The future of work involves humans and machines working together. As a leader, you play a crucial role in combining artificial intelligence with human intelligence. This includes defining clear outcomes, identifing the right mix of people and AI, exploring flexible team structures, and building a culture that attracts top talent. Embrace AI as a tool for empowerment and you lead your team to a smarter, more adaptive workplace.
Recently, I’ve been talking to many leaders and managers about becoming future-ready leaders. In a few weeks, I’ll be presenting to a leadership group about the workplace of the future, and it’s not surprising they want to know about the role of AI in the workplace. It’s an issue that’s top of mind for many leaders, and getting this right will have a big impact on future success.
Almost every week, someone says they heard something like this:
“AI is not going to take your job, but a human using AI will.”
This statement has been circulating for a while now, and it’s true. But it’s only the first step, because it doesn’t tell you how humans and AI can work well together.
If you believe our future involves AI and humans working together, what does that look like, and what does it mean for you as a leader?
In their book, “Work Without Jobs”, Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau address this issue. Despite the provocative title, it’s not about the end of jobs, but rather a future where the role of work has changed.
Here’s a summary of the four key elements about the future of work:
- 🎯 Identify the work: Know the desired outcome of any piece of work.
- 🛠️ Combine humans and machines: Determine the right mix of people with technology, whether it’s physical work with robots or knowledge work with AI.
- 🌍 Employ in different ways: Think beyond the traditional full-time permanent work -example, part-time, contract, casual, remote, working from home, and so on.
- 🧲 Get talent to flow to work: Foster an environment that attracts and retains top talent.
Clearly, AI will be most involved in the second step, where human intelligence combines with artificial intelligence. This is obviously a critical part of our future, but I still hear some leaders say, “We don’t want to use AI in our organisation. We’ll get by without it.”
This is a shortsighted view. Even if you don’t see an immediate application for AI in your team or organization, competing without it is like fighting with one hand tied behind your back. It’s like saying, “We don’t want to use Google; we’ll just visit the library every time we need to research.”
So, how do you get people and AI working together?
If you’re interested in diving deeper into this topic, I’m running a free public virtual masterclass soon, focussed on combining humans and AI to solve problems and get work done. I’ll share the key factors you need to consider for integrating people with AI in your unique circumstances.
This is free and open to everyone, so feel free to invite others in your team and your wider network.
