AI transformation is accelerating, and for many organizations, the biggest risk isn’t the technology itself; it’s getting their strategic response wrong. Rush in without a framework, and you can destroy culture, trust, and capability. Hold back waiting for certainty, and more agile competitors will overtake you. Talent leaders are caught between these two failure modes with no clear playbook, and the pressure is intensifying by the week. So what does a disciplined, structured approach to navigating AI disruption actually look like in practice, and what role should talent and HR be playing?
My guest this week is Jagrity Singh, a transformation leader who specializes in integrating AI-driven talent strategies with process excellence disciplines. In our conversation, she introduces a model for understanding where work sits between fully human and fully automated, and explains why the organizations that win will be those that learn to surf the wave rather than get crushed by it.
In the interview, we discuss:
• Differences in AI approaches between Europe, the Middle East, and North America.
• The impact of AI on jobs and what approach employers should be taking to it
• AI is an HR problem, not an IT problem.
• Why CHROs need to orchestrate human and AI workforces
• Strategic workforce planning
• What should be automated and what shouldn’t
• Advice to talent leaders
• What does the future look like?
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00:00
Matt Alder
AI transformation is accelerating and organizations face two failure modes. If they rush in without a strategy, they risk destroying culture and trust. If they hold back waiting for certainty, then more agile competitors will overtake them. So what role should talent leaders be playing in this revolution? Keep listening to find out. Support for this podcast comes from smart recruiters. Are you looking to supercharge your hiring? Meet Winston Smart Recruiter’s AI powered companion. I’ve had a demo of Winston. The capabilities are extremely powerful and it’s been crafted to elevate hiring to a whole new level. This AI sidekick goes beyond the usual assistant handling all the time consuming admin work so you can focus on connecting with top talent and making better hiring decisions. From screening candidates to scheduling interviews, Winston manages it all with AI precision, keeping the hiring process fast, smart and effective.
01:04
Matt Alder
Head over to smartrecruiters.com and see how Winston can deliver superhuman results. Foreign. Rush in without a framework and you can destroy culture, trust and capability. AI transformation is accelerating and for many organizations the biggest risk isn’t the technology itself, it’s getting their strategic response to it wrong. Talent leaders are caught between these two failure modes with no clear playbook and the pressure is intensifying by the week. So what does a disciplined, structured approach to navigating AI disruption actually look like in practice? And what role should talent and HR be playing? My guest this week is Jagiriti Singh, a transformation leader who specializes integrating AI driven talent strategies with process excellent disciplines. And what role should talent and HR be playing? My guest this week is Jagiriti Singh, a transformation leader who specializes integrating AI driven talent strategies with process excellent disciplines.
02:28
Matt Alder
In our conversation she introduces a model for understanding where work sits between fully human and fully automated and explains why the organizations that win will be those that learn to surf the wave rather than getting crushed by it. Hi Jags and welcome to the podcast.
02:48
Jagrity Singh
Thank you Matt. Delighted to be here.
02:49
Matt Alder
An absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Please could you introduce yourself and tell everyone what you do?
02:56
Jagrity Singh
Sure. Hi, I’m Jagruti Singh. I have spent last 20 years at the intersection of technology, process excellence and people. In the last decade I was based in London at the headquarters of the two FTSE 100 organizations where I have built a track record of driving organization performance through data and discipline. My specialization is integrating AI driven talent strategies with lean six Sigma rigor to deliver sustainable results. When it comes to AI, I would say I was lucky enough to be alerted to the coming AI tsunami way before in time due to my partnership with the University of Oxford in the uk.
03:40
Jagrity Singh
While I was on the ground, I commissioned a huge program in partnership with the Department of Lifelong Learning from prestigious Oxford University to train and educate thousands of employees globally in process excellence, design thinking and of course artificial intelligence which resulted in multimillion and double digit ROIs for the organizations. So in terms of the current times, I have recently relocated to sunny Dubai. So no complaints in terms of weather and I’m curious and keen to learn what’s happening in the region and at the same time to bring this strategic approach to this region. Delighted to be here today Matt. Thank you for having me and can’t wait to share my thoughts, why I feel there is an AI tsunami in HR and why I believe surfing beats drowning.
04:34
Matt Alder
Wow. Well, let’s get into that. So I was in Dubai a few months ago and I was really kind of struck by what’s going on with AI, what companies are looking at in terms of AI. So you’ve worked in lots of different regions. What are you sort of seeing in the market at the moment? What are the main differences between the Middle east and Europe? Get us up to speed on what’s going on.
