Innovative thinking
Artificial intelligence (AI) is today’s business ‘buzzword’. It’s supercharged many business areas, from cybersecurity to customer services. Yet the media storm around it is leaving many employees worried about their digital competency, and job security.
But don’t let the frenzy fool you. AI is not an unknown and has been comfortably used by millions of people in everyday tools for years. Tool training is therefore not the only way to master AI. Coaching people to think outside the box and adapt to digital change has a key role too.
This approach is relevant for organisations across both private and public sectors to promote business change for good. But how and why do you train people to think innovatively?
1. Reset the AI record
The rise of generative AI, robotic process automation (RPA) and other technologies under this umbrella has blurred the lines on AI’s definition. How is it used and what AI-based tool should a business be implementing?
In reality, what many don’t realise is that people have used AI-based tools for years without a wink of training. Everyday examples of this include spellchecker or website chatbots. This lack of understanding has led to 88 per cent of workers still expecting AI to become part of their daily work by 2028 – despite the fact it already is.
Instead of heading down the AI training route, leaders need to first reset the workforce mindset. AI misconceptions must be dispelled, and it’s often best practice for leadership teams to fully understand the organisation’s existing applications of AI. They can then share this awareness with the wider workforce.
2. Process change over tool training
When it comes to AI, or rolling out any digital tool for that matter, training people to use digital tools is typically not the sole answer. Conversations around digital trends, such as the recent advances in AI, often create a sense of urgency that training is needed to use them. Instead, these trends should be viewed as an opportunity to undertake process change.
Rather than teaching people how to use a specific digital tool in isolation, leaders must focus on coaching workers. This will help them think more innovatively and become more adaptable to digital change. AI is the hot trend right now, but in a few years, tomorrow’s digital solution will take its place.
Process change is about developing an agile workforce, where people are not overwhelmed and fixated on new technologies. It’s about coaching people to consider how services or products can be evolved for the customer’s continued benefit. Therefore digital change can then be implemented to support this goal.
3. Blue-sky thinking brings business change benefits
Thinking creatively is one of the most valuable skills to learn in the workplace – and it’s an ability anyone can develop. Business change should be viewed as an evolution, and this simply won’t happen with closed minds.
In the context of AI, being innovative is an important part of adapting to process change and spotting opportunities to improve the customer experience by exploiting available tools. For instance, using AI-powered web analytics tools to harvest data on user actions, such as interests or clicks, to make a customer’s experience of the business website more personalised.
Coaching the workforce to think outside the box doesn’t have to be resource-intensive. It can be something as simple as holding workshops or brainstorms to bounce ideas between the team. Similarly, it’s about preventing certain words, such as ‘can’t’, from being used to promote creativity.
Across the public and private sectors, there is still much room for innovation to play a bigger role in driving positive business change. Seeking support from business change specialists can make all the difference in this regard, helping workers to unlock new ways of working and thinking.
The key takeaway here? Mastering AI-based tools, or any other digital solution, is not just about tool training – it’s about encouraging the workforce to think with a wider and more open mind.