Steps for Business Leaders to get Generative AI ready

Generative AI is changing everything. Think people, skills and the way we work.

So how exactly are we going to revamp the way we work, learn to embrace AI and grow alongside ‘it’ because lets face it - if we don’t embrace this phenomenal shift, we will be left behind the colleagues, businesses and organizations that do. Its a powerful tool and an overwhelming one too.

It certainly pays to think ahead as to what the impacts are, or can be. If you’ve been wondering where exactly does this fit in my business model? How can we make the best use? How can you bank on the productivity gains? How can we motivate our people while still engage them in workforce planning, redefining roles and responsibilities and address their change capability.

We’ll soon have #Copilot from Microsoft deployed - assures us Jared Spataro , Microsoft's chief #futureofwork guy.

Go away time wasting minutes typing, go away mundane weekly reporting, go away simple responses to email, Go away repetitive tasks that are easily automated. Room for more thoughtful and creative work! Finally! Or is this just rose-tinted future thinking that we will have more time to be creative, to focus of activities that actually need attention, perhaps even look after ourselves better in the workplace. Time for doing meaningful and enjoyable work, really focus on team work, getting the best out of each other, with a focus on wellbeing and mental health??If anything, it begs to ask the question and investigate.

No one has a crystal ball and even the #AI evangelists haven't got a clear picture as to where the AI rise will leave us. What it certainly opens is the door to experimentation and exploration.

#Creativity is perhaps the most tested concept of any business transformation equation. Most executives will tell you they are looking for creative solutions but look for certainty, miniscule risk of failure and competitor repetitiveness (think rip, pivot and jam).

If we rely on a definition given by Margaret Boden, an influential AI researcher and philosopher at the University of Sussex, UK, who boils the concept down to three key criteria: to be creative, an idea or an artifact needs to be new, surprising, and valuable.

Maria Teresa Llano, who studies computational creativity at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, agrees that text-to-image models are stretching previous creativity definitions. But Llano does not think they are creative. When you use these programs a lot, the results can start to become repetitive, she says. This means they fall short of some or all of Boden’s requirements.

But text-to-image models is just the start. Generative AI could eventually be used to produce designs for everything from new buildings to new drugs - think text-to-X.

“People are going to realize that technique or craft is no longer the barrier—it’s now just their ability to imagine,”         

Early collaborators with #OpenAI say entire teams have been pivoted in their organizations to integrate AI into their products.

Goldman Sachs predicted that AI advances could cause 300 million jobs, representing roughly 18% of the global workforce, to be?automated?in some way. OpenAI also recently released its?own study?with the University of Pennsylvania, which claimed that ChatGPT could affect over 80% of the jobs in the US.

So can #generativeAI revamp your business model, give your business strategy a creative oomph and help your teams focus on meaningful work while you adjust your workforce plan to be adaptive to the changes ahead?

Problem solving with AI is the new horizon but is your organization and lets be frank - leadership, ready for that frontier? The culture and change capability of your leaders and organization is essential. Investments in tech and infrastructure are driving the change. Sustaining and attempting to create momentum is something that is grown within. With AI bringing new capabilities, business leaders need to integrate and bring the focus on people as much as technology and productivity. Investments in skills and teams, and new ways of working will take time but the change is on the horizon.

A summary of steps that business leaders should think about:

• Get people and leadership on board of the AI bullet train. Use Generative AI to influence and persuade. Think tailored content, satisfied emotional triggers, building trust, suggesting new ideas and providing social proof.
• Get innovative on Business Models through AI. Its not about whether AI will impact your organization. Its about how. Think about the strategic choices that will enable you to explore opportunities and manage challenges.
• Prepare your teams and workforce for Generative AI. Business leaders need to integrate and bring the focus on people and skills as much as technology and productivity.
• Get your organization AI ready. AI presents huge opportunities and equal risks for organizations. Learn how to define clear policies and training that define roles and responsibilities when it comes to using Generative AI internally and externally.

To respond to this newsletter, leave a comment or connect with me on LinkedIn. I love getting replies.

To grow your own?#strategy, #people, and #change?skills and practice, check out my courses on LinkedIn Learning: here:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/instructors/christina-charenkova