Successful leaders who have navigated the headwinds of change can inspire approaches and strategy. Rhonda Morris, Â鶹´«Ã½ board member, sat down with Ashley Goldsmith, Â鶹´«Ã½ chief people officer, to discuss advice, reminders, and human-centered leadership.
Maria Valero
Editorial Strategist, HR
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At a time when there are more questions than answers, more technology and data than we know what to do with, and higher expectations than ever, HR leaders don¡¯t need a new KPI, initiative, or bright shiny object to implement. They need a fresh perspective that can put some wind back in their sails.
A recent thought leadership conversation between two executives yielded just that, where they discussed the role HR leaders play in the future of work. The key takeaway? It's time to move beyond the uncertainties of today and focus on the practical steps to prepare for tomorrow.
Rhonda Morris, current Â鶹´«Ã½ board member and recently retired from her role as CHRO at Chevron, alongside Ashley Goldsmith, chief people officer at Â鶹´«Ã½, shed light on some effective ways to approach this transformative time. Here are the top takeaways.
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When Morris discusses her leadership style, she emphasizes leading from the heart. With her extensive experience leading teams and driving them through challenging times, Morris has a unique perspective on the outsized role a human-centered, heart-led approach can have on team dynamics.
Morris shared an experience from earlier in her career, when she had to step away from work because of a family loss. Without even considering her time-off balance or alternative options, Morris¡¯ supervisor gave her the support she didn¡¯t even know she needed with one simple sentiment: Your family needs you more than the company does; come back when you¡¯re ready.
This experience taught Morris a lesson that shaped her leadership style. As she explained, ¡°Leaders can either build confidence or they can destroy it¡ªit¡¯s important to be really thoughtful about the things you do to build connective tissue and help people learn and grow.¡±
While simple, this example of support made a profound impact: At the end of the day, we¡¯re professionals with a personal life, and it¡¯s nearly impossible to be an effective leader without understanding both facets of your employees. Morris touched on this, saying ¡°Everybody has challenges, and some of those challenges will impact your ability to do your job well. If you can help someone simply manage this life challenge, they¡¯re going to be a better and more loyal employee.¡±
¡°Leaders can either build confidence or they can destroy it¡ªit¡¯s important to be really thoughtful about the things you do to build connective tissue and help people learn and grow.¡±
AI is taking the world of work by storm. It¡¯s challenging well-established norms and forcing leaders to rise to the occasion, even if they don¡¯t have all of the answers. Morris, however, is cautiously optimistic. She views AI as a **partner** and not a replacement, and recommends leaders draw on previous technological evolutions to ground us and drown out the fear.
Morris recalled her early years at Chevron, saying, ¡°When I started working for Chevron in 1991, there was no iPhone. We got a voicemail and getting a voicemail was exciting! Everybody didn¡¯t even have a computer on their desk. People who didn¡¯t live through that can¡¯t even believe that we went through those types of rapid changes.¡±
As we think about AI and its impact on the future of our world, we can draw from the past and find comfort in the fact that we¡¯ve already navigated monumental technological shifts¡ªand we can certainly do it again.
And Morris provided a call to action for HR leaders: ¡°What I would encourage everybody to do is start testing things and learning¡ªespecially as HR leaders¡ªbecause the role that the HR function is going to play in the AI transformation of companies I believe is bigger than anybody thinks it is. It¡¯s going to impact the work process, job families, and how to make decisions on what your learning strategy is for companies.¡±
¡°The role that the HR function is going to play in the AI transformation of companies I believe is bigger than anybody thinks it is.¡±
By understanding the discomfort and also the promising possibilities, HR leaders can become early adopters of new technology, paving the way for the rest of their organization to follow suit.
In a season of more learning than knowing, it was fitting for Morris to share her experience handling massive change at scale. Her approach was refreshing: ¡°Even telling people what you don¡¯t know is extremely powerful.¡±
She emphasized leading with honesty¡ªfor the sake of it, certainly, but also because it engenders more trust from employees than a partially accurate answer.
Morris experienced this first-hand during her implementation of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Chevron, which spanned 55 countries and was nothing short of challenging: ¡°There are times when you have to make the decision that cascading messages is ineffective.¡±
Rather than blasting out communications amidst a massive work stream, Morris recommends something she calls ¡°testing for understanding.¡± While yes, communication can be powerful, communicating effectively is business critical. One blanket communication is not always the answer, and tailoring your words and delivery accordingly will drive more understanding.
This was also true in her latter years at Chevron, where she took on the AI sponsorship role alongside Chevron¡¯s CIO for enterprise-wide AI. In conversations with the working group, Morris found it hard to completely grasp the initiatives coming from the technical teams, largely due to the impenetrable tech speak. When asked if she could repeat back what the initiatives were, she couldn¡¯t, so the team delivered them in a different way¡ªusing language an HR professional could understand.
Sure, it would have been less work¡ªand vulnerability¡ªto not push for a revised delivery. But in the face of uncertainty with AI, it¡¯s critical to be honest with yourself and others about your level of understanding. Being the person in the room who has all the answers would require a time machine¡ªinstead, Morris¡¯ approach to learn instead of know in those conversations benefitted her, the teams she was working with, and the business.
So don¡¯t be afraid to simply ask the questions, or admit if something isn¡¯t making sense. Chances are, others in the room will benefit from that as well.
At the end of their conversation, Goldsmith posed one last question to Morris around change fatigue. As we¡¯re reenvisioning our current and future reality every day, what will AI not change?
Morris had one human-centered takeaway: ¡°Human connections and the value of them are never going to change.¡±
As AI enables humans to explore more of their human capacity by augmenting and taking on automation, our ability to connect is making the AI-evolution a human one, rather than a technological one.
¡°Human connections and the value of them are never going to change.¡±
While much of our foundational understanding of work is changing, we can always hold on to the human connections¡ªboth professional and personal¡ªthat AI can simply never replace.
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