Lead the human-AI workforce without fear

In 2023, economist Richard Baldwin said, “AI won’t take your job. It’s somebody using AI that will take your job.” Since then, we have been imagining the workforce of tomorrow, full of AI power users who are not just competent in their own right, but successfully engage with AI tools to achieve results. Not quite the human-robot collaborations that play out in our favorite sci-fi movies, it is well understood that some new form of collaboration between humans and machines is coming to a workplace near you, and soon. According to Microsoft’s 2024 Work Trend Index, “41% of leaders (extremely familiar with AI) expect to redesign business processes from the ground up with AI.”

What is less clear, however, are the changes that will be needed in business leadership to achieve success in the human-AI workforce. Without a handbook or blueprint to follow, the most important tool for guiding this transformation will be something less tangible: company culture—the set of norms and expectations that guide standards and decision making in our work.

History can teach us a lot about how business culture responds to major technology changes. During the Industrial Revolution, the shift to building big businesses with large labor pools spawned work cultures based on fear, with command, control, and conformity prevailing. Throughout the digital revolution, we saw a shift in business culture, with forward-thinking companies driving innovation by loosening the reins. Breaking free from the limitations of fear-based cultures, decision making has become more decentralized and—accelerated by the pandemic—work has become more distributed.

While many companies are still struggling to achieve a true, performance-enhancing culture by today’s standards, they now find themselves facing down the next tectonic shift as they increasingly invite AI to work alongside their employees. While tempting, companies that revert to fear-based leadership will miss a huge opportunity to advance as AI evolves.

Overcome the AI culture of fear

Today’s leaders need to embrace AI fear head-on, demonstrating a blend of AI experimentation and responsibility. According to the Microsoft Index, “60% of leaders worry their organization’s leadership lacks a plan and vision to implement AI,” suggesting most organizations have a long way to go in finding the right balance.

Here are three ways leaders can avoid the pitfalls of AI fear:

• Remove stigma and confusion with a modern AI policy. While AI’s impact may not be entirely clear, your company’s guidelines for its use can be. A 2024 Workday study on the AI Trust Gap found that “4 in 5 employees say their company has yet to share guidelines on responsible AI use.” Organizations that are afraid to take a stand are leaving a huge leadership gap that employees will inevitably fill themselves.

As of May 2024, “78% of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work,” and “52% of people who use AI at work are reluctant to admit to using it for their most important tasks.” Knowing employees will dabble with AI, leaders need to provide guidelines for experimentation that are aligned with company values and standards. Policies will differ by company and will need to be updated regularly, but should incorporate some basic components: safeguarding sensitive data and intellectual property, potential risks associated with AI (i.e., breaches, biases, and reputation damage), guidance for mitigating these risks, approval processes, and individual responsibility.

• Build accountability through trust, not fear. As we look at the history of business culture, one thing stands out—the changing nature of accountability in our companies. Accountability that was once driven with a heavy hand from the top gave way to a more self-regulating form, with employees increasingly keeping themselves and others accountable. As leaders plan for the human-AI workforce, employees will not only be accountable for themselves and other humans, but also for their emerging AI partners. This can only happen in a culture with well-understood accountability values based on transparency and trust.

If you look at the current data, this may be the biggest growth opportunity for leaders along the AI journey. For example, “70% of business leaders agree AI should be developed in a way that easily allows for human review and intervention.” At the same time, however, “3 in 4 employees say their organization is not collaborating on AI regulation.” For this experiment to work, leaders need to visibly try new AI technology and talk openly about the results (including mistakes and setbacks) if this is what they expect their employees to do.

• Reward AI experimentation. 53% of people who use AI at work worry that using it on important work tasks makes them look replaceable. However, if companies are going to compete by developing highly competent AI power users, they need AI experimentation to come out of the shadows by encouraging employees to play, iterate, and learn. Rather than focusing on the disruption, leaders should embrace AI as a great way to get people out of the traditional boxes that so often constrain thought and innovation.

Focus on how employees are reacting to AI’s productivity gains. If fear of being replaced is the first reaction, challenge your teams to think bigger. Imagine what more can be created or accomplished with the time saved and how that might advance the business in new ways. Openly acknowledge how employee burnout can be reduced with AI tools. Think about using successful experiments to teach others to use and embrace AI throughout the organization.

While so much of AI is unprecedented, the human elements (the tension between the best of humanity and the worst of human nature) will determine its success. This struggle is not new and has been won time and again through strong leadership and collective culture. Employees have spoken, saying that “AI helps them save time (90%), focus on their most important work (85%), be more creative (84%), and enjoy their work more (83%).” It is time for leaders to take these productivity gains and build a vision for this new way of working that is additive, inclusive, and inspiring.

Elaine Mak is chief people and performance officer at Valimail.