New Age Leadership in the world of Artificial Intelligence
Since the time Artificial Intelligence (AI) was invented in 1955, it has evolved into a superior technology that is capable of assisting any human activity when integrated with other technologies.
The evolution of AI is similar to that of humans, but the pace at which it evolved is way faster than any advancement we see in Human beings. To cope up with such an evolution of AI, we need to raise human leadership skills at the same pace.
Artificial Intelligence uses machine learning, data analytics, and object recognition to understand a scenario and makes a decision. By using these technologies, AI simplifies the decision-making process. That means AI has its own decision-making capacity and works almost like an actual human being. As a leader, one should keep this in mind while formulating effective strategies to grow business.
There is a significant impact on leadership roles due to the rapid growth of AI use in everyday business activities. These impacts are positive as well as negative.
Here we will discuss the negative impact or challenges that the integration of AI to business brings to the leadership roles. We will also discuss how to tackle those challenges effectively.
Generally, to reach a leadership role in an organization, a person has to have around 6-7 years of experience in that field. But, it’s a different scenario in today’s world. Millennial and Gen Z members are very proactive in their approach. If they feel that they have the capability of undertaking more responsibility, then they don’t shy away from taking the leadership role- and they often leave if they don’t get it.
Due to their thorough knowledge of technology as they have grown up among the AI integrated technology, they are capable of taking up leadership. While most of the mid-career leaders and late-career leaders are effective in their leadership skills, they lack the pace to keep up with the ever-changing technology. At the same time, these young leaders lack expertise in business understanding.
The challenge here is to whether equip the mid- and late-career leaders in ever-growing technology or train the young leaders in business leadership.
The simple solution here is to train the young leaders in business leadership with the help of mid- and late-career leaders. By doing this, it will assist the raise the leadership standard of young leaders at a lower level and also help the mid- and late-career leaders to understand today’s changing technology a bit better.
Working with AI requires a team with a vast amount of knowledge in various domains. As a CXO, one can’t expect just one department or team to handle the functions of AI. The functioning of AI is much complex than building a space shuttle. AI requires the integration of members from various disciplinarians as one team.
As a leader of such a multidisciplinary team, one should know all the disciplines. Finding such a dynamic leader is quite challenging.
The way to overcome this challenge is to choose a leader who views their work through a much holistic approach and has a thorough understanding of the organizational goal and customer requirement. It is next to impossible for one person to have in-depth knowledge of all the disciplinarians of an AI. But, a leader with a holistic approach can learn the requirements and understand the necessities of such a multidisciplinary team.
As told before, Millennial and Gen Z employees tend to move to new organizations soon if they don’t get an opportunity in leadership positions. It’s quite challenging to keep these young leaders in one place as they know, and there are plenty of opportunities for these young leaders in the market.
As a CXO, it is necessary to remember that the tech sector has a 13% turnover rate, which is highest compared to any other industry. When a skilled and in-demand employee leaves an organization in the middle of a project, it hinders the entire flow of the AI project and causes significant loss to the organization.
Retaining can be achieved by motivating the Millennial and Gen Z employees. It is important to remember that along with the monetary benefits; it’s necessary to provide; work satisfaction, leadership roles, and responsibilities. These factors motivate these young leaders to stay with an organization for a very long time.
Understanding and running a team on an AI project requires more dynamic and holistic approach leaders in the organization. The new leadership should embrace collaboration among humans from different backgrounds, along with AI. As a CXO, one should understand that AI can’t play the role of leader at any level, but supports the entire organization with its decision-making skills. So, having strong leaders in an organization to handle AI functioning is essential.
At a larger picture, AI has many positive impacts with one handles to deal with these three major challenges effectively.
