Are your new leaders AI ready?

When organizations hire and onboard new leaders, they are typically focused on leadership and technical skills and cultural fit. In the age of AI, we need to be including AI skills and AI attitude in this equation.

Your organization has an AI culture, whether you are aware of it or not. You have made decisions about which AI tools to use and how you will use them. Your employees are using AI to support their work (even if you think they’re not).

Everyone in your organization has opinions about the ethics and utility of AI. Some people may be AI phobic or AI resistant, while others are AI enthusiasts. Ideally, you have mapped out an AI strategy and baked your organization’s approach into processes, policy, and your overall organizational culture (if you haven’t done that yet, HPRev can help). Like all aspects of organizational culture, your organization’s approach to AI may have developed organically. Like the air that we breathe, your AI culture is there whether you are actively thinking about it or not, and it is vital to your survival.

When you bring a new leader into your organization, whether they are coming from the outside, or promoted from within, they are bringing their own skills and attitudes about AI. It is important that you focus on aligning the new leader with the AI culture of your organization. You can do this by:

1.      Assessing their AI skills

2.      Evaluating their AI cultural fit

3.      Incorporating AI into their onboarding

4.      Learning from their AI approach

Assessing AI skills

This step is the most straightforward. Through the interview or onboarding process, you can identify which AI tools your new leader has used and how they have used them. There are many AI tools on the market these days, so it is important to remember that even if the leader hasn’t used the specific tools that your organization is using, there are many transferable skills between tools. Depending on your unique business needs, you can develop a formal or informal AI assessment that is focused on AI general skills, or skills that are specific to the tools your organization is using. This assessment can take the form of a conversation, a questionnaire, or a skill test, depending on the AI focus of your organization.

For new leaders and managers, think about how they are engaging with AI as opposed to an individual contributor. Often, managers are in an approval and quality control role. They can be your first, best line of defense to ensure your AI-supported work products are hallucination free and have the authentic look and feel of your organization. They are a key human-in-the-loop to help you make the most of AI. You may also want to consider how this new leader can provide support and feedback to employees who are using AI. Do they have enough technical knowledge to guide employees through issues? Are they comfortable enough with AI to provide support?

Evaluating AI Cultural Fit

Do your new leaders’ views on AI fit those of your organization? The answer to this question could make or break their transition into leadership. If your organization is an AI early adopter that has incorporated AI into many aspects of the business, a new leader who is AI phobic will struggle. If your business is human-first and has strict guardrails around AI use, a new leader who is an AI enthusiast will become frustrated (and use AI anyway outside of your guardrails). You need to evaluate your new leader’s comfort with using AI. It is also important to ensure that their understanding of AI ethics are consistent with those of your organization. In the hiring process, you can begin to understand this by asking behavioral interview questions like, “Describe a time when you used AI to address a complex work issue? How did you balance ethical considerations with driving an effective outcome?” Once you have hired them, you can clearly define your AI culture and engage the leader through ongoing conversations.

AI Onboarding

As with other areas of organizational culture, many organizations practice the sink-or-swim method. They focus their onboarding programs on administrative considerations and technical roles and responsibilities. Without directly acknowledging the culture, they expect the leader to figure it out. If they are a good fit, they succeed. If not, they struggle and often fail. A structured and deliberate leadership transition process can help the new leader understand and quickly adapt to the organizational culture. Where AI is concerned, you should be able to clearly communicate how your organization uses AI including use cases, ethics, and how leaders monitor AI-supported work. Discussion of AI should also be included in a leadership transition conversation between the team and the new leader, setting clear expectations and opening lines of future communication. If everyone understands and aligns with the organization’s AI culture, you will head off conflicts and confusion, and you will be on a path to fully realize the productivity benefits AI can provide.

Learn from Their AI Approach

AI is a young technology and it is changing every day. While it is important for the new leader to align with your organization’s use of AI, you may have something to learn from them as well. Ask them about how they have used AI in previous roles or in their personal life. You can also ask them for feedback on how your organization is using AI. If they are coming from the outside of your organization, they will have fresh eyes and may be able to provide a new perspective on how you are using your current AI tools. They may also be able to recommend new AI tools or use cases that will drive the success of your business.

AI is impacting every aspect of your business. It is important to consider AI when you are onboarding a new leader. If you don’t assess AI their skills and attitudes and align them to those of your organization, you are gambling with their success. Taking the time to assess AI skills, evaluate AI cultural fit, incorporate AI into your onboarding program, and learn from your new leaders, will get you to performing faster and avoid costly setbacks along the way.

Do you need help getting a new leader up to speed on AI in your organization? Human Performance Revolution can help! Schedule a meeting today!