AI in HR: Streamlining operations with onboarding and psychometrics

As more organisations start to embrace artificial intelligence in their operations, Dr Tanya Boyd from Insights explains how the HR function is no exception and how psychometric tools can help you decide how AI aligns with a team’s preferences.

AI in HR has the potential to revolutionise the way day-to-day operations are carried out, providing a more efficient and effective way of managing employees. While these opportunities are also balanced by important risks to consider, approaching this space with activated awareness that leads to conscious choices about how and where to use AI is the way to maximise the benefits while reducing risks.

While it is important to remember that AI is not human, I have found it helpful to think of generative AI as a kind of team member, “Gen”, and to work with it using some of the same approaches used for working with other team members.

In a recent article, Josh Bersin mentions that vendors talk about AI as a “co-pilot” or “assistant,” and he is seeing an increasing demand for people who can “manage, train, and support” these systems, which echo terms used to describe relationships among team members. So, without completely anthropomorphising the technology, we can draw on what we know from effective team relationships to help us learn to interact effectively with AI.

AI onboarding

There are a few ways that onboarding may affect AI. In a very literal sense, many AIs now are being built to focus on a single domain. An example is Olivia, a chatbot built specifically to hire employees at McDonald’s.

This internally facing approach can reduce some of the problems global AIs face when they sort through all data without knowing which is real or fake; if instead we point them at smaller, validated, trusted databases, the answers they provide will be more valuable.

While this may begin to happen at the industry level, such as across HR, this also may be something worth exploring at a company level; you may find yourself literally “onboarding” an AI tool to all of the data it needs to refer to when providing answers to your current or potential employees, or customers.

Even where the AI being used is more universal, it can be helpful to take an “onboarding” approach to achieve the best outcomes.

Here are three suggestions on how to onboard your AI:

1. Inform the team about the newcomer’s roles and responsibilities

AI is still new to many people, and it can be daunting to know how to work with it. Being intentional in your introduction of your chosen AI tools and how to use them can help your teams to welcome the new tool.

While it is important to learn what it can do, it is also important to clarify that just because a tool can do something, doesn’t mean it should be used that way. Choose ways to use AI that allow team members more time to do the parts of their roles they most enjoy.

2. Provide opportunities for team members to get to know each other

AI capabilities are increasing at an exponential rate, so it is important to stay current on what possibilities there could be for a positive impact on your teams. Invest time and tools to help teams gain an understanding and appreciation for what drives overall team effectiveness, as well as their individual strengths and opportunities. Then, just as with a new team member, work to understand Gen’s capabilities and be agile to adjust what role it can play in driving towards your team’s goals.

Using a holistic model such as the Insights Discovery psychometric tool provides a shared language a team can use to discuss what each team member brings to the team, and could also be used to guide Gen in what kind of perspective would most benefit the team at any point in time.

For example, using this model, teams without a strong preference for caution, precision or questioning in their human members could ask Gen to provide these perspectives on the current project. The more aware people are of their own personality preferences, strengths, and growth areas, the more able they will be to think of ways to engage with Gen that align, add value, and fill any identified gaps.

3. Clarify opportunities for collaboration

Invite all team members to raise any concerns and suggest opportunities where AI could be used to advantage related to their own roles and the overall objectives of the team.

Conflicts and concerns will arise, but if you encourage a culture of curiosity and create a safe space to discuss them, they will become a useful part of the journey. Just as with any working relationship, communication is key.

How to move forward with AI

Staying aware and present in the process is essential to leveraging these technologies effectively. Engage with AI, play with it and learn about it.

One of the biggest challenges is a lack of understanding of AI among HR professionals. This can lead to fears about job security, overwhelming feelings around how to use it, and misconceptions about what it can and cannot do.

Activate individual awareness through use of personality preference profiles by asking: “Which of my job tasks could AI take on that would free me up to do the more ‘human’ parts of my role?”.

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Create space for teams to work together to understand their current strengths as well as how they would like to develop as a team, and encourage them to collaborate on ways to leverage AI that will increase both the productivity and engagement of the team as a whole.

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