AI Is Facing a Human Challenge: We Need To Empower Employees To Unlock the Benefits of AI in Their Roles
-
July 24, 2024
-
The launch of ChatGPT in 2022 sparked a surge of interest in artificial intelligence (“AI”) and its limitless potential. As organisations continue to understand the impact of AI on their value chains, processes and workflows, there is a growing anxiety around the pace and magnitude of change in workforces.
For employees and leaders, it means that their job roles will change, the way they will work will be affected and the skills and tools they need to work will also evolve.
And for organisations attempting to board the AI train, bringing leaders and employees along for the journey with well-considered strategies will be essential in ensuring successful adoption.
A 2024 global survey of over 3,000 CEOs found 64% of respondents attribute the success of AI integration more to employee’s willingness to adopt it than the technology itself.1 This means that organisations transforming successfully and sustainably can do so by unlocking the human potential of AI.
At FTI Consulting, our People & Transformation experts help organisations manage their AI transformations by addressing the ‘human challenges.’ Our deep understanding of change management shows that there are some key individual, leadership and organisational conundrums that need to be considered when embarking on such a radical shift.
Upskill Employees for Successful AI Adoption
People are the key differentiators for successful and high-performing businesses; the adoption of AI is no different. It will be critical for employees to equip themselves with the technical know-how and behaviours required to drive the successful adoption of AI. These behaviours could include:
- Embracing AI in their day-to-day tasks to improve productivity
- Being adaptable to change with a ‘growth mindset’ towards AI adoption
- Continuously up-skilling themselves as they recognise the potential of AI for their jobs
- Working collaboratively towards the unifying goal of the transformation
At FTI Consulting, we employ a capability-based approach that maps existing and recommended skillsets against strategic objectives to identify skill gaps. We use the 70:20:10 learning principles2 to create learning journeys for employees, anchored in the realities of their day jobs to enable skill development.
By prioritising the upskilling of employees, organisations ensure that their people unlock the power of AI for productivity gains and free up time for more interesting and creative tasks. A World Economic Forum report found that 66% of employers see a return on investment within one year through upskilling and reskilling staff.3 Investing time and resources towards upskilling your staff will ensure you see the real returns of a workforce empowered by AI.
Ensure Organisation Leaders Are on the Same Page
Leaders wield impressive influence over their people, and this shouldn’t be overlooked or underestimated when developing organisation-wide strategies for AI implementation. Executives displaying reluctance to let go of habitual ways of working or remaining sceptical of digital innovation impede AI’s boundless potential and its adoption in the workforce. One study showed that when senior leaders role model the behaviour changes they’re asking employees to make, transformations are 7x more likely to meet their intended outcomes.4 Leading by example is the best way to put it – work with AI yourself and empower your teams to do the same. This means:
- Having a clear ‘why’ or narrative for change
- Fostering a culture of continuous learning and up-skilling for their teams
- Creating space to learn from failures and moving forward quickly
- Establishing shared success metrics and collective accountability for AI
As organisations prepare for AI, they should ask the question: Are their leaders ready to lead the AI charge?
Build a Strong Cultural Foundation for a Secure AI Future
‘Culture outperforms strategy every time’ - widely acknowledged, difficult to action. Organisations rushing to capitalise on the AI frenzy, without taking the time to assess where they already are culturally, will struggle to reap the benefits that AI has to offer.
Understanding what guides employees’ daily behaviours and how the existing culture is manifested and reinforced by operational procedures will highlight both what organisations are doing well, and what they need to do to foster a culture capable of successfully supporting the integration of AI into the organisation’s DNA.
Indicators of an AI-ready culture may encompass the following:
- Agile and collaborative organisational structures
- Capacity for rapid adaptation to new AI advancements
- Willingness to trust and embrace technology
- An AI-literate environment emphasising continuous learning
- Commitment to using AI responsibly and ethically
FTI Consulting’s culture diagnostic methodology is a three-pronged approach using surveys, interviews and focus groups to provide organisations with an objective and practical view of the existing culture, as well as identifying gaps against an agreed list of desirable cultural attributes.
Taking the time to evaluate and refresh organisation-wide culture to align with these attributes provides the key fundamentals needed to successfully work alongside AI.
Every Adventure Needs a Compass
Implementing AI is a learning process for many organisations, so having clear performance indicators (“KPIs”) to measure against ensures that the approach is consistently evaluated and adjusted.
Seamlessly integrating AI into an entire organisation can be a complex and daunting journey for both leaders and employees. However, artificial intelligence is too innovative of a tool to fall behind on; it can benefit an organisation’s outputs, productivity, profits and operations. Focusing on upskilling pre-existing talent, ensuring leaders echo the benefits of AI to their people, and creating an aligned structure and culture will enable organisations to successfully transform.
Footnotes:
1: Institute for Business Value, As CEOs Race Towards Gen AI Adoption, Questions Around Workforce and Culture Persist (2024).
2: The principle that states: 70% of learning happens through on-the-job experience; 20% through social learning with colleagues; and 10% through formal training experiences. What is the 70:20:10 model?WHITEPAPER: 70:20:10 into action (2016).
3: World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report (2020).
4: PROSCI, Mastering Change Leadership in Enterprise-Level Companies (2024).
Published
July 24, 2024
Key Contacts