Discover how HR leaders balance AI tools with human expertise in talent management, leadership development, and career transitions for better organizational outcomes.
This article is based on Keystone Partners’ webinar “Strategic AI Integration While Preserving Human Connection.” Watch the full recording here to hear directly from our expert panel.
The conversation around AI in HR isn’t about replacement – it’s about augmentation. In a recent Keystone Partners webinar, senior consultants explored how HR leaders can strategically implement AI across talent management functions while maintaining the human connection that remains irreplaceable.
The Reality Check: AI as Enhancement, Not Replacement
“AI can stand alone as a tool,” explained Brenda Stanton, Senior Vice President at Keystone Partners. “We’re all probably using it in some capacity, whether as an editing tool, a time saver, for data analysis, or thought partnership. But there are areas where AI is an augmentation tool – not a replacement, especially not a replacement for human connection or human intelligence.”
This distinction matters. According to LinkedIn, AI literacy is now the number one skill employers seek. Yet the most effective AI implementation comes from understanding precisely where technology enhances human capabilities rather than attempting to automate them away.
Where AI Creates Value in Talent Management
Lisa Smith, Senior Partner in Keystone’s Leadership Development division, outlined practical applications transforming HR functions:
Leadership Competency Refresh
Updating leadership competencies typically involves extensive interviews, focus groups, and surveys generating massive amounts of data to compile and summarize. AI can accomplish this substantially faster – one large healthcare client used AI to pull together themes in minutes rather than days, creating significant time and resource savings.
Talent Acquisition Efficiency
Why not leverage AI tools to help sift through hundreds (or thousands) of resumes to extract top applicants in a fraction of the time? This frees talent acquisition teams to focus on relationship-building and culture assessment – distinctly human skills.
Performance Review Support
Leaders often need refreshers on conducting effective performance reviews. AI-enabled training videos and simulation tools can help leaders practice these conversations, preparing them for real interactions with their teams.
360 Feedback Acceleration
Smith described using AI in coaching engagements: “We’ve piloted a tool where we’ve done the compare and contrast between reports created completely by human effort and reports created with the help of AI, and they are spot on. With a few wording changes, of course – we’re not creating work slop.”
The result? Faster turnaround on coaching reports, allowing coaches to debrief feedback and move to development planning more quickly.
The Career Transition Perspective
Janet Watts, VP of Delivery at Keystone, shared how AI extends coaching sessions in career transition: “It helps clients explore and find opportunities more quickly in very personalized ways. For example, somebody can put in a prompt and find out what are the most innovative companies in the nonprofit sector that have hybrid roles. It can even give you roles at those companies.”
But the human element remains critical. Watts recounted working with an accomplished scientist who, after five grueling interview rounds without offers, needed something no AI prompt could provide: “As soon as his camera turned on, I saw what he needed – somebody to restore his confidence so he could stand up and fight another day.”
Another client, an executive uncomfortable with networking, used AI to develop scripts and LinkedIn messages that built his confidence. “What I like about this example is it’s AI helping with a strategy that is completely human-centered,” Watts noted. The AI helped with preparation, but the coach provided the practice sessions and encouragement needed for successful execution.
The Ethics of AI Use in Career Management
The panelists emphasized ethical AI use throughout the discussion, particularly around job search authenticity.
The “Work Slop” Problem
A Stanford study coined the term “work slop”: AI-generated work content that masquerades as good work but lacks substance to meaningfully advance tasks. The issue? People using AI irresponsibly without reviewing and personalizing the output.
“We always say use it to inspire,” Watts explained. “If you want help with writing, don’t ever use those words exactly. Think of it as, ‘this gives me an idea of how I can say it in my words.’ And always be authentic in the truth.”
Career coaches at Keystone guide clients from the very beginning on using AI to inspire rather than replace their authentic voice – ensuring that when employers do interview candidates, the real person shows up, not an AI-generated persona.
The White Fonting Issue
Some job seekers attempt to “game” applicant tracking systems by adding keywords in white font. While detection tools now exist, Watts emphasized: “Even if it got through, it would be a disaster at the end. You want to be finding a company that you match well with your experience. That authenticity is always important.”
AI Hallucinations
AI can fabricate information, a phenomenon called “hallucinating.” The panel recommended using AI tools that provide sources, allowing users to verify whether career advice came from a Reddit post or a reputable publication like Forbes.
Strategic AI Implementation Across Organizations
Smith outlined how HR leaders can drive coordinated AI strategy rather than siloed implementation:
Facilitate Executive Discussions
HR plays a key role in facilitating discussions with executive teams and business leaders about where AI could solve efficiency, accuracy, or quality issues. “You don’t have to be the AI expert in the room, but you do need to be AI fluent,” Smith noted.
Coordinate Cross-Functional Rollout
One organizational development roundtable revealed frustration with IT departments launching AI tools without collaborating with HR. The result? Clunky implementation that fell short of expectations due to poor employee communications and training.
“Without coordinated, aligned efforts, AI implementation was clunky,” Smith explained. HR’s role includes ensuring AI isn’t deployed in silos without essential employee support and training.
Lead Change Management
AI has significantly amplified the need for change management skills. “Where are you equipping your leaders to address the human side of all these tech changes? Managing resistance, emotions, trust, maintaining human connection – that’s where HR leaders can really play an important part,” Smith said.
