AI brings excitement and concern.
When I have conversations with C-Level managers about AI, they often wonder…
- Will it be a game-changer or a job-taker and which business functions will be most impacted?
- Is AI ethical or biased?
- Is it mature enough for responsible business use today?
In my journey to understand AI’s potential, I’ve identified three keys that will enable you to lead the AI transformation in your organization & shift the narrative from fear to flourish.
Let’s dive in,
1. The Power of Humanizing AI
Humanise AI, and the fear will go away.
Here is an example,
A client was introducing an AI system into their teams as a beta, there was an undercurrent of apprehension amongst the employees.
The narrative we wanted to introduce was one where they are ‘enabled’ by AI, not replaced by it, so we decide to humanize it and name it ‘Brian’.
‘Brian’, is an AI profile who can collect information, send emails, raise purchase orders and connect internal and external systems.
The management allowed the team to contribute and co-create what Brian (named after a singer who lost his voice) can and can not do.
By giving ‘Brian’ a personality, they made the process of integrating AI relatable and instead of fearing Brian’s capabilities, the team saw how he could free up their time to focus on higher-leverage tasks.
When ‘Brian’ was introduced, there was a celebration, and everyone received an email from him saying “I’m not too smart, but if you’re patient with me and train me, I promise to work with you 24/7”
This humanized AI, and led to the shift of the narrative from replacement to enhancement.
2. Embracing AI and Human Collaboration for Optimal Results
Let’s talk about changing perceptions with AI.
A certain bank introduced AI to support their relationship managers, giving them insights and recommendations for product features and new products.
The relationship managers took immense pride in their knowledge of their clients so introducing AI-backed recommendations initially saw resistance.
The CEO who is championing the initiative showcased how the most successful outcomes arose from a mix of AI insights and human touch.
There was even a competition as to who can generate the most additional revenue from AI and encouragement to get creative.
Perceptions started to change with people recognizing that AI augments human expertise, not replaces it.
The key is to remove the barriers for experimentation for your people, and be clear that decisions in the future will not be made just by the managers but a combination between AI and people to deliver the best results.
3. Paving the Way for Role and Career Evolution
The looming question about AI has always been, “Will it take away our jobs?”
To address this, you can initiate an open conversation about the evolution of roles.
By forming agile cross-functional teams, you can start analyzing how your organization’s roles might evolve with AI integration.
Create a roadmap on which roles will be obsolete, which roles will be augmented with AI, I bet this will be most of the roles. and which will be the new roles created.
Keep these roadmaps transparent and build an AI Academy for upskilling or reskilling your people based on the new careers.
You will have a much better buy-in and talent retention in embracing AI for your organizations.
With the current AI revolution, it’s crucial to remember that every technological leap in history has been met with both skepticism and optimism.
But by humanizing AI, fostering an environment of experimentation, and proactively shaping the roles of tomorrow, we can transition the narrative from fear to flourish.
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Peter Ivanov demystifies AI for Senior Managers, and talks about creating new organizational capabilities & business value with AI.
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