From Threat to Opportunity: Leading in the AI Era
Written by Mariateresa Romeo
What happens when the introduction of AI gradually reduces your areas of control, replaces your team in the execution of tasks and activities, and forces you to rethink your role in the organization?
This was the situation faced by one of my clients, whom we’ll refer to as Norma for confidentiality reasons. She sought coaching to help her navigate the changes in her organization resulting from the implementation of large-scale AI.
Norma is the Director of Compliance and Risk Management at a large financial services firm. Last year, her organization launched an AI-driven process optimization project to streamline workflows, reduce inefficiencies, and improve business operations, leveraging advanced technologies such as machine learning and process automation.
According to a study published by Market US, the AI process optimization market is experiencing robust growth, driven by the growing need for efficiency and the ongoing digital transformation across industries.
Companies using AI for process optimization have achieved a 10-15% boost in production output and reduced their response time to challenges by up to 90%.
New technologies automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, analyze data, and identify and resolve inefficiencies and bottlenecks, reducing the time and human effort required for problem-solving and decision-making.
Leaders in the organization perceive that their operational landscape is changing quickly and, as they are compelled to redesign their roles and goals, they sometimes find it difficult to embrace this transformation.
Is Artificial Intelligence a real threat to leaders’ influence?
In Norma’s case, an initial analysis of the introduction of AI-driven automation tools in her department revealed a potential reduction in the workforce, affecting about 15% of her team. These employees could either be laid off or reassigned to different roles and departments within the organization.
Additionally, the automation would lead to a redesign of certain control activities conducted in collaboration with other business functions, diminishing her and her team’s influence on critical decision-making processes.
Norma’s initial reaction was to resist this change. During the preliminary analysis, she couldn’t help but express her concerns about the project’s feasibility and efficacy. She also tried to hinder it by making herself unavailable for meetings and delaying data and information sharing with the AI project team.
“AI will steal the team’s job and put me in a corner,” she said in our initial session. Still, she was fully aware that the transformation had already begun, and she could neither stop nor avoid it.
Shift the focus to the areas of control and influence
Our work together focused on changing her perspective on the introduction of AI.
Instead of viewing AI as a threat or an obstacle limiting her ability to control activities, shape decisions, and be considered within the organization, we sought ways to turn it into an opportunity for her and her team.
In our coaching sessions, we analyzed the situation by distinguishing between aspects she could control or influence and those she had no power over.
She could not change top management’s decision to introduce AI across the company, and in her department in particular, nor could she change the expectation of positive results in cost reduction and efficiency. Still, she could decide what role she would play in this transformation, whether as a passive-resistive leader or as someone with a voice who actively influenced the timing and scope of this implementation in her area.
She could not impede the automation of certain tasks and the resulting reduction in the workforce. Still, she decided to turn this event into an opportunity to redesign her team’s objectives, structure, and processes, upskill her team to deliver more value-added activities for the business functions, enhance the function’s relevance to the organization, and strategically increase collaboration with other key leaders.
It’s a matter of quality (over quantity) and EQ
Reflecting on how Norma turned the dreaded AI into an opportunity for individual and team growth, we found two fundamental beliefs that changed her approach and mindset in this situation.
1) Leadership is a matter of quality, not quantity: it is not the number of people reporting to you, the number of data or reports you handle, or the number of meetings you and your team are invited to attend every week. It is the quality that matters. You can lead a smaller team (in terms of employee count) than before, but make a greater impact on the organization through the quality of your work and the strategic results you deliver.
The introduction of AI and the resulting automation and simplification of processes compel leaders and their teams to elevate their performance in critical and strategic thinking, creativity, and value generation to achieve long-term benefits.
2) AI can streamline communication, problem-solving, and decision-making, but still cannot navigate emotions, build trust, and manage complex human interactions. Data and prompts cannot replace empathy.
On the contrary, in a world even more automated and technology-driven, being able to feel what others feel, read between the lines, and connect at a deeper level is a critical human advantage.
Leadership and influence, in particular, are primarily the results of an individual’s EQ and human skills, and not only of their mental proficiency, which is the efficiency, capacity, and speed with which a person processes information, thinks, and solves a problem.
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