When CIOs and HR join forces: 5 takeaways

The ‘Connected leadership – How CIOs and HR create impact together’ event broke with the conventional conference format by blending inspiring keynotes with open discussions. CIOs and HR managers actively engaged with each other and with the speakers from the National Bank of Belgium, technology scale-up Exalate and KU Leuven. Coming from organisations with very different profiles, these experts brought to the table a rich mix of academic insight, large-organisation experience, and hands-on implementation lessons. Beltug members can download their presentations here (after login).

This C-level conversation was not a technical deep dive, but instead a strategic dialogue between leaders who are increasingly finding that their agendas overlap.

Interested in more? Check out HRmagazine’s interviews with Beltug CEO Danielle Jacobs on why AI is a leadership rather than technological issue (NL only) and with Eva De Vries, Partner PwC Belgium, on how HR transformations can no longer be viewed in isolation from IT (NL only).

Five key takeaways

1. AI adoption is as much a people challenge as a technology challenge

A recurring theme throughout the event was that AI initiatives succeed or fail based on adoption, not deployment. The combination of human and technical dimensions means that effective change management requires both HR and IT ownership from the start. Technology may provide the tools, but capability building, learning and behavioural changes determine whether employees actually use them effectively.

Sherene El-Binni, HR People Partner, and Peter Verhaert, HR manager, both from Exalate, described an early ‘aha moment’ when colleagues began sharing data with AI tools without taking into consideration GDPR requirements. This didn’t happen from bad intentions, but because no one had explained the rules. An Swalens, CIO, and Siska D’Hoore, Head of HR and Wellbeing, both from the National Bank of Belgium, highlighted peer learning, communities, digital ambassadors and tailored training as key elements for building confidence around AI.

2. CIOs and HR leaders must jointly own the workforce strategy

While there is a growing convergence between the responsibilities of CIOs and HR leaders, the friction between IT and HR is real, and worth addressing head-on. Decisions on talent, upskilling, automation and more require both business and technology perspectives. Furthermore, organisations need to understand not only which skills they need today but which capabilities they will need tomorrow.

An Swalens and Siska D’Hoore described four recurring friction points between HR and IT:

• Future-ready skills and AI adoption
• Career development and the balance between HR rules and IT agility
• Workforce strategy and decisions around build, buy, borrow or automate
• People and change management in technology projects

Rather than treating these as problems to be avoided, the National Bank of Belgium addressed them as a shared responsibility. While IT and HR may challenge each other, they must converge on a single vision to steer the organisation forward.

3. Soft skills are the new competitive advantage

The future of work is not about replacing people, but about amplifying what makes us distinctly human. There are skills that AI cannot replicate, such as:

• Critical and systemic thinking
• Adaptability and resilience
• Creativity
• Inclusive leadership
• Teamwork

Professor Mark Van Achter from KU Leuven described a future workplace that is hybrid, in which competitive advantage comes not from the technology but from the unique ‘soft skills’ of the people in the equation: judgement, context, collaboration, leadership. Continuous skills development and lifelong learning will be a strategic necessity in this new model.

4. Good governance accelerates innovation

Does governance slow innovation? Not necessarily. A consistent thread through the presentations was that the difference between organisations that gain real value from AI and those that remain stuck in pilot mode is governance.

For Exalate, this meant combining a cross-functional AI taskforce, department-specific playbooks, practical guidelines and clear policies around data usage and responsibility. The National Bank of Belgium, on the other hand, set up a structured triple IT career path, a dedicated Change Competence Centre and a framework of what skills to retain in-house versus which to externalise. But both organisations embrace the same insight: governance and structure are what turn AI experiments into impact.

5. Change management must become a core organisational capability

Successful transformation depends not simply on introducing new technology, but on helping people adopt new ways of working. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, whether for AI adoption, skills development or change management. Different organisations will move at their own pace: this is not only acceptable but should be actively embraced.

Strong organisations, the panel concluded, don’t bend under resistance – they use it as fuel for improvement. The goal is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to turn it into dialogue and make change manageable for everyone involved.