The Glide Path Model of Change in Action

Leading Large-Scale AI Transformation in HR

"The question is not whether AI will transform HR. It already has. The real question is: will you shape that transformation, or will it shape you?"

Introduction: The Moment HR Finds Itself In

HR is standing on the edge of its most profound transformation in decades. The arrival of AI in the workplace is not just about automation. It is about rewiring how people are hired, developed, managed, rewarded, and cared for at scale.

AI is already drafting job descriptions, screening résumés, recommending career paths, managing scheduling, and delivering performance insights. In some organizations, it is beginning to make promotion and compensation recommendations.

The stakes are enormous:

• Get this right, and HR becomes the engine of competitive advantage—unlocking speed, fairness, personalization, and strategic foresight.

• Get this wrong, and you entrench bias, erode trust, and fracture the employee-employer contract.

Traditional change management approaches will not cut it here. AI transformation in HR is too complex, too fast-moving, and too emotionally charged. It touches people’s livelihoods, identities, and sense of fairness. You cannot march employees through an 8-step process or ask them to tick boxes in an ADKAR checklist.

This is where the Glide Path Model comes in.

Why the Glide Path Model Fits AI Transformation

AI in HR is a systemic shift. It is not one technology but a web of tools, policies, and mindsets. It’s messy. It’s evolving weekly. And it provokes strong emotions: fear of job loss, hope for reduced admin burdens, questions about fairness and bias.

The Glide Path Model works because it embraces emergence: finding momentum where it already exists, amplifying it, and letting adoption spread through influence, not mandate.

Instead of forcing AI from the top down, the Glide Path Model asks:

• Where are HR teams already experimenting with AI?

• What sparks are creating energy instead of anxiety?

• How do we amplify trust and outcomes instead of imposing compliance?

Applying the Glide Path Model: Step by Step

1. Scan for Signals: Where is AI already flowing?

In any large HR function, some teams are already experimenting—sometimes quietly. A recruiter might be using ChatGPT to draft outreach emails. A learning team might be piloting AI coaching bots. A comp analyst may be testing AI for market benchmarking.

These grassroots experiments are gold. They reveal both natural curiosity and practical use cases. Instead of dismissing them as “shadow IT,” leaders should scan for them systematically.

Expert Move: Set up an AI Discovery Forum where employees log and share how they’re already using AI. This isn’t about control—it’s about visibility.

2. Spot the Spark: What’s working, where’s the energy?

Not all experiments are equal. Some are gimmicks. Some are breakthrough productivity drivers. The Flow Model says: don’t try to scale everything. Instead, find the sparks that show clear value and minimal resistance.

Examples in HR:

• Recruiting: AI reducing time-to-screen by 40% without lowering quality.

• Learning: AI creating personalized learning journeys that employees actually complete.

• Employee Services: AI agents resolving 70% of routine HR queries, freeing staff for high-value issues.

These sparks are where momentum is real—and where the case for change is obvious.

3. Amplify and Broadcast: Turn sparks into stories

Change spreads through stories, not memos. If recruiters cut screening time in half using AI, film them talking about it. If AI assistants reduce burnout for HRBPs, let them share their relief and joy.

This isn’t PR. It’s emotional contagion. Employees believe their peers more than they believe leaders.

Expert Move: Create a “Humans + AI” showcase series inside HR. Let employees narrate how AI makes their work lighter, smarter, or fairer.

4. Lower the Barriers: Remove friction, build trust

AI adoption stalls not because people dislike tools, but because of fear and friction:

• Fear: “Will this replace me?” “Is this biased?”

• Friction: “I don’t know how to use this” or “IT approvals take forever.”

The Glide Path Model says: address both.

• Trust-building: Publish AI principles (fairness, transparency, human oversight). Train HR staff on responsible AI. Show employees where humans remain in the loop.

• Friction removal: Give frontline HR pros easy access to pre-approved AI tools. Automate approvals. Provide safe sandboxes to test.

When barriers fall, resistance dissolves.

5. Repeat and Scale: Flow, don’t force

Once sparks gain visibility and barriers drop, momentum takes over. You don’t need to “get everyone on board.” Early adopters influence their peers. Adoption spreads not because it’s mandated but because it’s obviously useful and trusted.

Scaling AI in HR this way is faster, safer, and far less bruising than traditional program rollouts.

Outcomes: What the Glide Path Model Delivers in AI + HR

Unlike generic change programs that measure inputs (e.g., “% of managers trained”), the Glide Path Model tracks behavioral shifts and business outcomes:

• Behavioral Shifts

  • Recruiters use AI in every requisition, not occasionally.

  • HRBPs shift 30% of their time from admin to strategic consulting.

  • Learning adoption jumps as employees follow AI-personalized pathways.

• Business Outcomes

  • Time-to-hire cut by 25%.

  • Employee service resolution time reduced from 5 days to 1.

  • Internal mobility rates increase 20% as AI improves skill matching.

  • HR employee satisfaction scores rise, not fall, during AI rollout.

This is not about “AI implementation success.” It’s about organizational outcomes that matter to leadership and employees alike.

The Emotional Core: Why This Matters

AI in HR is not just a technology shift. It’s about trust. Employees don’t remember slide decks; they remember how a change made them feel. Did it make them feel diminished, or did it make them feel more capable?

The Glide Path Model insists on this truth: AI transformation must be a human transformation first.

When employees see AI as an ally, not a threat—when they experience lighter workloads, faster support, more personalized growth—they lean in. They adopt not because they’re told to, but because it feels right.

And when that happens, resistance isn’t managed. It disappears.

Closing: A Call to HR Leaders

You cannot force AI into HR through training modules and executive memos. The old models are too heavy, too slow, too rigid.

The Glide Path Model offers a smarter path:

• Start with sparks.

• Amplify stories.

• Remove barriers.

• Let adoption spread like water finding its path.

Because in the end, AI transformation in HR won’t be won by programs. It will be won by trust, outcomes, and momentum.

Or, to put it more simply: “AI won’t replace HR. But HR that flows with AI will replace HR that resists it.”