Will AI take my job?
Leadership in the era of AI
Key Takeaway: People skills will be the most important in any workplace.
Everywhere you look these days there are ai generated images, writing and worry about ai taking people’s jobs. The hard truth is yes, ai will take some jobs just the same as the car took the jobs of the people who made wagons and the telephone took the jobs of the telegram operators. One thing that we can also learn from these transitions is that ai will also create jobs. Car manufacturing became a new occupation as did telephone operators. My children will work in industries we can’t even imagine at this stage so what do we learn now and what do we teach our children to be successful in the coming era?
The skills that will survive the ai evolution
My sphere is full of people talking about ai taking away our writing skills and our creativity as it learns how to write more eloquently and casually. There will also continue to be rapid advancement in the world of robotics removing the need for menial, repetitive tasks. These skills have been the focus of productivity and work performance since the industrial revolution. What happens when they are the jobs that are replaced by ai and robotics?
The one thing to remember is there will still be people. If you are not technically minded and the thought of learning prompts or robotics is overwhelming, consider what skills you already have that will remain relevant as we live through this change. Those with soft leadership and personable engagement skills are difficult to replicate through ai. Even with ai, people will still be people; unpredictable, creative and in need of engagement.
A task focused leader is one who is puts the outcome above all else. Their main focus is on deadlines, processes and moving to the next goals. Instead people focused leaders who focus on collaboration, engagement and development of others will stand out as we move away from people doing the basic tasks.
For those of us who strive for continuous learning, open to failure and are genuinely people focused leaders, it will be easier to find work in an ai future. Coders, prompters, robot engineers will all need leadership and mentoring to succeed in their roles. Often referred to as ‘soft skills’, developing your ability to influence, communicate and engage with others from diverse backgrounds and experiences will help your leadership grow both now and into the ai future.
EQ vs IQ
While, Intellectual Intelligence (IQ) will continue to be at the forefront of technology while ai continues to advance, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) will become more important as the ai starts to manage and develop itself. Some researchers argue that the Gen Z and Alpha have more EQ than ever before and that this trend will continue to grow with every generation as they continue to articulate their feelings more openly and engage with discomfort and dislike in a way we have never experienced before. They are more likely to talk about how they feel, how events are impacting on them and how others may feel differently. This tells me that leaders who continue to develop their EQ will have a different impact in the future workplace as the younger generations advance through the ranks.
Transitioning from Task Focused to People Focused
When I was younger and more junior, the task was the most important thing. Especially when I had no actual staff reporting directly to me, and even when I did I was focused on hitting the next milestone, being better than everyone else and relying on HR policy to dictate every person related decision I made. When I first had a management role, people would ask if I was previously in the military given how abrupt I was with my direction and communication.
As I got older and moved up into middle management, I had the opportunity to work closely with some quite senior executives. During this time, I witnessed and experienced directly some very unprofessional behaviour. This changed how I saw success and leadership, and really started to clearly define what type of leader I did not want to be. Then one day one of them said to me, “Jen, I need you to bulldoze your way into the mess and fix it for me.” That’s when I stopped and realised that was my style. I was organised, direct, efficient sure but did I want to have the reputation as the bulldozer? That’s when I started trying to focus on influence over control, engagement over direction and support instead of authority. It’s not an easy transition when you have been tasked focused for so long but I eventually realised I love people. I enjoy listening to their ideas, differences and experiences. I appreciate their different viewpoints and can anticipate their concerns. I can help them navigate their barriers to development and I can development my own leadership while doing it all.
Focus on the People and the Task will get done.
This concept was first described by Peter Drucker, often referred to as the “Godfather of Modern Management”, his focus was on helping others to succeed. This is something many leaders struggle with as they are often dealing with their own pressures, poor upper management, tight deadlines and need to prove themselves. The positive feedback from staff that I have seen from the shift in my leadership is always refreshing. Some of the decisions I make are a success and others are an important lesson. Last month when I made an unprecedented decision supporting staff to be more flexible with their time and focusing less on the output, the management team below me were shocked. After laying out the reasons they thought my decision wasn’t good, one of them told me “I have never experienced leadership like this before.” My response was exactly. I took full responsibility for any issues or failures that occurred because of the change and knew I could revert to the previous arrangements if it didn’t work out. The risk was minimal but I felt I had done something positive and we are all still learning the lessons from that change.
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker
The ai era will be just what people need to focus less on the output and more on how they can help and engage with each other. Even if you are not worried about ai stealing your job in the future, focusing on the softer skills of leadership will benefit your career as the younger generations flow into the workforce. Gone are the days of aggressive, tyrannical leaders and instead we focus on terms like vulnerable or authentic leadership. Are you a task focused leader worried about deadlines, efficiency and profit more than the people who work for you? If so have a think about how you can start to listen more to those people and their needs. Supporting them may just improve efficiency and increase output or profit.
Take action: Upgrade one soft skill. Pick listening, influence, or feedback and practise it intentionally for 7 days.
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