AI Won't Transform Your Organisation. Your People Will. Reflections From the House of Lords

During the week, I was fortunate enough to attend ‘People-Powered Leadership’, an event hosted by Digital Natives, which took place at the House of Lords in London.

At the event, leaders in HR, business and transformation discussed one of the most pressing topics of today – how to keep people central in the face of fast-changing technology.

In this historic and impressive setting, the conversation throughout the afternoon covered everything from future leadership and workforce transformation to the role of AI in organisational effectiveness. There was one theme that, however, kept emerging throughout.

Capability isn't the barrier. Capacity is.

Most of the discussion around AI seems to concentrate on what the technology can do. Yet the people at the head of the table kept coming back to a human issue: How much change can humans handle?

Lots of companies have been putting lots of effort into developing AI capabilities. This is important of course, but capability wasn’t mentioned as being the barrier.

The real constraint is capacity

Employees are dealing with increasing amounts of work, conflicting priorities, complicated stakeholder dynamics and constant context-switching. Even the best employees find themselves unable to perform at their optimal level because of continuous disruption and increasing pressure on their time.

If all we do with AI is speed up the rate of work without simplifying its nature, we end up compounding the problems we are trying to solve. If used deliberately to eliminate mundane activities, reduce administrative burden and create time for value-added work, however, AI could very well become one of the greatest drivers of employee experience and organisational success.

Redefine how work gets done, not just the use of tools

There was a strong emphasis on organisational design throughout the day. Organisations often view AI as a deployment of new technology. However, it is much more – it is a business transformation initiative which provides leaders with an opportunity to really rethink their organisational structures and ways of making decisions, where human judgement is still important.

Leaders shouldn’t try to fit AI into existing structures, but should ask themselves the following questions:

•            What is the right allocation of work between human beings and technology?

•            What work can be automated?

•            When is human judgement needed?

•            How do we redesign processes to make them less complex and less cumbersome?

•            What new skills do our employees need to acquire?

The organisations who will see the most benefits from AI application will not be those deploying the largest number of tools, but those reinventing the process of work itself.

Leadership itself is transforming

Another point made at the conference was the transformation of the way leadership manifests itself.

In an environment characterised by information overflow and constant democratisation of the access to it through technological means, leadership is increasingly shifting from leading activities to establishing clarity.

In situations of change and ambiguity, people turn to leaders for clarity, trust and confidence. This involves the ability to combine technological vision with human-oriented decision making as well as the comprehension of both possibilities and constraints associated with AI.

This requires a new type of leader – a person who understands the significance of leading not just through change but alongside it, with people who are not just instruments in achieving that change, but as active participants.

Successful leadership in the age of AI shall emerge from the individuals who merge their technological vision with empathy, curiosity and emotional intelligence.

One of the most compelling lessons learned during the day was the most obvious

Although technology offers new possibilities, AI brings about efficiencies that have never been seen, and although automation alters work, transformation has always been about more than technology. It has always depended on the acceptance of change, learning new skills and innovating. It’s ultimately a people issue.

Organisations pursuing an AI strategy need to bear in mind the cumulative effects of change on their employees and learn how to manage the risk of change fatigue.

Organisations that are able to build true learning capacity and develop a people strategy that matches their technology strategy will be the difference between mere adoption of AI and actual transformation enabled by it.

Wondering how you’re going to take your people along on your AI journey?

Reach out to Robiquity to discuss what people-centred transformation means for your organisation.