Overwhelmed by AI? Here are the steps to start preparing your workforce

Every business and People leader I know is talking about AI and speculating about the change it’s likely to bring to their workforces. 

A lot of that talk is just that, though: talk. And it doesn’t result in action because people are at a loss for where to get started. The question of how to proceed was certainly top of mind at the recent BetterUp Uplift conference, where I joined a panel about future-proofing your workforce through upskilling and reskilling.

AI is ushering in one of the most transformative periods for businesses in recent memory, and keeping up with the pace and scope of change can feel overwhelming. There are definitely more questions than answers. At the same time, we can’t let uncertainty become an excuse for sitting on the sidelines.

People leaders have a responsibility — to our businesses, our shareholders, our customers, and our employees — to set the direction.

When we do, we equip our organizations with a stronger, more agile strategy that can adapt to rapid change. We also help employees, many of whom will need to evolve beyond the skills they currently have and adjust to different tasks to drive business goals forward.

Three principles to guide your approach

There is already a lot on our shoulders as People leaders — in many cases, we are being asked to do more with less — but guiding our organizations through this transition is likely to be a defining point in our careers, and it will inevitably shape the experiences of those around us.

If roles are changing — and we can see, clearly, that they will — our most important job is to determine how they will change and proactively position our businesses and our workforces to thrive, and even shape the change curve head on. 

To that end, I suggest three principles: We have to learn as much as we can, as quickly as we can; set a clear vision for our workforce; and take responsibility to ensure employees don’t have to figure out for themselves what change will mean.

Turning strategy into action

The next step is to translate the approach into clear, strategic actions that can ground you — even when the magnitude of the coming changes makes it feel hard to get started. 

I recommend the following tangible practices to position your organization for what’s next:

1. Create a centralized strategy 

AI won’t impact every role in the same way, so it’s important to take the time to understand how the tasks distributed across your workforce will evolve — either through automation (when technology takes over the task) or augmentation (when technology assists the human doing the task). 

You’ll want to work with your closest internal stakeholders to understand where you have gaps, and build a workforce plan to address them, as well as how to deploy a meaningful skilling strategy for your business.

To do this well, you need the right tools to assess your current and future needs, along with support for your employees to build skills through education and experiences. Read more from my colleague, Matthew J. Daniel, about how to think about this step. 

2. Empower your leaders

Large-scale change management can only succeed when relevant leaders are bought in and equipped appropriately to bring their teams along. That includes ensuring everyone on your team understands the vision.

As a People leader, you can approach this process by shaping key performance indicators at the company level, and then proactively creating strategic workforce plans that can incorporate insights from your leaders about how roles within their functions will change through augmentation and automation.

You’ll want to create urgency for your leaders to shape how their functions will evolve, explore the technologies that will drive efficiency for their teams, and identify the critical places where keeping humans in the loop will offer a competitive advantage.

For example, which parts of a customer-facing organization can be reimagined with AI-assisted capabilities — and where should leaders think about leaning more heavily into automation to free up employees to take on new challenges?

Each area of the business will have its own set of questions like these, and it will pay to take your time to thoughtfully work through each of them with your leaders to produce the best outcomes. 

3. Equip your employees to build resilience

Even as we focus on structural and strategic changes to the business, it’s important to develop a comprehensive approach for keeping your employees informed and helping them process periods of disruption.

Don’t task them with guessing how their work will change. Instead, involve them in the conversation, empower them to experiment, and help them tap into their curiosity about how they can harness and leverage technology in their roles.

After all, technological exploration is, in itself, a skill that they should be building — not out of fear, but of resilience.

For example, we’ve given Guild employees room to experiment with AI tools — with guardrails in place — and we’re seeing promising results. From August 2023 to April 2024, the percentage of employees who reported using AI for work doubled — and more than 70% now say that AI has improved the efficiency of their work.

This is also an opportunity to work closely with your Internal Communications and Employee Experience teams to ensure you are communicating with the clarity and frequency that will empower employees to see their future path and how they can drive results during times of change. 

It’s time to get started

The impact of AI on workforces feels existential. But it’s our responsibility to start — and use tools that help us do the work better.

The good news is that upskilling and reskilling, which will be critical in an era driven by changes from AI, have been core to the strategy of many businesses for years as they deal with new technology and shifting business priorities.

Even though the circumstances have changed, and the pace of change is quicker, we know as a community of People leaders that learning, creativity, and innovation will guide us forward. 

We just need to confront the challenge in front of us — rather than simply discussing it — and drive toward solutions.

About Alana Brandes

Alana Brandes is the Chief People Officer at Guild.