04:53
Jagrity Singh
Absolutely. Happy to share. In fact, why don’t I start with an article I read from Rishi sunak yesterday on LinkedIn. I think he captured it beautifully. He said that UAE ranks in the top three countries globally for AI optimism. He also made a brilliant point in the post. The race that matters isn’t who builds the most powerful model, it’s who adopts that technology fastest. And that’s exactly why I love being here. And this is what I get to witness here every day. When I was in the other part of the world, I still felt there was a lot of debates or skepticism about the risks associated with AI. Some of them like job loss, data privacy controls.
05:39
Jagrity Singh
While this region in the GCC or specifically in the uae, I see they look at it as a growth enabler, they look at it as an opportunity. But in my view we need both mindsets. The UAE enthusiasm paired with the rigorous change management of the best practices in Europe in the last decade when I was in London, I got to learn how to bridge this gap while you harness the creative energy and also look at AI tools to make it more pragmatic and practical solutions for the organization.
06:18
Matt Alder
I completely agree with you. I think that kind of speed and momentum, but with the rigor and some of the regulation and all that sort of stuff I think is just really important. There are obviously some really big implications of what’s going on with AI at the moment. So what’s the impact on jobs and how work gets done and how companies respond to that? What are you seeing? What are your thoughts?
06:40
Jagrity Singh
So I have been fortunate enough, given the roles which I have held in the past, to be invited to various talent roundtables, spending time with the senior executives, Chros head of Talents and then during some of the discussions, I often asked senior leaders, will your organization be naughty or nice with AI? So allow me to expand on it. In my view when I say naughty. So that approach is an organization could look at, okay, we will replace our high cost employees with bots and tightly monitor the humans who remain. Where perhaps a nice approach could be more like, let’s free our people from repetitive work so they can actually apply their unique human skills and help the organization to grow and develop. Now, when I say choose, I’m being somewhat generous.
07:37
Jagrity Singh
It seems to me that many organizations will have few choices in this regard. The choice will depend on industry structure and core capabilities of the business. But here is the uncomfortable truth. Matt, you may want to be nice, but what if your competitors decide to go naughty and undercut you on price? So what will be your competitive response? So this is why in my view, fundamentally, AI is a HR problem, not an IT problem. Organizations need to structure, change frameworks. We are using Humboldt Work Spectrum and I’m happy to expand on it later if you think that will benefit and that will help the organization’s transformation. Success demands full system thinking, design principles, toll gates in the processes, not just adoption of some sparky tech toys.
08:39
Matt Alder
Do you think that organizations are ready or realize what’s going on or talent teams are prepared for this kind of shift? That’s already happening to a certain extent.
08:51
Jagrity Singh
From again, based on some of the discussions which I have participated in the both regions over the last six to nine months, I feel there is still an opportunity to clarify who owns IT at an organization level, there is a little bit of still, is it the cio? Is it the cfo, CEO, Is it the chro? Where in my personal view, I would say we can, of course we can trust our CIOs and CTOs to deliver AI infrastructure. They have done it in the past, you know, getting us the best infrastructure and technologies roll out. However, the critical insight from my perspective is AI again is not an IT problem. In fact, it’s not even an HR problem. It’s a HR opportunity. CHROs must take the lead in shaping the future workforce and adapting the organization with agility again to expand on it.
09:52
Jagrity Singh
That could look like strategic thinking around the six Rs in human resources, which is recruitment, retention, retraining, reward, recognition and restructuring. In the long term, the organizations that will win will have the Chros who orchestrate both human and AI resources in a coherent competitive advantage. And that is something I would say we are on a journey, but I’m still not seeing strong evidences in the organizations yet.
10:28
Matt Alder
There’s still this kind of skepticism that AI doesn’t work properly or isn’t going to do all the things that it kind of promises. But as you say, it’s kind of really a different way of thinking about strategic workforce planning, isn’t it? That’s the kind of the key aspect of it.
10:41
Jagrity Singh
So we have been developing and working with the Humboldt Work Spectrum tool. And if I just go a little bit back in time, so I have had the advantage of working with the University of Oxford in one of my previous role where we worked heavily with them to develop some of the leadership programs with Lifelong Learning Department of Oxford. And that’s where I was introduced to AI way before in time compared to some of my other peers who I exchanged my notes with. And the relationship is so strong that we continue to exchange notes with some of the professors there. And that’s where we have been looking at Humboldt Work Spectrum Tool because I believe this is a way we think about what’s changing.
11:28
Jagrity Singh
So it’s a six level model for understanding where any function, team or process sits between fully human to fully automation. At level one, work is entirely human. At level two, human leads. But bots handle specific or exceptional tasks. Level 3 and 4 represents genuine Humboldt co working first on different tasks, then increasingly on the same tasks. And level five, bots lead and humans intervene only when escalated or for exceptions. And level six is fully automation. The point is that or the key is to remember that not every function should raise to level six. Everybody is on a different journey and the requirements are different and at the same time for any organization to be ready as well.
