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A friend realized his lifelong dream of shopping for a tiny seaside hotel and completely renovating it. Shortly before the grand opening, she created a website. The room and facility descriptions were as polished as those you’d see in a glossy travel magazine. I asked who she hired to write the text. Her answer surprised me: the descriptions come courtesy of ChatGPT.
It is true that the text was not flawless. It lacked the history of the property – I saw this as a great opportunity to share how a friend of mine visited this hotel many years ago and fell in love with its easy charm. The word “meticulous” has been used too many times. The website of my friend’s dream hotel made me realize two things: First, the capabilities of artificial intelligence are impressive. The OECD recently announced that ChatGPT can write jokes, computer code and essays, formulate medical diagnoses, create games, and explain complex scientific concepts. Still, ChatGPT is not perfect. Second, when combined with an editor’s eye or a human touch, it will probably be a powerful tool. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
The era of artificial intelligence is here, and its potential to change the work landscape can’t be overstated. That said, most informed staff will have the option to use AI to complement their work, reasonably than replace it entirely. Missing link? Education and training – it is not just an office perk. Latest research showed that 4 out of 5 employees want to learn more about how to use artificial intelligence in their occupation. It is up to leaders to provide these mandatory training opportunities.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at how leaders can bridge the gap between AI and employees and equip them with the skills they need in an era of rapid change.
Why (and what) to study
As CEO Yot formI need our employees to have a full life and have the option to find time for friends, family and hobbies. This is good for their well-being, and as an additional advantage, it advantages our organization in terms of creativity and productivity. Happy and rested employees bring invaluable vigor to their work. I also understand that as a leader, it could appear impractical to add learning to employees’ already full plates, but ongoing training is essential to the development of your employees and the health of your company.
Today is average skill half-life is lower than five years, and in some technology fields two and a half years. Tests showed that corporations with a strong learning culture experience higher worker retention rates, greater internal mobility and a healthier management process compared to corporations with a weaker learning culture. What’s more, employees are hungry for recent skills, especially Generation Z, the fastest growing generation in the workforce. The youngest generation of employees (born after 1996) expected to overtake boomers this 12 months. According to a recent study, 53% of Gen Zers value learning as a profession enabler, compared to 37% of Millennials, Gen Xers and Boomers combined.
The query is: What are the most significant skills to offer employees?
The obvious answer is the ability to leverage recent technologies resembling artificial intelligence and automation tools. And that is undoubtedly a part of the equation. However, as artificial intelligence plays an increasingly vital role in our working lives, human skills will develop into increasingly priceless.
How Harvard Business Review notes, and as the example of my friend’s hotel website shows, AI lacks the human ability to understand context. AI tools like ChatGPT can understand the task and perform it almost perfectly, but they lack the “why” behind all of it and the domain knowledge gained through years of experience to evaluate materials in a broader context.
Other critical skills that AI lacks include people management capabilities resembling effective communication, conflict resolution, and problem solving. As said by Ted English, former CEO of TJX Companies and current Executive Chairman of Bob’s Discount Furniture Harvard Business Reviewleadership requires “a lot of instinct, experience and knowledge. Some of them cannot be extracted from the machine. Technology empowers and allows you to make a more confident decision.”
We can rely on AI to perform specific tasks, from creating content to reviewing documents. They can strengthen our work. However, this requires a human eye to inspect the work product and ensure it has the appropriate context and quality. In this sense, humans also enhance the effects of artificial intelligence.
Cultivating a learning environment
There is little doubt that corporations and employees using artificial intelligence will have a competitive advantage. The challenge for leaders is to enable employees to do this. How can leaders ensure employees are adequately trained to use the latest artificial intelligence and automation tools?
One side of the equation is motivating employees. Tests shows that employees who set profession goals are 4 times more engaged than those that don’t set goals. Leaders and managers can put aside time to discuss employees’ profession goals and how developing specific skills will contribute to achieving those goals.
Of course, the Most worthy resource in science – and the hardest to find – is time. One strategy for spending time learning is to incorporate learning into employees’ workflows, reasonably than requiring them to spend time outside of the typical workday. Research shows that almost all employees prefer to learn this fashion – in 2021 BCG test of 209,000 employees, 65% said they preferred to learn on the job. In almost twenty years of running a business, I have found that the time spent on training, during lunch or in between repeatedly scheduled tasks, is value it. It not only changes the pace of the day, but also challenges employees, quickly increasing their every day engagement.
Another way leaders will help employees fit training and education into their busy schedules is by promoting an automation mindset. Encourage employees to repeatedly reflect on which tasks are most meaningful to them – which projects and tasks put them in a state of “flow”; which they would love to spend more time on – and find AI and automation tools that can do the rest. This practice saves time, quickens or outsources tedious, busy work and, most significantly, mental energy.
The emergence of artificial intelligence can’t be underestimated. But this is not necessarily a change that employees should fear. The corporations that can gain a competitive advantage through AI are those who rethink normal ways of operating in the age of AI and equip their employees with the resources to leverage it. With more time for meaningful work – something only humans can do – your employees might be happier and your company might be stronger.