Most organisations now allow people to use AI to boost productivity, and that’s a good first step. The bigger opportunity comes from using AI to rethink the way work gets done, not just making it more efficient. But are you recognising and encouraging that – or penalising it?
https://swiy.co/go-the-ai-innovation-gap
As a leader, are you and your team applying AI the right way in your workplace?
This year’s Work Trend Index report from Microsoft focused on the way people use AI in their workplace. And there’s some good news and some bad news!
The good news is that most knowledge workers are using AI now, and it’s now with the blessing and support of their leaders and organisations. Those leaders encourage their people to use AI, especially for boosting productivity.
That’s a really good use of AI – to be more efficient and more productive.
The bad news is that most people who used AI in more innovative ways to change their workflows – not just improve them – weren’t rewarded for it.
Only one in seven were rewarded for using AI. The other six out of seven were either ignored or criticised.
They were criticised for rocking the boat because, “This is the way we’ve always done it” Their boss didn’t mind them using Copilot to be more efficient, but didn’t like people going further and ”messing with” the workflow itself.
In other words, they were happy with people bring compliant, but didn’t want them to be innovative.
That’s a mistake, because you only get surface-level gains from being more efficient. For next-level gains, you change your processes and systems, and maybe even consider whether what you’re doing is even needed at all.
For example, if you use Google Maps to shave five minutes from your daily commute, that’s good. But what if you rearranged your work so you worked from home and didn’t have to commute at all? That saves 100% of your commute time!
Obviously, changing or eliminating workflows and processes can take a lot more work. But that’s exactly what you should consider, not just the small efficiency boost from asking Copilot to draft a better email.
If you’d like to know more about this, I’ll be talking about it in my next free public online presentation, “Next Level AI”, for all leaders and managers. Register here, and please invite others in your team and your network as well.
Register for the virtual masterclass: