Adapting to the Era of AI: Lessons from the Untold Story of the Lucas Plan

Once upon a time, amidst the emergence of disruptive technologies and the specter of impending job loss, a determined workforce rose up and sparked a wildfire of innovation.?

The group rallied together and developed and pitched over 150 alternative product ideas. They supported their innovative push with road shows, teach-ins and built a new center for industry and technology.?

Undeterred by this creative uprising, leadership eliminated thousands of jobs instead.

While this dystopian tale might sound like the latest installment of the red-hot AI hype cycle, this page of business history actually happened almost 50 years ago in the UK.?

The Lucas Plan of the 1970s was a unique initiative driven by the workers at Lucas Aerospace in response to potential layoffs due to defense spending cuts. Rather than accepting job losses, the workers proposed an alternative plan to repurpose the company's skills and facilities for socially useful innovation.

What lessons can be drawn from the Lucas Plan as we enter the era of AI-driven efficiency and augmentation? There are many, but I will highlight three:

1. Democratize the onboarding process for AI tools and technologies

Leadership should quickly set clear guardrails around AI tools and technology and then create space for experimentation by everyone in the organization. Spin up a shared library of effective examples, a collaborative repository of tools and regular brainstorming sessions.?

The Financial Times described the Lucas Plan as, “one of the most radical alternative plans ever drawn up by workers for their company” in 1976. It was “a novel response to management announcements that thousands of manufacturing jobs were to be cut in the face of industrial restructuring, international competition, and technological change. Instead of redundancy, workers argued their right to socially useful production,” according to a 2014 article in the Guardian.?

Lucas workers even created a Centre for Alternative Industrial and Technological Systems (CAITS) at North-East London Polytechnic. Design prototypes were displayed at public events around the country and on television programs.?

We haven’t seen public announcements of mass layoffs related to AI technologies yet, just a flood of news articles and broadcast segments dwelling on the doomsday scenarios. Employees should not be waiting, the urgency to adapt your job to the era of AI is here. The best approach is to learn all you can as fast as you can.?

2. Foster employee participation in AI-driven innovation

Modern tech employees might look at the Lucas Plan and think “that’s a hackathon!” Gaining popularity during the first wave of internet-enabled technology of the 2000s, the hackathon is an excellent model for rapid ideation, prototyping and collaboration. Leadership only needs to carve out the time, find the space and gather the people -- then get out of the way! It can last two hours or an entire weekend, like the famous Startup Weekend event that spawned companies like Rover.com.

In 1976, Lucas employees created designs for over 150 alternative products as a way to leverage their skills and the manufacturing facilities of the aerospace plant. According to the Guardian: “Hundreds of designs and prototypes were developed, including electric bicycles, small-scale wind turbines, energy conservation services, disability devices, re-manufactured products, children’s play equipment, community computer networks, and a women’s IT co-operative.?

“The Plan included market analyses and economic argument; proposed employee training that enhanced and broadened skills; and suggested re-organising work into less hierarchical teams that bridged divisions between tacit knowledge on the shop floor and theoretical engineering knowledge in design shops.”

Imagine what teams of creative professionals could muster today, given the powerful technology now available.?

3. Rebuild work culture for the new era

Fifty years of change compressed into two (the pandemic era) has pushed organizations to the breaking point. AI promises some relief, with increased efficiency and productivity which could result in cost savings and streamlining. Leaders will face a difficult choice: capture the savings to the bottom line or redirect them to the people doing the work.?

Organizations that actively prioritize employee well-being within the context of AI-driven streamlining will win. The best leaders will choose work-life balance and a culture that values employee health, mental wellness, and personal development. (In many cases, they already do.) Piles of research point to these attributes powering the most productive, innovative and successful organizations.?

The Lucas Plan teaches us that such a culture can be built from the ground up. Workers played an active role in shaping the plan, reflecting a truly collaborative approach to work culture. The plan highlighted the workers' desire for meaningful work and demonstrated the potential for greater employee agency and engagement in decision-making processes.

The bottom line: The AI revolution is going to happen with or without you. The more you take ownership in learning the tools, and understanding the potential risks and benefits of this new era, the more effective you will be at designing a path forward, either individually or with your organization.