Thoughts by Brenan German, Founder and President of Bright Talent
READ ARTICLE: Does AI adoption call for a change in human behavior?
HR Leaders, I want to share a "wake up" moment recently highlighted in the news. It was reported that a recent graduate of UCLA, while sitting in the commencement ceremony, held up his laptop for the camera and showed the ChatGPT prompts he used to complete his final project to earn his degree.
Why does this matter? Everything we hold in principle about adult learning and development is rapidly changing. This includes all of your employees and how they do their jobs.
The example above has opened up the discussion about the purpose of higher learning and the practices required to earn a degree. And it opens up a similar discussion about how employees should adopt AI and how it enables them to complete tasks.
HR leaders are uniquely positioned to take lead in this conversation, as CEO's challenge business leaders to find efficiencies and productivity gains with the integration of AI. But at the root of this challenge is adult learning and the acceptance of, or resistance to, change.
This article by @David McCurday in Fast Company does a great job of articulating the need to take control of the narrative and process in how we empower our workforce to thrive in the AI era. It is safe to call it a change management project with the primary change objective being employee behavior.
I particularly like some key points he makes:
Adapting and evolving with AI shouldn't come at the expense of the teammates it's intended to help.
Organizations benefit from fostering a culture of learning, particularly when undergoing enterprise-wide transformations.
Encouraging a test-and-learn mentality around new technology has helped at Insight.
According to a recent Insight survey, 75% of employees believe investing in AI-powered devices will help their employer stay competitive, and a similar number (73%) expect it to help them be more productive.
The irony about the graduate using ChatGPT to earn a degree is not dissimilar to how he will likely function in his career to earn a paycheck. We're at the threshold of change with our employees as we reskill/upskill our existing workforce while adapting with the skills of our new hires. Let me know what you think.