The Conveyor Belt isn't the Problem

My friend and colleague Rachel recently wrote about what we’re calling quiet rehiring: organizations quietly buying back the expertise they thought AI would replace. (If you haven’t read it, go do that.)

I read the same articles she did and came away wondering something a little different:

Why are so many organizations finding themselves in this position at all?

The answer reminded me of Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory, standing in front of a conveyor belt moving faster than anyone planned for.

No one asks whether the work can actually be done at that pace. The line speeds up anyway. Chaos follows. Funny in a sitcom. Less funny when it’s your transformation strategy.

Over the last few years, organizations have raced to implement AI, automate processes, redesign operating models, and rethink how work gets done. The speed is understandable. Markets are moving faster than ever, technology evolves daily, and leaders are under constant pressure to do more with less.

But somewhere along the way, many organizations made a familiar mistake. They focused on accelerating the conveyor belt before understanding what the people, processes, and systems on the line could actually handle.

AI Isn’t the First Transformation to Create This Problem

Long before AI, we saw it during ERP implementations. During RPO transitions. During mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations and digital transformations.

A new capability emerges and leaders become understandably excited about the destination. What gets overlooked is the journey required to get there. Roles are redefined before processes are redesigned. Technology is deployed before employees understand how they’re expected to use it. Workflows change before stakeholders are aligned. And contingency planning becomes something we’ll figure out later.

Except later always arrives.

The Real Bottleneck Was Never the Technology

The current conversation around AI layoffs and quiet rehiring is a perfect example. Organizations didn’t suddenly discover that AI has no value. Quite the opposite — many discovered AI can be remarkably effective. What they also discovered is that successful transformation requires more than deploying technology.

It requires understanding how work actually happens.

It requires knowing where expertise lives and recognizing which decisions depend on judgment, relationships, context, and experience. In other words, it requires planning for the entire system, not just the technology inside it.

The Questions That Don’t Get Asked Often Enough

Before accelerating any major transformation, leaders should be asking:

•      What capabilities are we actually changing?

•      What institutional knowledge are we relying on today?

•      What happens if adoption takes longer than expected?

•      Where are the operational risks?

•      What’s our backup plan if our assumptions are wrong?

Not particularly exciting questions. Not the kind that make headlines. But they’re often the difference between a successful transformation and a very expensive course correction.

Building a Better Conveyor Belt

The organizations seeing the greatest success with AI and other large-scale transformations aren’t necessarily moving slower. They’re moving more intentionally. They’re testing assumptions. Involving stakeholders early. Preparing leaders to lead through change. Building realistic adoption plans. Identifying risks before they become problems.

And most importantly, they’re recognizing that transformation is not a technology project. It’s a people project, and transformation readiness, supported by technology.

The Lesson Lucy Already Taught Us

The lesson from the chocolate factory wasn’t that the conveyor belt shouldn’t move faster. The lesson was that nobody stopped to ask whether the system was ready before they turned the dial.

AI will keep reshaping work and new technologies will keep emerging. Organizations will keep evolving. The leaders who succeed won’t be the ones who simply move fastest; they’ll be the ones who understand that sustainable transformation requires more than speed.

When the conveyor belt starts moving faster than the organization can handle, the problem usually isn’t the technology. It’s everything that happened before the switch was flipped.

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author: Erin Perry