It has often been said that crisis reveals character, a truism for organizations as well as individuals. Crises compel organizations to rethink how they work, and often become the source of lasting change and growth.
After the 2000¨C01 recession, for example, 15 percent of companies that had not previously been leaders in their industries emerged as stalwarts in their sectors and moved into the top quartile. Likewise, while most retailers did poorly after the Great Recession of 2007¨C09, a handful showed their mettle and delivered more than five times the average total returns to shareholders.
Few would argue that the COVID-19 pandemic is more devastating than these events. It is a humanitarian crisis of the likes we have not experienced in recent times. The work organizations face to safeguard their employees¡¯ lives and livelihoods is formidable. As companies work to regain their footing from the vast human and economic toll, artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to play a pivotal role. The pressure for organizations to adopt AI was already mounting before the crisis as the technology delivered returns to early adopters. The COVID-19 crisis has only elevated the technology¡¯s prominence, with many companies using AI to quickly triage the vast challenges they face and set a new course for their employees, customers, and investors in an uncertain, rapidly evolving landscape.
While it¡¯s always been important to involve the entire organization in building AI, now more than ever leaders need to empower employees to actively shape their AI journeys. Importantly, engaging all employees¡ªnot just technical talent¡ªin AI development ensures that AI solutions truly augment employees in their roles so they can do their jobs better and more efficiently, and it stimulates employee ingenuity, confidence, and flexibility to continually adapt as the next normal begins to reveal itself.
Additionally, enlisting the workforce in these efforts enables them to begin to develop some of the skills needed as AI ultimately reshapes the future of work. While it¡¯s expected that less than 5 percent of jobs can be automated completely, AI and related technologies will change the nature of many current roles, placing greater emphasis on tasks requiring technological, creative, and critical thinking skills (among others), which get flexed in the build-out of AI tools.
While it¡¯s expected that less than 5 percent of jobs can be automated completely, AI and related technologies will change the nature of many current roles.
Such engagement doesn¡¯t happen easily in most cases. For traditional companies, transforming into an AI-powered organization involves substantial work. They must, for example, fundamentally change their cultures into ones that embrace data, experimentation, and agile principles¡ªall traits that the digital natives heavily and successfully using AI today (for example, Amazon and Google) are typically born with. They¡¯ll also need to develop tailored analytics-education programs for all levels of employees, redesign processes, source new technical talent, and revamp their technology architecture (for instance, by embracing the cloud to ensure that they have the capabilities to support resource- and data-hungry AI systems).
However, we find that while these transformational steps are under way, there are some relatively simple ways executives can help their employees understand where they fit in and become active participants in charting an organization¡¯s path toward AI. In this article, we share how leading organizations are getting the ball rolling.
