“People only change in a crisis…”
Make no mistake, generative AI represents a crisis.
Not necessarily one with terrible, life-threatening outcomes - compared to a pandemic, for example - but it’s certainly as disruptive and as dangerous to companies if it’s not taken seriously.
Talking of the Covid pandemic, look at what happened in its wake, in terms of a company’s operations: remote working, giving autonomy to employees, and flexibility were intrinsic to UK PLC. Most of these changes have stuck (thankfully), and company bosses have largely learned to rethink how their enterprises can work.
Almost four years later, in November 2023, Chat GPT emerged, trailblazing a similarly transformative path.
Generative AI has the power to make an even bigger bang. It’s already shaping businesses, but not necessarily in the right way. In comparison to the pandemic - where we all had to abide by the same rules and make the same sacrifices - a company’s approach to AI can differ wildly to the next.
Some, excited by the cost savings and no doubt blinded by greed, are (unfortunately) replacing staff with AI solutions. The output in neurons AI uses currently equals that of a human toddler. In what universe is it a good move to swap out an adult human with a three-year-old?
AI is fantastic, it really is. It can help and assist us to be better, more productive, more innovative humans; to be better informed, to harmlessly explore hypotheses, to be better organised. To work smarter, not harder. But its full effect only comes into play when a human is at the wheel.
The question arises: are your people ready to shape and steer AI in order to become 40-60% better? Do they understand how to get the best from it, where and how to wield it; do they know which tasks are best left to humans, and where innovation lies with this hugely-advanced technology? As with any new concept or way of working, risks need to be managed. Critical thinking needs to be applied.
Generative AI demands an open approach, a change mindset, and critical thinkers. If you’re uninformed about its capabilities, you risk your informed competitors sailing past you to heightened success you can only dream of.
For too many companies, ‘easy’ outstrips ‘effectiveness’.
It’s easy to do what you’ve always done, to follow the status quo, to not challenge anything, to not look for better. The same goes for your workers: how many of them turn up to work and just do what they’ve been told to do? How many do you have in your workforce who actively want to better their position, and ergo, the company they work for? Which of your employees would actively challenge you? Do any of them offer a diversity of thought from yours? If none do, you have an office full of sheeple, not free-thinking people. Which of these do you imagine will help your company grow?
It’s perhaps unfair to pin downward, insular, reactive operations on the workforce, as it could be the culture your company fosters. Where no one dares, and therefore no cares, to put forward a new idea. If that’s the case, AI won’t be able to help you.
Back to the title quote: people only change in a crisis. Well, the time has come. When did you look objectively at your staff and assess their skills? There are so many knowledge gaps and skills shortages nowadays, internal mobility is the key to growth. Whichever way you look at it, and whichever technologies you put in place, your success still comes down to the people on your payroll.
We’re in a crisis, and your people need to change to WORK WITH generative AI.
Evolve3 can help train your staff wholly and ethically on generative AI. We can also upskill them in relation to their problem-solving, their critical thinking, and their innovation too. We can offer a real end-to-end solution or just the appropriate support in the places you need it.
We’ll leave you with another famous quote: “A company is only as good as its people.”