How ready are managers for the impact of Artificial Intelligence on their role?

I recently submitted my MBA dissertation on the topic of 'manager readiness for the impact of AI on their role'. A few people have asked me to consolidate my thoughts on the topic and I recently wrote the below summary for the IPA as part of my role as Chair of the CPD Gold Awards.

If AI or the future of management of is interest, the below may provide a quick but insightful read!

Artificial Intelligence (AI), “the science and engineering of imitating, extending and augmenting human intelligence through artificial means and techniques”, is set to make a transformative impact on the way that we work. For many, AI is already infusing the workplace in products like Office 365 and the increase of chatbots, being used for everything from customer service to candidate interviews. While these changes will require us all to look at how we work and how we individually create value for organisations, they will have a significant effect on the role of managers.

Today, over 50% of a manager’s time is spent on co-ordination tasks, the very activities most likely to be impacted by AI. Taking away these activities from the day-to-day job of a manager creates an opportunity to reshape and redefine the positive impact of this role within an organisation.

This role transformation will require managers to develop a new set of skills.

Managers will need to be skilled at making decisions and providing direction based on ever increasing amounts of data. In place of monitoring and administration, will come design-thinking and data-interpretation. The skill of ‘judgement’ will rise in importance to complement culture building, planning and collaboration.

With line of sight of this evolution, managers can invest now in their personal development to set themselves, and their organisations, up for success. However, MBA research conducted for Henley Business School, identified that managers continue to invest in the skills of the past and not focus their efforts on developing the skills of their future.

Managers continue to invest in the skills of the past and not focus their efforts on developing the skills of their future.

Only 40% of managers identified data-interpretation as a learning priority and only 32% identified design-thinking. This learning gap was compounded by low levels of commitment to invest in skill development, with 53% of respondents stating they were not committed to developing these skills in the next 12 months. The mismatch between the manager learning need vs. learning investment is likely to be in part due to the lack of awareness perceived in the manager community about the impact of AI on their role, with 46% of managers stating they had very low awareness.

46% of managers had low awareness of the impact of AI on their role.

The impact of all of could be managers ill-prepared for the future and organisations ill-equipped to take advantage of the benefits of AI, risking low levels of agility in an increasingly dynamic and competitive market place.

So, what can be done at an individual and organisational level to respond to this opportunity?

1. Organisations should invest in education – share the technology roadmap and hold open discussions on how this will change the shape of work. Explore how roles can be evolved to create new sources of value. Focus the conversation on how AI will augment and extend human ingenuity and not replace it.
2. Individuals should reassess their development efforts – make a concerted effort to invest in the new skill set of a manager. If your organisation isn’t providing these learning opportunities, proactively look outside of your business to sources like Coursera, Udemy and Skillshare. Here is a great course from LinkedIn Learning specifically on 'Staying Competitive Using Design Thinking'.
3. Organisations should reward and recognise future skills – as a leadership team, call out examples of individuals who are showcasing skills of judgement, design-thinking and data interpretation to drive business impact. These role models will create a cultural pull-through for the rest of your organisation

Ultimately, this is a good news story. Infusing AI into our work creates more rewarding roles for individuals, freed from day-to-to-day administration, and more valuable output for the organisation. Managers are key to unlocking this value opportunity and should be a developmental priority for organisations looking to grow, improve and succeed.

This is a very short summary of a 15,000 word dissertation. I'm speaking at a few different events about the findings from this research, so if you're interested in hearing more just let me know!