Accenture’s recent $865 million restructuring – with over 11,000 roles apparently affected – has sent a clear signal across all markets: artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a future disruptor; it has arrived, and is a clear and present force that is changing all our businesses.
What does this mean for HR Directors? HR holds a pivotal role, tasked not only with embedding new technologies but rewriting the cultural narrative. Without a clear narrative, approach, vision and roadmap everyone seems unclear of where they are going, what is required of them, and what is in it for them. By owning three new pillars of performance, people and AI, HR Directors can equip leaders to orchestrate, not just supervise, human connection and digital capability. The end goal is that HR will position itself as the true architect of a future-ready workforce and culture.
As AI infiltrates workflows, automates tasks, and generates insights, management is moving from supervisors and guardians of processes into a new role: orchestrators of people, technology, and performance. The managers who can ride this AI wave will be rewarded, promoted and moved up the value chain much closer to the wider leadership level, which is both a challenge and an opportunity, as it will impact the organisational design.
From the Pyramid to the Diamond to the Narrow Diamond organisational model
HR Directors will be familiar with the old pyramid organisational model, where a lot of people (typically younger) join at the bottom and the higher you go up the business, the fewer people there are, until right at the very top of the pyramid is the CEO. The AI revolution is turning the model into a diamond design, where there are fewer new joiners, a wider management bulge in the middle, and back to a few high-value leaders at the top.
But increasingly, we see that there will be the emergence of what we are calling the ‘Narrow Diamond Model’. Where high-value AI Managers move closer to the wider leadership pool and are valued and paid accordingly, whilst the organisation removes greater numbers of people, as well as recruiting fewer new joiners at the bottom of the narrow diamond shape.
Staying above the AI-waterline
For those people who want to remain, drive the AI transformation, and be considered valuable, they now need to stay above what Usman Sheikh and I coined as the ‘AI-Waterline’.
This refers to one’s ability to contribute greater value (with AI) than AI can do without the employee. As AI rapidly improves in its capabilities, so does the expectation of the employee to stay ahead of that rising AI capability and technology advances.
HR Directors need to recognise this new high-value AI capability Manager class to ensure AI is effectively adopted, used, embedded, and applied in a way that is aligned with and drives the executive’s strategic focus.
Without this new management class, the danger is business won’t be able to unlock the growth and efficiency value inherent in AI. Which, without tight management and guidance within the business, could inadvertently create more confusion, distraction, and further weaken processes and cultures. The risk for leaders is that the huge investments in AI don’t deliver on their promises. And due to the eye-watering investments, no one can afford to get this wrong.
But if HR can support this new AI-Management class to harness AI adoption and application wisely, it could unlock the AI investment, adoption and transformation questions all in one.
They would have strategic levers for productivity, engagement, and talent development. But more importantly, it gives leaders a roadmap and approach to how they might unlock the significant cost savings and efficiencies that they are under immediate pressure to find. It also helps create an AI-enabled pipeline of future leaders and attracts and keeps capabilities and talent onboard and in the business.
Leaders need a compelling vision and narrative for why we should go through this AI disruption, when so much of the narrative for the destination, outcomes and vision is vague, negative and unclear. This could be it.
HR’s Strategic Role
The redefinition of the AI-manager cannot succeed without the People Function, which will be central to the process. Human Resources must equip everyone to adopt AI quickly but especially empower their best adaptive managers with ever-evolving AI capabilities, alongside the new AI leadership skills. This will balance technology with a new human+ approach and human-centric connection and support. This ensures the three new cultural or development pillars in a successful business that HR will own and manage – Performance, People and AI!
This means HR must:
- Designing training programmes that embed AI into the whole organisation, but especially leadership and management development, aligned with the three pillars.
- Building feedback loops so managers can surface cultural and capability issues early.
- Define the AI-manager role as orchestrators of teams and technology, capable of enhancing performance through real-time insights, identifying and closing capability gaps, and integrating AI into workflows while keeping people central.
At the heart of bringing these three things together is a need for a new cultural narrative and approach, which no one has yet defined.
Successful AI empowered businesses will need to create a culture where adopting, applying and experimenting with AI is happening everywhere in the right way. Central to this is trust. People first, but also performance first.
Teams of constantly evolving, reshaping and adapting high-value personnel, who can be utilised and focused anywhere in the business or geographically, and at a moment’s notice. This will require a new cultural approach as well as new development and talent management approaches, too. All of that will be run by the People Function.
In doing so, HR positions itself as the architect of a future-ready workforce and culture, ensuring that AI adoption is both strategically aligned and culturally sustainable. They will also have a significant impact on the development of this AI Management class and who defines who is kept and promoted, and who will be exited from the business.
The impact of AI-enabled managers
AI is redefining management, and with HR enabling this shift, it is an exciting time for a new class of AI-enabled managers who can unlock productivity, engagement, and talent development. Freed from routine firefighting, these managers can focus on coaching, innovation, and building high-performing teams, guided by real-time AI insights that personalise growth, succession, and development opportunities.
The result is a more performance-driven, talent-focused organisation that balances efficiency with culture, giving employees clear ways to contribute and progress. The risk is that without equipping managers to integrate AI effectively, gaps in skills, processes, and trust will widen. The solution lies in a compelling vision: the Narrow Diamond model, where high-value AI managers lead agile, focused teams of talented individuals, orchestrating technology and people with empathy, insight, and strategic alignment.
Supported by HR, this approach positions managers as the linchpins of organisational transformation, enabling career growth, business value, and a future-ready workforce while preserving human connection and trust. People are being pulled back into the office but then are online. What is the new culture and strategic narrative that leaders are articulating because as yet I cannot see it?