HR does not need to own innovation — but HR can be decisive for whether it becomes changed practice and value

Yesterday I sat on the panel at HR-nettverk Bjørvika together with Morten Kvellestad and Hans Jacob Christensen, in a professional discussion led by Tim Rosenkilde on «HR as an innovation engine — or as a brake?»

Before the meeting I wrote about execution and responsible adoption. Several of the perspectives I brought into the panel also became central in the discussion. At the same time, some important nuances from HR everyday life emerged.

So what did I take away?

💥 HR does not need to own innovation, but should be involved much earlier in the process

When strategy, new ways of working or technology has already been decided and HR is brought in to «get people on board», much may already be locked in.

Competence, organisation, culture and execution should be part of the design of the change. HR must also help build robust employees who understand the benefit, experience mastery and come along on the change ❗

💥 Innovation requires prioritisation — and deprioritisation

A clear perspective from participants was how demanding this is in practice. Many HR functions are under high operational pressure, while the ability to influence the larger strategic decisions may be limited.

If HR is to contribute more strongly to innovation, capacity must also be created for it. Innovation cannot simply be added on top of everything else ❗

💥 AI is a means, not innovation itself

The discussion naturally moved a lot into AI. But the question should not start with which AI solution the organisation should buy.

It should start with which problem we are solving, which work process we want to improve and which value we want to create ❗

AI can be part of the solution. Sometimes it is not.

💥 Responsibility and innovation are not opposites

Data, security, human-in-the-loop, critical thinking and governance are becoming steadily more important when AI is brought into work processes.

Good frameworks should not only tell us what we cannot do. They should make it safer to experiment, learn and scale ❗

And one perspective I may sit even more strongly with:

💥 Organisations must build and own more of their innovation and AI competence themselves

External specialist expertise can add speed, experience and new perspectives. But the organisation cannot outsource its own ability to understand the opportunities, prioritise correctly and develop the organisation over time.

There is a difference between having access to competence and owning it ❗

My most important conclusion after the discussion is therefore that HR may not need to be the innovation engine itself.

But HR can be decisive in building the organisation's ability to learn, change and execute, while bringing people along on the journey ❗

👉 What do you think is HR's most important contribution to innovation?

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