The new playbook: AI as organizational change, not just tech

Part 4 of a series on AI and Corporate Affairs, by Andrea Christianson, Partner, Penta Group and Russ Grote, Managing Director, KPMG US

One of the reasons many organizations aren't seeing the lauded benefits of AI is because AI is more than just "another technology." It challenges the fundamental way we have worked for generations. 

One day, we'll look back and see AI as a story about organizational change as much as technological change. The functions and companies that crack the code on upgrading how they work - not just the tools they use - will stay ahead. 

This is daunting. There is no tested blueprint or set of best practices to follow. Further, many corporate affairs leaders don't have authority over organizational change. However, "resting on your laurels", as a former boss, Governor Schwarzenegger, used to say, is not an option. 

We also know transformations require capacity, and exploring AI in certain contexts needs to shift to standard practice across teams.

Here is our recommended blueprint for corporate affairs leaders:

Tackle the knowledge layer

The single biggest lever you have to work differently is the knowledge layer (for a refresh, click here). The good news is you most likely already have what you need. The foundational documents exist; they are just scattered across different cloud folders and desktops. It can seem daunting to find the capacity to organize such a scattered behemoth. However, the old mantra, spend an hour today to save two hours tomorrow, is especially true here. Identify the foundational files, find out where they live, bring them together in one place, build the muscle to maintain them properly, and hook them into an AI system and agents.

Assign work differently

Leaders drive change, and they are key to enabling people to work differently. For a parallel, let's consider university professors. For years, they've assigned things in the same way, i.e., "write a paper". Today, many are rightly concerned that AI is helping generate good papers, but students aren't learning. In response, some are banning AI. The innovative ones are changing the assignment. These latter professors are saying: "Use AI to write the paper. Then, stand in front of the class and verbally argue the other side." With this approach, these professors are enabling AI use in a way that still tests and trains the critical thinking and judgment skills tomorrow's leaders will need. 

Translating this to corporate affairs means managers should spend more time discussing essential questions on the front end: who is the audience, what core message are we trying to convey, what is the best vehicle to convey it, and what goal are we achieving? Then, once someone has produced content for your review (usually in collaboration with agents), ask them questions like: "What was the hardest call you made here?" This doesn't mean they have to write every word themselves; it means they need to deeply understand the goal and purpose of the project and make explicit choices. That is far more important than whether an agent strung words together into a sentence.

Use meetings better

This is the most obvious place to wrestle back capacity. AI should reduce the number of meetings, improve meeting quality, and democratize meeting insights for those who weren't in attendance. Start by allowing certain people to opt out and review the transcript. Use AI to source information for quick pre-reads (or pre-listens) and push for the 30-minute meeting to move to 20 minutes. Ensure transcripts are uploaded into the knowledge layer, either automatically or manually, to keep nuance in place. 

Perhaps paradoxically, fewer, shorter meetings can also lead to something else: greater depth. When the first half of a meeting isn't spent talking about why it is being held, the meeting can be used to foster human-to-human interaction, creativity, and brainstorming

Butt into enterprise-level conversations

All of this only works if you have the tools and permissions to enable them. Corporate affairs teams have never had a technology lead.  However, AI isn't just another tech tool. It's a gamechanger for how we work. That means corporate affairs leaders need to be internal advocates for the tools, security frameworks, connector integrations, and more that make it possible to work in new ways. This might mean you need to champion a pilot within your function, bring in a forward-deployed engineer, and even hire an outside consultant to support bringing this to life. The bottom line is you can't rely on your IT team to tell you how to use new tools; you need to have a system for identifying the ones you need and advocating for them. 

Again, all of this can seem overwhelming, but your team is more nimble than your organization. Review the current work processes in the function you own and think critically about what might need to change to enable knowledge layers, agents, and, most importantly, your people to work together to access better data, build stronger strategies, and execute with greater precision. 

AI can unleash more creativity, strategic thinking, and great content from a corporate affairs function. The corporate affairs leaders who start changing how their teams work with AI will lap the competition.