Five steps: How HR can pass the ‘Octopus Test’ before agentic AI gets its tentacles into everything

Here's a meaningful and thoughtful article on how the HR team can go about incorporating Agentic AI at the workplace.

There are several thoughtful questions in this article, along with thought provoking lines. For eg.: 

"The fact that a system can access something is not the same as it being appropriate to use."

"Data management sounds dull until the wrong answer tells a manager they can take an action they cannot legally, ethically or contractually take. Suddenly, it becomes very interesting."

"AI can prepare, organise, compare, suggest and flag. It should not quietly become the decision maker because nobody stopped to ask where the line was."

Read the entire article here.

Pic source - pexels-tara-winstead-8386437

Reflective Knowing Vs Doing

I was recently thinking about (WOWs) the ways of working that we create in our sessions (whether process facilitation or training). As you know the WOWs are about agreeing how the participants and the facilitator / trainer would behave for the duration the session / workshop. We are familiar with the regular ones like Participate, Listen, Switching off the phone / laptop, etc., where the overall idea is to co-create an environment  so that some focused learning can take place.

Credit - pexels-pixabay-247819

Here is something additional that I thought of which can and probably should be applied by trainers, facilitators and participants.  I call it "Reflective Knowing and Doing".  The text (sound byte) to the participants could go like this:

"During this session, you may come across items of information about knowledge or behaviours or ways of thinking, that can trigger this thought in your mind "Yup, I know / knew that".

When this thought "Yup I know / knew that" comes up in your mind, I'd request and encourage you to make a quick note of the point and consider:

• How well do I really know this information / topic?
• What have I actually done with it after realizing that I know this?
• What results have I got from applying this particular piece of knowledge or insight?
• Is there another way of looking at the topic? i.e. another perspective that I am not aware of or have dismissed?

This curious, learner mindset approach would definitely help enhance our learning on that topic.

Credit - pexels-srijonism-32074781

Here are some more questions you may want to reflect on when considering the topic that you know:

• Were the results (after I applied this learning) in line with my / boss's / organization's expectations?
• What else might help me apply what I know in a more effective manner with improved results?
• Where else can I apply this bit of knowledge that I had already known? 

Please let me know what happened if you try this.

P.S. What if we try this outside the office in other areas of our lives? What difference would it make?

Happy Learning / Training / Facilitation / Living!

IAF Conference 2026 - Will you be there?

Cos

IAF Conferences are always on my radar.

Last year it was in Pune, now it's in Chennai.

See you there...  Looking forward to new relationships and rekindling old ones.

Never Grow Up Podcast - my views on Strengths, Performance and Culture

Happy to be invited to this podcast hosted by #nevergrowup where I shared my thoughts about #strengthsatwork #strengthsbased #performance #teamperformance #teameffectiveness and #culture, along with #recruiting people, and what GenZ can do about getting hired.

Do let me know what you think.

Happy Independence Day 2026

 To all my fellow Indians...

Make Anger Your Ally

So it's (Mon)day - EOD, and things haven't exactly gone your way. You feel perturbed, miffed, maybe aggravated (All of the above?). This matters more if you lead a team than if you are an individual contributor.

Here's a fascinating article on what you can do about the anger you feel at any time... make Anger your Ally. 

Read on... and share your thoughts about how you manage your #anger.

pexels-nicola-barts-7927261

Facilitation Meets Fatherhood

 I was asked by the International Association of Facilitators', India Chapter to give a quote for Father's Day, Facilitation and Fatherhood.

Here's what came to my mind. 

What do you think?