In the age of AI, your HR function is failing if you’re missing the talent data you need

Nurturing and developing the talent inside your company is vital to its continued success. But at the same time, identifying that talent is more challenging than ever. 

Just as generative AI is changing how organizations approach strategic workforce planning and measure the success of their learning and development programs, it's also altering how talent teams hone in on personnel who can handle the human+AI roles that will be increasingly in demand.   

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick predicts gen AI will force organizations to reinvent how they identify and nurture internal talent. As he recently noted in MIT Sloan Management Review, "Your company’s AI skills might be anywhere." Today, your best chatbot prompt engineers might be working in the company mail room. How do you find them? 

Here, HR professionals face a dual challenge. The first is how they can use data to uncover the organization's hidden AI geniuses, as well as those who have the aptitude and interest to acquire these skills. The other challenge is to identify additional skills that will rise in importance as new roles are created.

Seek out your AI savants

The best way to gather data on AI skills within your organization is to find out who's already using it. According to a May 2024 survey by Microsoft and Linkedin, three quarters of all knowledge workers use gen AI tools, but more than half are reluctant to admit it.

First, HR teams need to reassure people and deal with the fear that AI will change their jobs, says Dr. Dieter Veldsman, chief scientist for the Academy to Innovate HR. Then they need to encourage all employees to become familiar with the technology, and to talk openly about how they use it and what they've learned. That process in turn will unearth people who show a facility for writing prompts or coming up with creative use cases for chatbots.

"You have to start by giving your people exposure to AI," says Veldsman. "The more exposure people have to the tools, the faster you'll start unearthing those who have the ability to learn these skills quickly and can shift into those roles."

HR business partners and line managers can play a crucial role in collecting and sharing those success stories, he adds.

Organizations can facilitate this process by exploring peoples' comfort levels with the technology, says Matthew Daniel, senior principal for talent strategy and mobility at Guild, which regularly surveys its own employees about which AI tools they're playing with and what they're using them for.

"It's a good way to understand the state of AI in your organization, and how ready people are for it to come along," he says.

For example, consumer insights firm Suzy created a Slack channel for employees to share their personal and professional experiences with the technology, says chief people officer Anthony Onesto. Each company all-hands meeting also includes a segment called "AI Stories" where people can talk about their latest adventures. 

"A lot of employees are afraid of saying they're using AI, so you need to make it extremely comfortable for people to share use cases," he says. "One person stood up at one of our all-hands and shared how he used a chatbot to fix his broken shower. When you see other people using it, that makes it ok for you to do it." 

Companies like Cisco and Skillsoft are sponsoring AI hackathons and offering spot bonuses for employees who come up with the most innovative uses. Others are simply embedding AI into employees' everyday workflows and expecting them to use it. 

For example, Accenture created an internal AI chatbot called Amethyst and embedded it into its Microsoft Teams platform, says Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer for Accenture, and co-author of Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI. 

"Every day I get a little nudge from Amethyst saying 'Hey, you haven't used me in a couple of days,' or 'Here's some information you should check out,'" he says. "It's a safe and simple way to get people experience using gen AI."

Ask your employees what they’re good at

But identifying hidden talents is about more than asking who's on excellent speaking terms with their favorite chatbots. Gen AI will likely create roles that don't exist yet, creating demand for a new mix of skills. Talent intelligence platforms can help infer the skills a person filling a certain role is likely to have, but they may not uncover other talents that fall outside that job, notes Daniel.

"Someone might be running a side business and be really talented at marketing, but all the platform knows is they're a really good customer service associate," he says. "You want to ask which skills they've developed and how far along they are on their individual journeys. Then you can help them build the skills they're missing and reallocate talent into the places your organization needs it most."

Companies that successfully combine internal and external data will enjoy the greatest success in creating future-ready jobs, says Will Markow, vice president of applied research and senior economist for Lightcast, a labor market data platform.

Information from government job reports, sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor, and competitors' websites can provide clues to skills currently in demand, while internal talent data can tell you which of these skills you have in house, and which ones you'll need to develop or recruit, he says.

But talent professionals will also need to dive deeper into employees' project management and work experience to identify skills that can be applied to newly emerging jobs, says Markow.

"Seeing the output someone has produced in one context and analogizing it to another relevant context can help uncover some of that latent talent," he says. "If the capabilities of one person align with those of someone in a different role, you can start to identify the common threads between them and find others with similar backgrounds."

Company culture also plays a big part. Making it safe for employees to bring their whole selves to work and share their personal interests can help reveal talents that might otherwise stay hidden, he adds.

Once you've identified the budding AI savants within your organization, HR needs to work with business unit leaders to decide where their talents will do the most good, adds Daniel. 

"You want to invite these people to help shape the future of a particular function," he says. "I don't need to move someone out of the mail room because they're good at prompt engineering. I should be asking that person how to use gen AI to improve the mail room."

About Dan Tynan

Dan is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about technology since long before we all started carrying a computer in our pockets. Along the way he's been an investigative reporter, feature writer, copy editor, columnist, executive editor, and editor-in-chief for several national publications.