Practical thinking on organisations, people and AI agents
Methods and lessons from Karim Idriss on workforce planning, organisation design, performance, succession and AI at work, written for HR leaders in the Gulf.
Workforce planning when part of the workforce is AI
How to plan a workforce of people and AI agents. Break roles into tasks, decide what agents do, plan oversight capacity and protect entry-level career paths.
Read article- Once AI agents take on real work, the planning unit shifts from jobs to tasks.
- Every task should be sorted into one of four modes, from agent-led to human-only, using consequence of error as the deciding test.
- Human oversight of agents is workload that must be planned, staffed and owned, not assumed.
Strategic workforce planning in the GCC: a practical method
A practical method for strategic workforce planning in the GCC, from segmenting critical roles to modelling supply and demand and planning for nationalisation.
Read article Organisation designOrganisation design principles that hold up in practice
Eight organisation design principles that help you choose between options, with test questions, a spans and layers example and common GCC pitfalls.
Read article Organisation designFunctional, divisional or matrix: choosing the right structure
A practical guide to choosing between functional, divisional, matrix, team-based and flatter structures, with a decision table for GCC organisations.
Read article Performance managementDesigning a performance management system people trust
How to design a performance management system that employees and managers trust, covering purpose, goals, ratings, calibration, rewards and software choices.
Read article Performance managementContinuous performance management without losing rigour
How to move from annual reviews to continuous performance management while keeping clear expectations, fair assessment and real accountability.
Read article Succession planningHow to build a succession planning strategy that lasts
A practical guide for GCC HR leaders on building succession planning that survives restructures, strategy shifts and sudden exits, with a simple one-page plan.
Read article Succession planningCritical roles, talent reviews and the leadership pipeline
How to identify critical roles, run talent reviews that produce decisions, and develop successors through rotations, assessment and coaching in the GCC.
Read article AI at workHuman-AI collaboration in organisation development
A practical framework for deciding which organisation development work AI agents should do, which people must keep, and how the two should work together.
Read article AI at workGoverning AI at work: rules, ownership and the Chief AI Officer
A practical guide for HR leaders to governing AI at work, with decision rules, a risk-tiering table, clear ownership and a view on the Chief AI Officer role.
Read article Organisation designMeasuring the return on organisation development
How to measure the return on organisation development with a clear measurement chain, comparison groups and a worked example that finance teams will accept.
Read article Organisation designLeading organisational change without change fatigue
Why change fatigue is a portfolio problem, and how to map change load, sequence initiatives, handle resistance and culture clashes, and adapt as you go.
Read articleFacing one of these questions right now?
Karim works directly with executive teams across the region.