What ADP Learned From a 1,000-Person AI Coaching Pilot

Welcome back to TRAILBLAZERS, Season 2, the series where we sit down with HR and technology leaders from some of the world’s leading global organisations to unpack how they are putting AI to work at scale. Not in theory. Inside the work itself. Across hiring, learning, talent, employee experience and the way organisations operate. And this season, we’re going deeper. Because giving people access to AI is the easy part. Changing how 10,000, 20,000 or 50,000 people actually work with it? That is much harder. If you haven’t caught Season 1, you really should. 5 things you’ll hear in this episode: 1. What gave ADP the confidence to move beyond a 1,000-person AI coaching pilot 2. Why sustained usage mattered more than the initial excitement around the technology 3. How AI coaching could solve one of leadership development’s biggest problems 4. What changes when a talent team can potentially support 100% of leaders instead of a small percentage 5. Why Jay believes leaders could determine whether AI transformation succeeds or fails 🎙️ Season 2 | Episode #2| Jay Caldwell, Chief Talent Officer at ADP This Episode Covers: AI coaching AI leadership development AI manager coaching AI in HR AI-powered learning Leadership development Manager development Manager effectiveness Talent development AI adoption strategy Future of work Future skills Human skills and AI HR transformation AI in the flow of work 🙏 Thank you to our series partner, Valence More than 100 Fortune 500 companies are already reinventing talent strategy with Nadia. Learn how AI coaching can reduce manager workload and scale performance across your organisation → https://www.valence.co/hr-leaders-pod... 00:00 Jay Caldwell’s journey to Chief Talent Officer at ADP 00:45 Why ADP moved AI coaching beyond the pilot stage 03:41 How ADP measures the impact of AI coaching 05:00 Using AI to improve leadership development programmes 06:27 Turning leadership learning into capability in the flow of work 10:06 Scaling leadership development from 10% to 100% 13:48 The skills HR teams need in the age of AI 17:23 How AI could transform the manager role 19:39 What talent leaders are underestimating about AI 21:40 Why HR must step up and lead AI transformation