12:25
Jagrity Singh
So the point is every function will move along this spectrum and leaders need to make deliberate, informed decisions about where each part of the organization should sit and how fast they want to get there. And what I have seen again with some of the transparent discussions which I have been invited to, if these decisions are made in isolation or some of the key factors have not been evaluated correctly and some examples of those factors could be technical feasibility, cost benefit realities, skills and training, practicalities, ethical consideration, customer requirements, regulatory constraints. Because that’s true in many sectors where we work. So if we don’t get the balance right, if we go very slow, we lose our competitive ground. If we move too recklessly, too fast, it could destroy the capabilities, trust and culture.
13:29
Jagrity Singh
And Matt, you know more than me that the culture is what we need to preserve. When we go through a massive change.
13:36
Matt Alder
Management like that and it’s quite chaotic at the moment, this disruption is going to become more chaotic. There’s a really big shift happening here. What would your advice be to all the talent leaders out there? What should they be doing and also perhaps how should they be keeping up to speed with what’s going on? Because everything is developing at a very intense pace at the moment.
13:58
Jagrity Singh
That’s true and I’m in the similar boat. There are moments where we pause and reflect and retest the models and the frameworks. So. So the answer to what I do about or my recommendation would be I’m always biased towards action. Indecision is the only guaranteed failure mode in times of rapid change like the one we are witnessing right now with AI. So start with a systematic transformation framework. The principle matters more than the tools. And when you talked about the chaos, for me, Matt, structure beats chaos every single time. And we all have been there. For me this is a workforce design. This is a new way to revamp and reuse our strategic workforce plan driven more from the skills perspective. And this for me, by definition this is HR’s territory.
14:53
Jagrity Singh
So be courageous, be in the front, help the organization lead through the change. And of course we learn together in this. So we continue to have these open discussions to share our learnings, to share our success stories at the same times where we have burnt our fingers in the process. There is one more suggestion if I may make will be for me is this has proven to be very successful in the past, which is we can. The Chros or the head of talents could also challenge their leadership team through scenario workshops. They don’t need another tech briefing. Why do you need AI? What are the tools? I think what the leadership team needs is they need strategic support navigating the AI tsunami. So my method links five critical elements which are more targeted training, real projects with business impact.
15:49
Jagrity Singh
So we made sure that they’re supporting the business while we are building this engine room. Executive coaching, cross functional partnering. So as I refer to the Humboldt spectrum, that’s where we could do some cross functional partnering. So it creates that transparency to continue to build the trust in the change management and also establish some rapid response tech foundries. That integration, that’s the essence of the system thinking, is the only way to turn AI disruption into organization advantage.
16:23
Matt Alder
Absolutely. I mean that all makes perfect sense. And as a final question, how do you think this is all going to play out? How do things develop over the next three to five years? What does the future look like?
16:34
Jagrity Singh
Given what all we have witnessed over the past few years, I think it’s a little bit tricky to predict the future. But I would say the earlier signs of what we all can see is the workplace will be transformed beyond recognition. Many organizations or big organizations, if they do not move fast enough, they will be replaced by faster, more agile newcomers. And I think there are many examples of that in the past 24 months which we have witnessed globally. This is, from my perspective, is the CRO’s critical challenge to ensure that your organization doesn’t get out evolved by agile newcomers. I frame this as the AI tsunami and every leader faces the same choice. Learn to surf the wave with discipline, agility and purpose or get crushed beneath it.
17:30
Jagrity Singh
Here, what give me the optimism is that there is absolutely a proven path to success because what we are hearing is a lot of noises. We are seeing a lot of chaos, we are seeing indecisiveness. So given, as I said, the structure kills the chaos. There are disciplines, their processes, their framework. If we come together and set the right ownership on the top of the organization, I think that will give the clarity, will bring the transparency. But the crucial point is the window to act is now. So get your balance, commit to the transformation and ride the way forward.
18:14
Matt Alder
Jaggs, thank you very much for talking to me.
18:17
Jagrity Singh
It’s been absolute pleasure. I would like to say, Matt, that let’s keep the channel open. I’m happy to learn from your listeners. So any suggestions, any comments, any ideas, any lessons learned, Please keep sharing those notes. We all are together in this.
18:34
Matt Alder
My thanks to Jagreti. You can follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can search all the past episodes@recruitingfuture.com on that site. You can subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Recruiting Future Feast and get the inside track on everything that’s coming up on the show. Thanks very much for listening. I’ll be back next time and I hope you’ll join me.
