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At GoFIGR, we help organisations understand how AI could change the work people do and what that might mean for capacity, roles and skills. The people we work with are curious about AI, but they also have to test big assumptions from their leaders against the work their teams actually do.
One thing I’ve noticed: a leader can be impatient to move in one meeting and ask, “Where the hell do we start?” in the next. Sometimes it’s the same person.
Perhaps you’ve been asked to “roll out AI” (whatever that means) and come back with a plan and a number for how much this will save. But which work should you look at first? What could improve? And what would it take to make that happen?
You can sit through a brilliant AI vendor demo, leave with ten ideas and still have no idea which one to act on. Working out what that means for your own business takes a bit more digging.
That’s where some of our most interesting client conversations have happened. Here are four that changed what the team wanted to do next.
“AI in means headcount out.” Does it?
One client came to us assuming that bringing AI in would mean taking headcount out.
The data told a different story. Under their most likely AI path, the bigger opportunity was helping people do more and giving them the skills to do it.
That changes where you put your effort. If the opportunity is to help people work differently, going straight to a headcount target could mean missing the bigger prize.
So the conversation becomes: which tasks could change, what could people do with the time freed up, and what would they need to learn to make that happen?
Millions in potential. Who’s going to build it?
Another client identified millions of dollars of potential value from automation. But the team did not have the technical skills or capacity to build what the analysis suggested.
Seeing that gap helped them change course. Finding the opportunity was useful. Working out whether they could act on it was just as useful.
Those millions were potential value, still to be tested and delivered. The next question was practical: what could the team realistically take on, and where would it make sense to begin?
Would the strategy deliver what they hoped?
Another client used GoFIGR to play their AI strategy forward. The analysis suggested it wouldn’t deliver the benefits they were hoping for.
That gave them a chance to change course.
It’s a useful conversation to have while you can still change the plan. What has to happen for the benefits to show up? What if adoption is slower than expected, or only some of the work changes? Does the plan still add up?
Could we aim higher?
For another client, exploring a more ambitious AI scenario raised their expectations of what might be possible.
Sometimes the analysis gives you a reason to be bolder. Comparing your likely path with a more ambitious one lets you ask, “What would we have to do differently to get there?”
You still need to test that bigger scenario. But it gives you a way to explore where stronger adoption, different ways of working or new skills might open up more value.
A practical place to begin
You don’t have to figure out AI for the whole organisation in one go. Start with one team or workflow, a problem worth solving and someone who owns it. Then ask three questions.
1. Which work could change?
Get into the actual work. Where does the time go? What needs human judgement? Where does work get passed from one person to another? Which tasks could change? You need to look beyond job titles to see that.
2. Where would that create value?
What would make this worthwhile: more capacity, faster service, better quality or lower costs? If you free up time, what will you do with it? That’s where the potential benefit starts to become a business decision.
3. What can we act on?
Who could take this on? What skills and support would they need? Choose a first step you can actually deliver, and be clear about what you want to learn from it.
Something useful to take into the next meeting
At GoFIGR, we help you explore what AI could change in your business: the tasks, the roles, the capacity and the skills. We compare different paths so you have something concrete to discuss, challenge and act on.
We help you work out where to focus and why. You’ll also need the right people and capability to implement the changes you choose.
Whether you’re excited to get moving or still figuring out where to start, a clearer view of the work gives you something useful to take into the next meeting.
Want to see what task-level analysis looks like? Try GoFIGR’s free AI Impact Assessment on your own role. It takes about three minutes and needs no sign-up.
Helena Turpin spent 20 years in talent and HR innovation where she solved people-related problems using data and technology. She left corporate life to create GoFIGR where she helps mid-sized organizations to develop and retain their people by connecting employee skills and aspirations to internal opportunities like projects, mentorship and learning.
