#organizational-design

#organizational-design

That cycle is breaking down. Not through top-down mandates, but because of AI. New research shows that the workweek is changing for AI-enabled teams in measurable and sustainable ways. Employees are executing high-value work on Mondays and Fridays, meetings are consolidating towards the middle of the week, and engagement levels are climbing. The implications reach far beyond scheduling: AI is beginning to influence pacing, workflows, and even how leaders think about organizational design.

These places have incredibly sophisticated performance frameworks, coaching programs, design systems, review processes. They've invested years into building cultures where the average quality bar is high and talent is supposedly evenly distributed across their teams. And yet. When something orbit-shifting comes up, a decision that could reshape their trajectory, a gnarly opportunity they need to nail, leadership doesn't just route it through the normal channels. They call the same handful of people. Every single time.

A BearingPoint survey of 1,000 plus global execs found half report 10 to 19 percent workforce overcapacity due to "early-stage automation and limited role redesign" as AI is rolled out in their businesses. "Roles centered on routine analysis, process execution, transactional support, and repetitive knowledge work - including back-office operations, customer service, and entry-level financial or HR support - are becoming increasingly redundant," said the report.

According to research from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), agentic artificial intelligence (AI)-based applications will lead to major management headaches. This is because technology purchases have traditionally been considered either as a substitute or a complement to human workers. Technology automates or augments and so can either be considered as a tool or as a worker.

While 2023 research from Visier demonstrated that 83% of workers admit to " productivity theater"-performing busy work that creates the appearance of output without meaningful results-that same year, the World Economic Forum declared creativity to be the second most critical skill for our workforce by 2027. The collision of these realities signals a fundamental shift that smart organizations can no longer ignore.

With more than 15 years of experience in human resources, Drew has helped companies navigate Pre-IPO readiness, mergers and acquisitions, culture shifts, and reorganizations to position businesses for major growth-all through the lens of people. He doesn't just talk about HR as a support function. For Drew, it's a strategic engine that drives performance, shapes culture, and supports transformation at every level.

Our obsession with quantifiable metrics has systematically trained us to ignore this melody.