Editor's note: In response to overwhelming demand among small business leaders for practical, cutting-edge tools and professional development in generative AI skills, Chief Executive Group launched AI CONNECT, a learning community for ongoing training and sharing of AI tools and best practices among business leaders. It's low-cost, highly effective, and available live or on-demand. Join us >
Companies with talented employees who know how to work with AI in their roles will dominate their industries. As the recent 2024 Work Trend Index annual report from Microsoft and LinkedIn noted, “The data is in: 2024 is the year AI in the workplace becomes a reality. Use of generative AI in the workplace has nearly doubled in the past six months. LinkedIn has already seen a significant increase in professionals adding AI skills to their profiles, and most leaders say they won't hire someone without AI skills.”
Only hire A-class players
CEOs will need to hire more A-tier players who can leverage AI to achieve key business objectives more efficiently; for B-tier players, AI will help them level up; and those at risk of losing their jobs are the C-tier players who are already disrupting and will end up using AI to further accelerate that disruption.
The key is to have a robust recruiting process that attracts the best talent, and an interview process that ensures you select the best candidate from the final three candidates. Without a good process, you'll miss out on the opportunity to hire better talent rather than hiring bad ones.
One of our clients is a company that designs and builds concrete tilt-up buildings, where the walls are cast on-site and then installed by crane. They hired one of three candidates as a project leader, but quickly needed another. When they re-engaged with the other two candidates, the second hire beat out the first. This showed them they needed to improve their interview process. We recommended they read the following article: Guaranteed RecruitmentRead The Topgrading Methodology, co-authored with Brad Smart, and adopt his topgrading techniques for attracting, interviewing, and hiring top talent.
Clarify each employee's role
Next, the CEO needs to communicate that all team members need to bring their full effort to the job and make it clear that they can offer something that AI cannot. Co-founder of Politico and Axios Only the good stuff: The no-bullshit secret to succeeding no matter what life throws at youSpeaking to reporters about the issue, he said: “AI is never going to be an expert with a human source who can pick up on the nuances of human conversation, who can break the news, who can tell people things they don't know.”
Will, Values, Results, Skills
My new book, The 12 Habits of a High-Value Employee: A Roadmap to a Great Careerprovides a framework to help you understand how employees can become more valuable to your company. It details four attributes of a valuable employee (will, values, results, and skills) and provides resources such as specific TED talks, books, and short-term training programs to improve these four areas. Each attribute is currently outside the scope of AI's capabilities.
1. Will. Who is it that, when faced with difficulty, rallies their teammates and themselves to push through the pain and complete a particular project? It's the Tier 1 Team Captain, detailed in Sam Walker's groundbreaking book. Captain Classwill be some of the most valuable members of your team.
2. Values. Values act as rules for operating, and teammates and team leaders must hold each other accountable and lead by example in living these values every day. Values are the set of behaviors that support a culture that allows for flawless execution of strategy.
3. Results. A-players don't just say nice things; they have the nuanced value proposition that only humans can deliver. VandeHei said:.
4. Skills. This translates to a willingness to learn, adapt to new technologies such as AI, and improve interpersonal skills as AI replaces the more technical aspects of many jobs.
Great people + AI is the winning formula for 2024 and beyond. Now is the time to prepare yourself and your team to bring more value to every job your company does.
