While the future impact of artificial intelligence remains uncertain, leaders must still articulate a clear AI vision for their organization. How do you give your people clarity as the world is shifting? The answer lies in developing a clear narrative for your journey to learn and leverage AI.
Leaders need a clear vision to steer organizations through change. But in artificial intelligence, the road ahead is unclear. Companies are just starting to grasp how to use new artificial intelligence tools and leverage new artificial intelligence capabilities. Today, much of the early work focuses on routine tasks, not strategic uses, and is transactional and small scale — not strategic or at scale. No one today can confidently or accurately predict how AI will transform their industry or envision their company's future role beyond the broadest generalizations.
Yet your employees and your stakeholders still need your vision and guidance. It’s essential to keeping people engaged even as AI shifts our world.
Set this vision carries urgency: artificial intelligence is rapidly seeping into organizations, whether these uses have been sanctioned and approved or not. I frequently see workplaces that have banned AI – and yet their workers are secretly using it on their personal devices for their work. As people understand AI’s capabilities, and see artificial intelligence affecting colleagues' jobs, their own anxiety will grow about what's next.
The good news: despite a lack of clarity in what the future holds, you can still map out and share a clear vision by focusing on your journey to navigate through change.
A journey narrative lays groundwork to support artificial intelligence innovation that aligns with your overall strategy, and creates an essential foundation for dialogue. It can help surface fears and concerns that need to be addressed. It can set a tone and cultural norms for the journey ahead. And it can serve as a centering point for innovation and ideas that can help advance your work to stay competitive in an increasingly AI-driven world.
Alison McCauley is an artificial intelligence keynote speaker and executive advisor focusing on the human dimensions of AI.