Your workforce wants to use AI and new technologies… if you let them.

About 15 years ago, I got a tour of two of Land Rover’s production lines in the UK.

The first line produced the Land Rover Defender. Amazingly, the production line took up only about a third of the floorspace. Most was taken up by a mish-mash of inventory, tools, and machinery. The whole line looked like something out of the 1950s, “updated” with whacky ideas from Salvador Dali. The inventory control and process planning must have been a nightmare.

After that shock, we moved on to the second line in a different building.

This was for Land Rover’s newer models. It was like night and day compared to the first line. Most of the floorspace – two thirds, at least – was for the production line. Production was automated, with many robots deployed. Parts and components were delivered just-in-time. It was clean, well-organised, and efficient. The employees here looked happier and more motivated, too.

Recently, much has been written in the media about employees resisting new technologies, particularly AI. The threat of AI supposedly looms large over job security.

Yet when I visit my customers, I see strong AI adoption rates: in R&D, in supply chain management, in production, and in support services like finance and recruitment. Sure, there is a long way to go. But the media scaremongering doesn’t match the reality on the ground in many companies.

Employees want new AI technologies. And leaders can help them get there with three focal points that accelerate AI adoption:

1. Make employees aware of the rationale for introducing AI into a particular process. For example, digitalizing invoicing processes in Finance gives people the chance to stop the boring work – like chasing suppliers up for minor admin mistakes – and frees up time more the more skilled work and interesting challenges.
2. Motivate employees to change. The workers on Land Rover’s second production line looked more interested, cared more, and clearly took greater pride in their work.
3. Raise workforce competence to work with AI. Companies investing here see AI as a useful supporting tool. Let people experiment. This is why companies with an existing culture of innovation and curiosity find it easier to encourage people to make the most of AI.

Forget resistance to AI. Instead reduce reluctance to AI by making the workforce more aware, motivated, and competent. They will embrace AI faster. Yes, it will reshape team roles and functions, impacting power and status. But this was the same for Land Rover back then, and it’s the same for companies embracing AI now.