating shared knowledge that now only resides in people is another challenge in which the People areas have a lot to contribute.. AI will help us, surfacing and facilitating connections between people and knowledge, but only people can influence others so that they are willing and motivated to share and learn..

Technology has helped talent management processes for decades. Recruitment, selection, training, assessment, mentoring, everything can be improved if we apply technology intelligently. We will rely more and more on AI and people will put more focus on strategy, the design and orchestration of talent development programs, leadership development or promotion of appropriate culture and values.

There are many more examples of how the role of the People area can evolve. I mention only a few to broaden the view on everything they can do and do not always do on time., due to lack of time or resources.

Given the advance of AI, I recommend delegating strategically, prudent and responsible in it to be able to do more and better. Embracing and investing in technology frees People areas to be more focused on the business and its people and increase their impact and value.

Excerpt from the book Digital Humanism, keys to increased leadership in the digital age