The Human Element

The Human Element, presented by Wisq, is a podcast hosted by Barb Bidan where CHROs and senior HR leaders share candid stories and practical perspectives on how AI and innovation are shaping the future of HR. In this episode, Barb sits down with DJ Campbell, VP and Chief HR Officer at Sanford Health, to talk about what it takes to get a large healthcare organization ready for AI, how to run a focused pilot, and why the most important skills of the future are deeply human. Subscribe today.

For employees at large organizations, finding essential information is often harder than it should be: selecting benefits after hours, tracking down a requisition, or navigating a login just to answer a simple question. These moments create friction and stress that chip away at the employee experience. DJ Campbell, VP and Chief HR Officer leading people strategy for the Bismarck market at Sanford Health, knows this pain well.

Campbell leads HR for roughly 3,800 team members in the Bismarck market and also contributes to enterprise-wide strategy as a member of Sanford Health's HR executive team. In healthcare, where the mission is patient care, unnecessary friction in HR processes isn't just annoying; it pulls people away from the work that matters most.

"How do you find all of the necessary information you need to make good decisions in a practical time pattern?" Campbell asks. His answer increasingly involves AI, and he has a clear, methodical view of how to get there.

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Setting the Stage for AI: Internal Readiness First

Before any new solution goes live, Campbell emphasizes the absolute necessity of internal readiness. Rolling out a tool without preparing the people using it is a fast path to low adoption. He points to a common paradox he encounters constantly: "I don't know that I've talked to anybody... where people have said, yes, we can use AI to help support or replicate this work. But then when it comes to my actual work, there's absolutely no way AI can do that."

Everyone thinks their own work is the exception. Campbell's approach addresses that directly. "The first part is making sure that we've got that internal readiness and we've got the education around what AI is, how it's going to affect the way we do work." That means open conversations, myth-busting, and addressing the fear of job displacement before a single tool gets deployed.

The 90-Day Pilot: Focus, Feedback, and Finding the Right People

For any HR leader looking to implement AI, Campbell offers a pragmatic approach. His strategy for a 90-day trial is built on specificity and strategic user selection.

Start with one function. "Initially, what that would look like would be starting with one small function within that self-service space. Maybe that's benefits, maybe that's helping support talent acquisition and getting requisitions posted. Maybe that is helping us with our employee performance management system." One singular, tactical piece allows for measurable outcomes and contained learning.

Then find the right people to test it. Campbell advocates for selecting "early adopters that are really going to get in there, give us really good feedback, but aren't going to be maybe individuals that aren't looking for a solution in the AI space." These people become informal champions, helping validate the tool and guide its evolution. Crucially, he notes that when something goes wrong, employees often go to a trusted colleague before they go to their manager. Getting influential, informal leaders on board early means the feedback loop reaches further into the organization.

Cross-functional collaboration is non-negotiable. "It has to be a culmination of really everybody, because I think this is going to affect everybody." HR, IT, legal, compliance, and in Sanford Health's case, clinical teams all need a seat at the table. Each brings a critical perspective, from data governance to user experience.

The Human Element: Addressing Fear and Cultivating Power Skills

The biggest concern employees bring to any AI conversation is job security. Campbell addresses it head-on: "The biggest elephant in the room you have to answer from the human side is to let everybody know that yes, it's going to change the way we do work, but that isn't going to replace you and the work that you do."

He frames AI adoption in healthcare as a response to workforce reality. More people are retiring than entering the workforce. Shortages are widespread. AI helps fill that gap without requiring layoffs. The planning is about attrition, not elimination. For roles like medical coding where AI will take on more of the technical work, Campbell's approach is to map attrition timelines three years out and plan reskilling pathways in advance, rather than waiting for disruption to arrive.

What he's finding is that employees are often eager to reskill in a particular direction. "What we found is a lot of people really want to re-skill in things like communication and listening." As AI handles more transactional work, the demand for what Campbell calls "power skills" — emotional intelligence, communication, the ability to connect with patients and colleagues — is only going to grow. His advice to leaders is to stop calling these soft skills and start treating them as the differentiators they are.

Performance Management Is the First Thing He'd Automate

When asked in the lightning round which HR process in healthcare he would automate first, Campbell didn't hesitate: performance management. "Everybody hates filling out performance evaluations, and they spend too much time writing them up and not enough time delivering the actual content."

His vision is straightforward. AI scribes the conversation between a manager and employee, then generates a recap sent to both parties. The value has always been in the conversation, not the paperwork. Removing the paperwork gets leaders back to where the impact actually is.

Guardrails and Growth: Navigating a Regulated Landscape

Working in healthcare means security and compliance come first, always. Any AI solution at Sanford Health must meet HIPAA standards and pass a rigorous security risk assessment. "The first piece is really the security risk assessment and making sure that whatever adoption we utilize or how we're utilizing AI that we've got that same level of security that we did prior to the adoption that we do today."

Beyond security, Campbell stresses the importance of IT and AI governance, and the value of outside consultants to help navigate a complex vendor landscape. He is candid about the limitations of AI, including the risk of hallucination, and emphasizes the need for mitigation strategies built into any implementation. On integrations, his position is clear: any self-service AI assistant must connect seamlessly with existing HRIS and ticketing systems. That is table stakes, not a nice-to-have.

The Path Forward: Curiosity, Not Judgment

Campbell closes with a quote he traces to Walt Whitman and admits he rediscovered through Ted Lasso: "Be curious and not judgmental."

For leaders just starting their AI journey, he says the most valuable thing they can do is get out and ask questions. Talk to colleagues, talk to industry peers, explore the network. There is a lot of noise and misinformation in the AI conversation right now, and the leaders who will navigate it best are the ones approaching it with genuine curiosity rather than a verdict already in hand.

To hear more conversations like this one, subscribe to The Human Element wherever you get your podcasts.