Skills That Matter More in the AI Age
A webinar poll asked participants which skills become most valuable as AI becomes more common. Results showed:
- Emotional intelligence and people skills (top response)
- Tied for second: Adaptability and continuous learning; Communication and relationship building
- Critical thinking and judgment
- Creative and strategic thinking
The relatively lower ranking for critical thinking surprised some participants, given AI’s tendency to hallucinate and the need to verify information. As one attendee noted, “We need to be careful, as AI can provide us untrue information.”
Smith acknowledged this concern: “Should we be researching beyond what AI has provided us? When should we be researching?” The answer: we must prompt AI not to hallucinate and verify outputs rather than accepting them at face value.
The Human Touch in AI-Assisted Processes
Career Management and AI
Watts explained that in career management, AI can help predict where companies are going, what jobs will evolve, and identify skill gaps, allowing employees to prepare for internal mobility. But the career coach remains essential for helping individuals navigate these insights, make decisions aligned with their values, and build confidence through the transition.
Coaching Remains Irreplaceable
Surveys consistently reveal that the most effective part of career transition programs is the relationship with the coach. Keystone’s three-tiered process: consult, coach, and counsel – all remain human-centered.
Counseling helps clients through the emotional rollercoaster of job search. Consulting provides best practices learned from thousands of clients and HR professionals. Coaching encourages forward movement, holds clients accountable, and provides cheerleading when needed.
“No AI prompt can replace that,” Watts emphasized.
AI-Generated Screening Interviews
The rise of AI-generated screening interviews presents new challenges. Candidates report feeling devalued: “It makes me feel like I’m not worth much, why am I not talking to a person?”
Career coaches help clients practice with AI tools so their authentic selves come through in these screeners, while also coaching them through the emotional impact of talking to a screen without human interaction.
The Remote Work Connection
With many organizations operating remotely or in hybrid models, maintaining human connection becomes even more critical alongside AI adoption. Keystone, operating as a fully remote organization, implements “Coffee Pals” – monthly pairings across the organization for casual half-hour conversations.
Teams also use “Rose-Rosebud-Thorn” check-ins where members share something great (rose), something challenging (thorn), and something they’re looking forward to (rosebud). “I learn so much from my team from whether they share something personal, professional, things going on,” Watts shared. “It really builds our connection.”
These human connection strategies run parallel to AI tool adoption, demonstrating that technology implementation requires proportional investment in relationship-building.
Manager Burnout and AI Overload
A LinkedIn study revealed that half of employees feel keeping up with AI is like another job, with 40% reporting it affects their well-being. This underscores why strategic AI implementation with proper change management matters.
“There is a lot of fear, and when things just get thrown at people, that can be difficult,” Watts observed. Leadership development programs that equip managers to introduce AI thoughtfully, explain the “why,” and provide adequate training become critical to preventing burnout during technological transitions.
Practical Guidance for HR Leaders
Start with Policy
Establish company-wide AI policies that guide employee behavior. What’s appropriate use? Where are the boundaries? These guidelines prevent confusion and misuse.
Have Manager Conversations
Employees should discuss with their managers which aspects of their role make sense for AI leverage. “It needs to be a conversation to decide where is that point of too much is too much, and what’s appropriate,” Smith explained.
Maintain Quality Over Speed
Just because AI makes something faster doesn’t mean it should bypass human review. “Quality always has to supersede the fact that it gets done quickly,” Watts emphasized. “It should be that it’s better because it got done quickly.”
Preserve Human-Centric Processes
Culture fit assessment, for example, cannot be determined by AI tools. “That is going to be the emotional intelligence, that’s going to be the human conversations,” Watts noted.
Upskilling as Competitive Advantage
Watts shared a story about a quality assurance client who proactively upskilled in AI even though he didn’t use it in his current role. “He thought, I need to upskill in this, I need to know how to use this for my job, and he broadcasts that everywhere, and that has gotten him a lot of attention.”
This illustrates how career coaches help clients identify not just immediate job search tactics, but strategic skill development that positions them competitively in an AI-enhanced marketplace.
Moving Forward
The webinar poll showed 65% of participants want to learn to work with AI effectively – a sign of resilience and adaptability rather than resistance. Only 12% worried about AI replacing their roles.
This aligns with the panelists’ core message: AI in HR strategy succeeds when implemented as an enhancement tool that preserves and strengthens human connection. HR professionals who understand this distinction, and who work with experts fluent in both technology and human development, will lead in both technological adoption and human-centered workplace cultures.
As Smith concluded: “The human in human resources is never going to fully go away. There’s always going to be a need for talent management, career management, and strategic workforce planning, simply because we’ve got organizations that consist of human beings.”
Ready to Enhance Your Talent Strategy?
At Keystone Partners, we help organizations navigate the intersection of technology and human development. Contact us today to learn more about our decades of experience in career transition services, leadership development, and more, using AI as a tool to enhance, not replace, the human expertise that drives real results.
About the Experts:
Brenda Stanton is Senior Vice President at Keystone Partners, an organizational consulting firm specializing in career transition, leadership development, and organizational consulting.
Janet Watts is VP & Senior Career Management Consultant at Keystone Partners, bringing strong marketing and employee engagement expertise to career management consulting.
Lisa Smith is a Senior Partner in Leadership Development at Keystone Partners with over 25 years of experience spanning the full employee lifecycle from onboarding through leadership development to career transitions.