At a recent Inspire HR Senior Salon, Elaine Mason, senior talent and strategy executive and former senior leader at Cisco, challenged HR leaders to rethink their roles in a world reshaped by artificial intelligence. 

Her talk was candid, provocative, and focused on one big question: 

How can HR remain not just relevant, but transformational, in a world where “the workforce now includes agents, not just humans?”

She advises HR leaders to focus on four key priorities in the age of AI:

• Shift focus from individual performance to organizational productivity
• Expand workforce planning to include total work (volume and nature) and AI integration
• Take the lead in architecting culture for an AI-driven world
• Master business impact storytelling using data and AI insights

Redefining HR’s Relevance

The function of HR, Elaine explains, has traditionally derived influence through relationships and persuasion rather than through data or systems design. While HR has long aspired to be “data-forward,” most organizations still struggle with disconnected systems and incomplete insights.

Meanwhile, the very definition of “workforce” has expanded. In addition to full- and part-time employees, today’s work ecosystem includes fractional talent, contractors, consultants, and now digital “agents” powered by AI. Yet HR often lacks visibility or stewardship over these groups, making workforce planning increasingly complex and incomplete.

From Chief People Officer to Chief Productivity Officer

Elaine suggests bridging these gaps by reimagining the Chief People Officer role, thinking of it instead as a Chief Productivity Officer. Because individual performance is becoming less important in an era where every worker is AI-augmented, organizations must focus on team and system productivity—the collective output created by networks of humans and AI working together.

This shift, Elaine says, requires rethinking core HR processes like performance management, total rewards, and workforce design. She cautions that if HR continues to emphasize individual achievement, employees may feel compelled to conceal their use of AI tools instead of leveraging them collaboratively.

“We need to design agent and human systems that optimize for collective output,” Elaine says.

Moving from Workforce Planning to Workflow Planning

Another transformation Elaine urged was expanding HR’s view of workforce planning. Historically, HR has forecasted headcount—how many employees the organization needs and when. Today, the question must be broader, asking: What is the total volume of work to be done? And, how much of it can be automated, assisted, or augmented?

AI can help fill data gaps, but HR must fully understand and be able to model how work flows across humans, agents, and systems. This empowers HR to deliver powerful insights and value to their executive team. 

Workforce forecasting, long treated as a “nice to have,” is now a survival skill. Getting it right could determine whether HR functions remain central—or become obsolete.

Driving change management best practices

Elaine says it’s not enough for HR professionals to pride themselves as trusted advisors to business leaders. Now, more than ever, they also have to see themselves as core drivers of change management within their organizations.  

She urges HR to design and architect culture—building organizations capable of absorbing rapid technological change ethically and effectively. Key components include:

• Creating psychological safety
• Fostering experimentation
• Equipping both leaders and employees with the literacy to understand what AI can—and can’t—do

Building Business Impact Narratives

Finally, Elaine emphasized the need for HR to evolve from “narratives and feelings” toward business impact storytelling. We have lots of data available, but insights remain scarce. This is where HR comes in.

HR’s influence will depend on its ability to interpret complex AI-driven data into clear, actionable insights that matter to the business.

Some organizations are already merging HR and IT leadership to accelerate this transformation. Moderna’s CHRO and CIO, for example, were combined into a single HR-IT executive role—recognizing that AI is not just a “skills problem” or a “tech problem,” but a workflow problem.

The Future of HR: Connecting People and Technology

To sustain its strategic value, HR must redefine what expertise means, positioning itself at the intersection of human capability and technology.

Elaine’s message was clear: HR can no longer rely on soft power alone. To stay relevant, the function must become the architect of how productivity, planning, culture, and storytelling evolve in an AI-driven enterprise.

Related: Hear Jaime Klein and Elaine Mason discuss redefining HR in the age of AI: