HR, We Have a Problem - What is “minimum viable skilling” and why prompt training is the most practical place to start with AI adoption.

In this episode of HR, We Have a Problem, Teri Zipper and guest Kate O'Neill, Founder and CEO of KO Insights, examine what it actually takes to lead through a period of rapid technological change. The conversation moves beyond AI adoption tactics and into the harder questions around how people make decisions, resist change, and find meaning in their work when automation is reshaping the ground beneath them. Kate draws from her background in tech humanism to explain why the fears employees have about AI are worth listening to, not just managing, and how organizations that skip those conversations tend to pay for it later. 

Key points covered include:

↪️ When employees resist new technology, they may be sensing real trade-offs the organization has not acknowledged, such as loss of institutional knowledge or cultural continuity. HR leaders are well-positioned to surface those concerns rather than manage around them.

↪️ AI tools work best as scaffolding beneath human judgment, not as a replacement for it. Organizations that focus on structuring unstructured data and building clear rules and thresholds will move faster than those chasing full automation.

↪️ "Bankable foresight" is Kate's term for signals you are not ready to act on yet but track over time so your decisions are calibrated to something beyond the current moment's anxiety.

↪️ Prompt skilling is the minimum viable entry point for AI adoption. Teaching people to write better prompts also develops clearer thinking and stronger delegation skills, making it useful well beyond AI contexts.

Don’t miss this exciting thought leader conversation! Follow the hosts and companies mentioned below:

Sapient Insights Group

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Teri Zipper

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Kate O'Neill

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