With AI data analytics influencing global transformation, observing its impact on HR and company culture is inevitable. With HR at the forefront of digital transformation and AI data analytics, we sat down with industry leaders Charlie Sull, Jason Averbook, and Max Bloomberg, to discuss practical strategies for balancing technological capabilities with nuances in human behavior. Our guests explored how people and cultural intelligence connect technology, culture, and human centricity to drive meaningful change in organizations. Here are the 15 main takeaways from this panel discussion. People and Culture Intelligence (CI): Capabilities and Impact Psychological Safety is One of The Best Things to Cultivate in a Company Charlie Sull, a globally recognized expert in corporate culture, points out a study on Corporate Champions that he and his team have carried out where they looked at 25 companies with the strongest culture in the United States and after comparing multiple dimensions the results showed that psychological safety is emerges as one of the main things that of a great company culture. Additionally, psychological safety will help with agility, identifying problems, employees speaking up, and alerting leaders of potential issues of the company which leads to taking effective measures for resolving the problems and thus increasing the company culture. Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset – 3 Key Factors in Company Culture When interacting with technology, it is particularly important not to lose the human side. What we need to always think about is Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset, says Jason Averbook, one of the top 15 HR advisors and consultants. In addition, he stresses the importance of mindset, which is the human-first approach followed by skillset and toolset. Mindset, even though often overlooked, is going to shape the company culture through building connections. Later, in the discussion when asked how to effectively change leadership, Jason Averbook again stresses the importance of the mindset. AI’s role in transforming Culture, Engagement and Growth You do not Need Technology to Build Culture, but it Can Help with Efficiency Building on the previous two points, our third guest Max Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Partnerships, says that he separates AI tools into two pools – Efficient AI, which handles boring tasks and makes you faster, and effective AI, which is a combination of human and AI skills. According to him humans are more often falling into the efficiency camp where companies are making things faster but not better. What lacks is quality improvement compared to improvement in volume – he adds. Managers Should Always be Aligned with Company Goals and Technology Can Help Them Do Their Work Jason Averbook, while sharing his example of checking in with the team through the method of rating – green, yellow, red, stresses that technology can help managers become and stay aligned with the goals of the company. According to him, genetic AI can help managers focus on the actual work not on how to do the work which overall builds a culture that supports that work. However, AI will not automatically build culture instead it is more than likely to turn off culture. You do not need technology to build culture, you should not need technology to build culture, you should use technology to enable and empower culture – Jason Averbook. Preparing for the Future: Building Skills with People and Culture Intelligence It is Important to Know Where You Are Going with Your Company Culture In every project that Max Bloomberg gets involved in, he always asks 3 main questions – Where are we going, where are we now, and how to get from here to there? Next, by making a comparison with practices in the past and current trends of using technology and AI, he concludes that AI can be used to measure and predict what is the effect on important outcomes such as innovation, customer growth quality of goods and services and productivity. However, you need to manually decide on what the culture is as AI cannot tell you what culture you should have. Cultural Measurement Can Be Powered by AI According to Charlie Suli, AI can standardize the approach to measuring culture. In this way, you can get sophisticated answers to questions related to culture across diverse cultural dimensions. Additionally, he agrees with Max that AI cannot be in the driver’s seat but can only help paint the existing landscape and help managers make informed decisions. Leadership Needs to Embrace Technology and AI Presence Building on his previous point, Charlie Sulli points out an interesting fact and that is that if leadership does not accept technology as a pivotal part of a company’s growth, then culture is not going to change much. Therefore, HR leaders have the tough task of presenting the data and the advantages of technology when making the company culture. Two ways to do this are – 1. Round everything in high-quality data and 2. Contextualizing culture and strategy. AI can’t be in the driver seat when making company decisions – Max Bloomberg Turning Data into Insights for Higher People Strategy Impact Old Ways of Measuring Culture Are Becoming Outdated You cannot measure culture by doing a once-a-year check-in survey – Jason Avebook claims. He points out that traditional ways of measuring culture are outdated, and people are afraid to respond. Instead, he chimes in on the importance of well-rounded, high-quality data so he can make informed decisions. Business Outcome-Driven Analytics Can Help Companies Make Decisions For Max Bloomberg, having structured data when making decisions comes at the forefront when making business-related decisions and changing the culture. For him, it is important to define the cultural outcomes when it comes to making a big decision which results from an external event or change in policies. Next, you should define the organizational capabilities, workforce capabilities, and cultural capabilities. Finally, you need to design the cultural and recruitment processes that embody that culture. In turn, these processes will give rise to the workforce capabilities, and organization capabilities will generate the business outcomes that you are looking for. Working by Region When Creating Culture Will Not Work Because You Are Part of a Systemic Home Max Bloomberg says that when you are operating in multiple regions it is important to look at the big picture and recognize that you are part of a system. By changing one part of the system the rest of the system will adapt. The Main Driver for Toxic Cultures is Leadership Leadership, not only with their decisions but also for the social norms that they are upholding, is the number one driver for toxic culture. This information is based on research Charlie Sulli did in the past 3 years on the topic of toxic culture. Moving Cultures Across Continents Needs to be Personalized Experience When sharing his experience of working with a large corporation which was expanding from Canada into Asia, Jason Averbook specified that you cannot use a cookie-cutter method and that you need to aim toward the personalized experience while keeping the values of the corporation. He stresses that when expanding and moving across continents you also need to change leadership for people to follow. In his opinion, companies overspend on changing management and underspend on changing leadership. You Can Change Culture Top-Down Answering the question from Max Bloomberg on how to change the culture where leadership is not strong enough, Jason Averbook explains that when leadership is not strong enough what needs to be done is to start building a community of culture so the community can influence that leadership. Future Trends and Challenges in People and Culture Intelligence Automatic Work Can Distance Managers from Their Team Max Bloomberg shares an interesting story where he worked with a company that hired a regional manager because of their relationships with the team. What he stresses is that managers need to have enough of a relationship with their teams to know if the team members are satisfied with the role and how they can help them grow. All this management by the regional director in question was done via a simple spreadsheet without any automation. He concludes that this is a perfect example of a mindset solution to a cultural issue. AI Tools Can Help Us Scale Our Rewards and Recognition Programs When defining desire and intent it is extremely easy to reach different employees, identify their unique needs and create a personalized employee experience – says Jason Averbook. People act towards what is incentivizing and rewarding them. AI can play a role into shaping these personalized experiences. Want to see how you can elevate your company culture to the next level with the help of an AI? Request Demo Final Thoughts From the perspective of reputable HR professionals with decades of experience when it comes to building a sustainable and comfortable culture companies must exploit and integrate technology to get valuable insights into the process and create a personalized experience. However, companies should not rely solely on AI to replace internal human relationships or make the main decisions. In short, technology is the enabler when creating amazing company culture, but it is the leaderships’ job to make sure that culture is a personalized experience. Watch the entire episode here to hear more valuable examples from firsthand experiences of our guests and see what interesting questions the audience asked them.