If AI is the problem – what is the answer? Skills, skills, skills
Last month I wrote about Employee Relations being increasingly drafted by bots. This month I want to talk about what we humans can do to counterbalance that and why our skills are so important.
If AI can draft you a grievance letter, an investigation report, a disciplinary outcome letter, a whistleblowing complaint, in seconds – what’ s left for us humans? I think it boils down to some good old-fashioned skills. Not technical skills; not qualifications; but the essential human skills that make a difference at an individual and organisational level.
What are these“ essential skills”? There’ s a free framework available online, developed by Skills Builder https:// www. skillsbuilder. uk which I think is brilliant. It identifies eight essential skills that we all need, whatever our role, sector or level of seniority. They are:
• Listening Speaking
• Problem Solving Creativity
• Staying Positive Aiming High
• Leadership
Teamwork
There’ s nothing groundbreaking or fancy about that list but that doesn’ t mean the Skills Builder website isn’ t a great place to access free tools and resources to benchmark yourself as an individual, as well as your organisation. Personally, I think every single one of these skills is becoming more important, with advent and advancement of AI.
Can AI build trust? Can it use judgement? Can it read the room? No. We as humans aren’ t necessarily built with ninja-level ability in those skills either which is why that list of eight above is so handy and why the Skills Builder website is great for helping you understand, develop and measure your skills in each of those areas.
Why does this matter? Skills identification and development is important on both an individual and organisational level:
• How can we promote technically brilliant people into management roles without equipping them to deal with performance conversations?
• Why do we implement new technology without equipping people with the problem-solving or creative thinking skills to use it well?
• What’ s the point in talking about company culture if we haven’ t developed listening, teamwork or leadership skills across the organisation?
How to adopt a skills-based approach:
• Recruit for potential and essential skills, not just experience
• Map the essential skills needed to deliver future strategy
• Develop managers in listening and speaking skills
Without those foundations, I often find that the same problems come up time and time again: managers who can’ t really listen; teams that avoid healthy debate and leaders who struggle to stay positive under pressure. The solution to those problems isn’ t AI – it’ s healthy habits and skills development.
And finally … Perhaps my question last month shouldn’ t have been,“ How is AI changing HR?” but rather,“ How can we build the essential skills to thrive in an AI-enabled world?” In these economically challenging times, I’ d say that access to free benchmarking, tools and resources is a no-brainer. Why not get yourself over to the Skills Builder website and see how you stack up?!
I’ d love to know what you’ re seeing in your own organisations. Are skills being talked about explicitly? Or are they being assumed? I’ m always here to help with your people priorities, please get in touch if you’ d like a chat.
Ruth George- HR Consultant- ruth @ ruthgeorge. com | 07899 920075
© Ruth George HR Consulting. This is not legal advice and is provided for general information only.
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