Navigating AI Transformation: People, Resilience, and Change

This session presents an honest, in-progress case study of how AHEAD is applying I-O psychology to lead an enterprise-wide AI and workforce transformation, paired with a resilience framework for navigating AI-driven change more broadly. AI transformation is not a single transition from one stable state to another, but an ongoing process of learning, adaptation, and reinvention, and, like most organizational change initiatives, it offers people throughout the organization a chance to practice the art of adaptation and resilience.

Part 1: AI People Transformation (Anna Zide)

As VP of Talent & Workforce Transformation at AHEAD, Anna Zide will share how AHEAD is reimagining work, roles, and skills in an AI-enabled organization, with a focus on human-centered design rather than tool-only adoption.

This portion will walk through how AHEAD has built AI foundations around its enterprise GPT platform (Glean), launched an AI Champions network, redesigned roles to be explicitly AI-enabled, and embedded AI sentiment measurement into its engagement survey. Underneath these efforts are classic I-O methods: work and task redesign grounded in the Job Characteristics Model, the Job Demands-Resources model, and change management. Anna will be candid about what is working and what AHEAD is still figuring out.

Part 2: Resilience and AI-Related Change (Linda Hoopes)

This portion of the session focuses on the intersection between organizational change management, resilience, and AI-focused initiatives. Linda Hoopes will begin by differentiating key roles in change, leaders, practitioners/implementers, and employees, and the distinct challenges each faces in AI-related transformation. She will then apply a view of resilience as an active process and explore the resources, mindsets, skills, and supports most useful in addressing these challenges.

The session will close by exploring implications and applications of this approach to the broader landscape of organizational change, including ways to intentionally use change initiatives as opportunities to develop individual and organizational resilience. The format throughout is a facilitated, participatory discussion using prompt questions to draw out audience experiences, best practices, and lessons learned.

Delivery Mode

In-person

Intended Audience

This seminar is intended for a general audience at a postgraduate level; no specific content knowledge is required.

Learning Objectives

Based on the content of the session, participants should be able to:

- Differentiate between a technology-centric AI rollout and a workforce-centric AI transformation, using I-O concepts like work design, roles, and culture.

- Apply the Job Characteristics Model (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback) to define what an "AI-enabled" role looks like and identify the skills required for success.

- Use the Job Demands-Resources model to anticipate AI-related strain, uncertainty, and the resources needed to support adoption.

- Design change and enablement strategies (AI Champion networks, foundational training, workflow use cases) that build employee readiness, self-efficacy, and ethical use.

- Evaluate AI sentiment and impact by incorporating targeted survey items (like a multi-item AI Index) and connecting them to usage and behavior change.

- Identify how AI-related change creates different challenges for leaders, change practitioners, and employees.

- Apply a resilience framework to explore these challenges and identify tools and strategies that support adaptation.

- Describe how resilience concepts can be used to design more effective change support strategies for AI adoption and other complex workplace transformations.

- Apply an AI-supported tool to analyze specific challenges and highlight relevant resilience strategies and resources.

- Reflect on the possibility of using organizational change as a tool for building individual and organizational resilience.

Agenda

Special Note

The above content description and agenda are pending SIOP approval. Please check later correspondence and announcements for any key changes to the workshop plan.

Continuing Education (CE) Credits

This seminar is eligible for 3.0 continuing education credits for psychologists. To qualify for these credits, the entire program must be attended. There is no partial credit available. SIOP will email CE letters 30 days after the session to the individuals who responded "Yes" to question #1 on the post-event evaluation.

For more information about continuing education for psychologists, please visit the American Psychological Association at http://www.apa.org/education/ce

Your Presenters

Anna Zide, Ph.D.

Anna Zide, Ph.D. is VP of Talent & Workforce Transformation at AHEAD, where she leads the people side of the company's AI transformation, including workforce planning, role and workflow redesign, capability building, and responsible AI adoption. She oversees AHEAD's AI Champion Network and Glean adoption program and defines the measures AHEAD uses to track AI readiness, sentiment, usage, and value.

Anna holds a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of South Florida, an M.A. in I-O Psychology from UNC Charlotte, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Florida. She spent nine years as a Talent Management Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, applying I-O methods (workforce planning, competency modeling, engagement and climate surveys, change management) for federal agencies including NASA, NSF, DIA, and ODNI, followed by an engagement-survey consulting role at CEB (now Gartner). She then led organizational development at 2U, talent and capability at GenesisCare and Lightspeed Commerce, and has been at AHEAD since 2023, first as Head of Talent Development and Employee Experience and now as VP, Talent & Workforce Transformation. She is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and is based in Atlanta, GA.

Linda Hoopes, Ph.D.

Linda Hoopes, Ph.D. is the founder and president of Resilience Alliance, an Atlanta-based firm focused on helping individuals, teams, and organizations learn to thrive in turbulence. She brings over 30 years of experience in psychology and organizational change to her work. Linda is the author of four books: Prosilience: Building Your Resilience for a Turbulent World, Managing Change with Personal Resilience, Embracing Another Normal: Resilience Stories and Strategies for Raising Children with Disabilities (coauthored with Kris Burbank), and Resilient Careers: Stories and Strategies for Sustaining Professional Growth (coauthored with Jan Cummings and Michele DeRosa), and leads an international community of practice focused on bringing her Prosilience framework into a variety of environments and organizations.

Prior to founding Resilience Alliance in 2007, Linda spent seventeen years at ODR/Conner Partners, a consulting and training firm focused on the successful execution of organizational change. She led the development of methodology and assessments, including the Personal Resilience Profile, which has been used by more than 150,000 people around the world. She continues to work with clients as a speaker, facilitator, consultant, and coach on resilience, organizational overload, human energy sustainability, and related topics. Linda received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Tennessee and her A.B. in Psychology from Davidson College. She has served on the faculties of several institutions including Rutgers, Georgia Tech, and Colby College. She is licensed as a psychologist in the state of Georgia.