Alice Kim on breaking problems into pieces, trusting her team, and knowing where AI ends and people begin
Emma Coppin
Multimedia Content Lead, Thought Leadership and Customer Stories
Workday
Alice Kim, senior manager of HR technology and operations at Chamberlain Group, grew up in the Chicagoland area, a self-described "classic Gen X" latchkey kid whose parents both worked long hours. She learned early not to rely on others to show her the way. Someone might point her in a direction, but she'd figure out the rest herself.
This instilled in her the qualities of a self-starter—a trait that helped her navigate a career path that started with AmeriCorps and public sector grant management, a shift to private sector recruiting, and ultimately a move into HR technology. Alice was drawn to her current role by work that required "a skillset that is tangible with specific criteria," in contrast to recruiting, which she found much more fluid.
That skillset was put to the test at energy and electricity company Exelon where Alice was part of the team that spent several years unwinding one company into two. The people impacted represented a workforce of 35,000 employees and 15,000 contractors. To say it was a heavy lift would be an understatement. "No one on the team thought we could do it," Alice says.
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The split meant untangling HR systems built to serve one company and rebuilding them to serve two. Alice's answer to this puzzle was to stop looking at the shape of the whole project and break it apart by system, handing each team member ownership of their piece, and trusting them to run with it in the same way she'd want to be trusted with hers.
What she asked of the team in return was contact: daily calls, sometimes more than once a day, so no one went weeks without an update or got stuck without anyone else noticing.
Alice admits the project tested her delegating skills. "I probably did more than I should have, but I wanted it done a certain way—which is terrible to say." In a project with that little room for error, she found herself pulled back toward the pieces she could control directly, even when the model she'd built was meant to hand more of that off.
In the end, the project was a success. "We tackled it, and it was a really great experience," Alice says with pride. The mindset she leaned on then—narrowing her focus to whatever piece was in front of her—is one she still relies on today.
"I probably did more than I should have, but I wanted it done a certain way—which is terrible to say."
When Alice joined Chamberlain Group, the team she inherited had seen complete turnover, and the group that remained had settled into an order-taking habit—waiting to be told exactly what to do rather than contributing to how it got done.
Alice's methods were the antithesis of this. She stepped in and deconstructed the work, seeking an understanding of what the business was actually trying to accomplish. From there, Alice could build systems to achieve those goals. Her objective was to instill this mindset in the rest of her team.
That took time, and it wasn't always easy. Alice describes it as the hardest but most rewarding stretch of her career as a people leader. Part of what made it possible was her own VP giving her room to rebuild her way.
"I don't like to be micromanaged," Alice says. "I want guidance and direction, but I need autonomy in how to execute." It's the same thing she says she's always relied on for herself: an internal sense of where things are headed. Being given that kind of trust enabled her to extend the same to her own team.
Alice's instinct to reduce something large into workable pieces is evident in how she thinks about AI, too. Her team was an early adopter of Workday tools like Deployment Agent and Workday Assistant, and while she's genuinely enthusiastic about what they can do, she's just as clear about where they cannot lead.
"AI needs to be another asset in your toolbox, but it can't replace everything," she says. The tools can handle what's repeatable, but the judgment calls still need a person.
That same instinct is what draws her deeper into her own field rather than away from it. She's excited about where Workday Skills Cloud is headed, and she recently helped organize a Chicago User Group meeting. "The Workday community is so generous with their expertise and guidance," she says. "I like being a part of it as much as I can."
Alice's same instinct for breaking a whole into simple, repeatable pieces shows up in her time outside of work as well. She has a particular fondness for crocheting stuffed animals and figures, working stitch by manageable stitch. Ultimately, it mirrors her professional philosophy: deconstructing complex challenges into manageable steps to build something lasting.
"There's definitely a place for AI, but you need people, too."
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