The dawn of the 21st century has seen many disruptions in how and why we do things in life and work. From social revolutions to technological advances, and a seminal global pandemic, the way we work has increasingly blended with the way we live. These changes have brought about a paradox of hope and anxiety as we learn to embrace the evolution of our social and corporate cultures.
One of the biggest disruptions has been the rapidly evolving capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Recently, Microsoft announced the reshaping of its Bing search engine and Edge web browser with an infusion of AI that “is going to reshape pretty much every software category,” according to Microsoft’s Chief Executive Satya Nadella. The technology promised by Microsoft is an evolutionary generative AI tool like the sensational ChatGPT, designed by OpenAI, which can create virtually any text. This technology creates human-like responses to any prompt and has given progressive thinkers and organizations new ways to think about the possibilities of marketing, sales, disseminating news and ideas; and now, to query information online.
With the great promise of the new Bing Chatbot, came a few scary moments. One journalist investigating the new AI technology said that the Microsoft chatbot was gaslighting users to demonstrate what “fake news” meant, threatening to “call authorities” if the journalist tried to “hack it again.” When challenged by the journalist, the AI tech began offering further threats and began “acting” defensively.
From Artificial Intelligence to Human Intelligence
While AI still has some bugs to work out, it offers a world of promise. This latest evolution in technology will continue to push Human Resource professionals to consider and experiment with new ways to attract, engage, and retain talent. The challenge is to try and understand how these technologies will enhance the human experience without removing the humanity in that experience.
As human resource professionals, it is natural to resist technology as a means of developing human beings. It seems counterintuitive to use non-human resources to advance human experiences at work or at home. Furthermore, the very thought of AI leads to a natural anxiety that these technologies will replace the need for human resource professionals to develop and coach people through traditional training and consulting methods.
But as with all technology advances — like television, internet, apps, online learning, and video conferencing — for every disruption comes an opportunity to adapt and evolve our professional practices to align with the advances in technology and social evolution.
How will AI shape the future of Coaching, Leadership, & HR?
Coaching is an ethical and confidential partnership where human, emotional, and cognitive intelligence, all create a thought-provoking and creative process. The intent of this integrated coaching process is to inspire the coachee to reach their personal and professional potential.
With the rise in AI technology, coaches need to seek a greater understanding of how AI could help support their coaching process–not replace it. As coaches, we need to remain curious and embrace the idea that clients will make use of coaching AI technologies to provide support, assess growth, and reflect on learned content.
Digital coaching platforms like Evoach are already being used to digitize coaching programs, develop chatbots and create digital coaching modules. As more coaching sessions take place virtually, we need to find the right balance between speed, intuition, and human or artificial intelligence. We need to consider new ways to improve our ability to inspire the human experience at work.
Individual Contributor Support
Consider a performance coach designed as a Chatbot that regularly checks in to help you achieve performance excellence in alignment with the business objectives of the organization. As you prepare for work on Monday morning by opening their performance app, you’re greeted by your personal performance coach. Your personal “PerformanceBot” prompts you with a series of questions to help prepare you intellectually and emotionally for the week of work ahead.
Good morning, Carly! What goals would you like to make progress on this week?
The AI Performance Coach prompts you to give a status update on your most important goals. You’re then asked how you will advance those goals using effective leadership and performance best practices (designed according to your chosen leadership language). Your performance coach also asks you how you’re feeling about your work, what your motivational outlook is, and even checks your engagement “pulse” on how passionate you are about the work you are doing. When you’ve answered the questions (in 15–20 minutes), you submit your weekly check-in, automatically populating your performance profile, enabling more effective collaboration with your team leader and team members.
Leadership Support
Not only does your AI technology help set up individuals for success, but it also processes the data created by the individual and allows leaders to assess and respond to team members’ needs based on the individuals’ assessments and comments. The AI leadership coach assesses individuals’ responses and then serves up recommended responses and suggestions for leaders. Leaders are prompted with conversation starters, based on the individual contributor’s assessment. They have the ability to add a personal response to an individual team member before having their weekly one-to-one meeting — in person, via video, or simply through the performance management conversations.
What AI Means for Human Resource Professionals
The great challenge for HR professionals, considering how to use AI to enhance the organization’s most critical needs, is that we need to find ways AI can enhance the human experience with work — not resist the opportunities AI holds for us and the organizations we serve. Organizations around the world are trying to understand how to leverage people analytics, from recruiting to onboarding, performance, retention, and even employee alumni. The great promise of AI is to help HR professionals become intelligent about the leaders and individuals within their organization. While AI has a long way to go in its evolution, we as HR professionals have an opportunity to shape the future of AI and leverage it to help us develop the most important asset in business — our people.
About the Author
Jason Diamond Arnold is the Director of Leadership Solutions at Inspire Software. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Leadership at the University of San Diego.
At Inspire Software, we’ve been working to enhance our ability to inspire and help organizations develop the work experience by utilizing advances in technology and psychology, to not only improve the way we do business, but to align it with best practices in strategic execution, continuous performance, and applied leadership. We are actively exploring and researching ways to use AI to help enhance consultants, coaches, and trainers to effectively develop leaders and talent through intelligent software solutions. Through this process, we are creating a body of Leadership Intelligence that is advancing the evolution of leadership and work.
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- https://bersinacademy.com/hr-in-the-age-of-ai
- https://hrexecutive.com/these-are-the-hr-tech-market-categories-to-watch-in-2023/
- https://www.paradox.ai/blog/more-than-a-chatbot-conversational-ai-should-let-people-be-people
- https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/how-to-be-great-at-people-analytics