AI Is Changing Work. Do You Know What Your People Can Do Next?

AI is less about tech, and more about people

There is a lot of pressure on organizations to do something with AI right now. To invest. To transform. To redesign work. And, increasingly, to show a return on all of it.

In my role I spend a lot of time talking to organizations about talent and workforce decisions, and so often the conversation around AI starts with technology, not people. Work isn’t going away, it’s changing. And if jobs are changing, tasks are changing and the skills organizations need are changing, there’s a fundamental question we need to answer: Do we really understand what our people can do next?

Data does not equal insights

To understand people better, you need data – and most organizations I ask always say they have this in abundance, and spend lots of time collecting data, but they don’t always know how it fits together, what they can trust, and how that data can help them make the best decisions about people. AI gives us the ability to infer skills, identify patterns and get a much broader view of the workforce at scale but there’s a difference between data that helps leaders to understand their organization and the data to base decisions about people’s futures on: Should an individual be promoted? Could they succeed in a different role? Where should they invest in their development? Do they have the potential to lead?

When it comes to turning data into actionable insights, the organizations making most progress start with the question they’re trying to answer and work backwards. What data do we need? Do we have it? Where did it come from? Do we trust it enough to make this decision? Once goals are in place, it’s much easier to see where data adds value and how it can be used most effectively.

Past performance does not mean future potential

Generally past performance has always been talked about as one of the predictors of future performance. But in a transforming workplace where jobs are changing so quickly and future roles cannot even be predicted, does that really hold up?

At SHL, we’ve proven that measuring an individual’s potential is the strongest indicator of future performance by far. Potential enables you to answer questions like: Can this person learn? Can they adapt? Which of their skills could transfer somewhere else? With the right development, what could they do next?

This shift is already happening, particularly in early careers where organizations are more interested in finding people they know they can grow as the business changes. This aligns with more organizations transitioning to a skills-based approach and getting better and faster at upskilling and reskilling employees–something expected from today’s workers. Knowing someone has a skill is useful, but understanding what that means for a decision you need to make is much more valuable. And that’s the difference between talent data and talent intelligence.

Before we hire someone new, do we know who we already have?

One key benefit that talent intelligence brings is an understanding of the skills and potential of the talent that already works within the business. Imagine an organization is automating a lot of its customer service activity. At the same time, it has a growing need for cybersecurity talent. The obvious response might be to reduce one population and hire into another. But what if some of those people already in the organization have the underlying capabilities to move?

I’m not suggesting everyone in customer service can suddenly become a cybersecurity expert, but without visibility into skills (and skills gaps) that exist internally, together with the skills that each role demands, you don’t really know. And that’s an expensive thing not to know. If we understand how jobs and skills are changing, then organizations can make more intelligent decisions about whether to hire from within or undertake a more expensive external hiring process.

AI is going to change work. The companies and leaders that do this well will be the ones that understand their people well enough to help them build stronger career pathways, know where they can go next, and see a long-term future within the organization. 

Podcast

Listen to the TechDogs’ Discover Dialogues podcast to learn more about how people are the key to unlocking technology.