Making People Strategy Work at Scale with Trace Durning of Idox
SummaryWhat happens when AI changes not just the tools HR uses, but the way People teams operate? Trace Durning, Chief People & Culture Officer at Idox, joins Jeet Mukerji on The WorkOps Podcast to explain why successful transformation starts with people, process design, and shared ownership of change - not simply introducing a new technology.Trace shares her path from change management into HR and describes how Idox is expanding employee self-service, building HR technology expertise directly into the People team, and partnering with the CTO and technology leaders on AI adoption. She explains the rapid improvement events her team uses to map processes before selecting AI use cases, and how colleague surveys, support enquiries, and feedback help identify where better tools could create real value.The conversation also explores giving People partners more time for strategic work, preserving the fundamentals of early-career HR development, and making AI fluency accessible through pilots, drop-in sessions, and safe opportunities to practice. Trace makes an important distinction between putting agents on a human org chart and incorporating AI-agent handoffs into the operating model with risk management built in. Her message: unlike a traditional transformation, AI may never have a fixed finish line, so curiosity and continued learning matter.Chapters00:00 Trace Durning’s route from change management into HR 02:02 Why People teams and change leaders must partner 05:21 Employee self-service and the HR technology leadership role 08:19 Making AI adoption a shared responsibility 10:48 Transparency, pilots, and involving colleagues 12:47 Rapid improvement events and process-first AI 14:19 Mapping the internal customer value stream 15:57 Using data and feedback to prioritize AI use cases 17:09 Faster answers and more employee autonomy 19:46 Freeing HR partners for more strategic work 21:31 Preparing early-career HR talent for AI 23:11 Where AI agents belong in operating models 26:21 AI fluency, training, and safe environments to learn 30:10 Why AI transformation has no fixed endpoint 34:26 Build versus buy and in-house HR expertise 35:44 What comes next for Idox’s People team 37:36 Trace’s advice for embracing changeTakeaways-Change is everyone’s responsibility. HR can enable transformation, but leaders and individual colleagues must participate in making it stick.-Build the right HR technology capabilities. Idox introduced an HR technology leadership role combining HR experience and technical expertise, alongside employee self-service.-Map the process before adding AI. Rapid improvement workshops look at the internal customer value stream, avoid unnecessary steps, and identify where technology can genuinely help.-Bring employees along. Transparency, pilots, shared feedback, learning sessions, and supportive leaders help colleagues develop confidence in AI.-Use evidence to prioritize. Colleague surveys, support enquiries, and process reviews help the team identify useful AI applications.-Make room for strategic HR. Reducing administrative demands may allow People partners to focus on more valuable work, although Trace says the team is still early in measuring results.-Put agents into workflows thoughtfully. Trace sees AI agents playing a role in operating-model handoffs, with explicit attention to human oversight and risk, rather than automatically adding them to human org charts.-Expect continuous transformation. AI has no clear final implementation date; curiosity and the ability to keep learning are essential.Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tracedurning Idox: idoxgroup.comSponsorThis episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR.Learn more at kinfolkhq.com.
