Dr. Robert Ployhart’s academic research career has focused on drawing a line between the “psychology of talent” and competitive business advantage—a link, he says, HR leaders need to pay close attention to today.

Ployhart is the Bank of America professor of business administration and Carolina Distinguished Professor in the department of management at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, where he has taught and led research for more than two decades. Throughout that time, Ployhart says, he witnessed firsthand as HR evolved into a “critical, vital part of the organization’s effectiveness.”

The COVID-19 pandemic, says Ployhart, who is one of the National Academy of Human Resources’ newly inducted Fellows, was one of the most important catalysts that reshaped HR’s role.

“Some HR leaders and even CEOs have said that COVID taught them more about leadership than they learned in the prior 20 years,” he says.

Today, the most “modern, well-run organizations” are prioritizing collaboration among the CEO, CFO and CHRO, with the latter’s influence being particular essential as companies face the transformative impact of AI.

HR’s new mandate to lead AI transformation

It’s a transformation HR “absolutely has to lead,” Ployhart says, as humans will be at the center.

Bringing the workforce along on the AI journey is going to require HR to rethink the fundamentals of what it can deliver to the organization. The function must prioritize culture and workforce readiness, while guiding discussions among key stakeholders on ethics and responsibility, Ployhart says.

As the new year unfolds, HR will need to be the voice of reason on AI: Is the organization moving too quickly or not fast enough? Where is the real ROI? How do you grow without increasing headcount?

In 2026, “this will be where the rubber meets the road—the reality of AI,” Ployhart says. “If 2025 was all about the disruption of AI, in 2026 it’s going to be, where’s the return?”

While HR leaders will need to bring a broad lens to that work—envisioning immediate and long-range people implications—keeping the individual employee at the forefront will enable organizations to effectively make AI transformation a human shift, he says.

“At the end of the day, AI integration will be a uniquely personal experience,” he says, “and HR has an opportunity to decide what that experience is going to be.”

A functional shift toward agility

It’s work, Ployhart says, that will involve new contributions—and thus, new skills—from HR professionals.

“It’s going to require HR to adopt more agile mindsets; we’ll see principles that come from software design being rolled out in HR,” he says.

HR must pay particular attention to its “commitment to legacy,” Ployhart advises. Policies and practices are “still important,” but should no longer be the driving priority. Without pivoting to more agile designs and principles, HR runs the risk of looking like a compliance function, a perception that dragged down HR’s strategic influence for decades, he says.

“To me, this is an opportunity to completely redefine and transform what we think of HR,” he says. “But the question is, will we be tied to that history and legacy of the profession, or will we be able to break those chains and create something just truly transformational?”