Most companies have embraced AI for their operations, but they’re not tapping into AI’s potential to improve employee collaboration, teamwork, leadership, and overall employee engagement.
Businesses are moving quickly to adopt AI. When asked by Deloitte, 91% of corporate leaders said that AI solutions had become integrated throughout their organizations. Yet many companies aren’t making holistic use of AI tools. Sure, they’re leveraging AI to improve processes and create efficiencies, but they’re not necessarily leaning on AI to elevate the experience of employees when it comes to day-to-day communication, engagement, and team collaboration.
This isn’t to say that communication isn’t happening. It is, but it’s becoming increasingly (and frustratingly) inefficient and way too frequent. According to the 2024 State of Communication Report published by Grammarly, employees spend 88% of their time on communications. However, all that communicating is backfiring and causing employees stress, productivity loss, and poor colleague relationships.
In other words, we’re spending a lot of time trying to make connections but keep missing the mark. That’s where a different approach to AI in the workforce could help.
Rather than only seeing the tactical, process workflow, or profit-related benefits of artificial intelligence in the workplace, we need to start thinking about AI and the possibilities for its impact on human connection. Handled well, AI can be used not just to evaluate data or produce reports, but to enhance the human-to-human connection in your workplace. When many teams are distributed geographically, human-centered AI has the power to promote strong, authentic collaboration and interactions between people who may never see each other in person.
This situation isn’t theoretical or futuristic, either. It’s already happening today in some organizations. For example, Microsoft is successfully using AI to enhance human connection among its product offerings. They have integrated AI Copilot into various software applications like GitHub and Microsoft 365, enabling users to interact with AI assistants directly within these platforms. These AI Copilots help users improve communication and productivity in familiar work environments.
Ultimately, AI innovations have widespread application across all human-based touchpoints. They could support flexible work arrangements and promote higher degrees of employee satisfaction, trust, and loyalty. They could simulate collaborative scenarios. They could also teach leaders how to work better with their teams through more personalized management strategies. Picture an AI Coach for leadership embedded in email and Zoom or MSFT virtual meetings, so that a leader is getting tips on how to run a meeting, or be more inclusive, if and when needed. And they could do it all at scale, which fosters efficiencies and is good for the bottom line. After all, Asana’s Anatomy of Work Global 2023 clearly showed that organizations with excellent collaboration earned nearly twice the revenue of their weaker counterparts.
How to Refresh Your AI in the Workplace Strategy
AI can help foster improved communication in organizations. However, this will require deliberate effort. Therefore, you’ll want to update your AI strategies to ensure the most ROI from your investment in human-centered AI solutions. The following suggestions can help you get started.
1. EXPECT SOME RESISTANCE
Many people are reluctant to accept AI as a positive force thanks to a proliferation of doomsday-style articles about the tool. Plus, humans are naturally averse to change. Given those facts, you must anticipate “Will this replace me?” worries associated with any new AI program.
How can you assuage fears about AI? First, be forthright about your goals when it comes to AI and the need to remove friction from team communications. Explain that your goal is to help everyone do their jobs better and feel more connected. You may even want to share examples like the one from Microsoft to illustrate how AI can be beneficial. Ultimately, AI will be at the heart of future workplace collaboration, and it’s important to set your team up for success with these new tools from the get go.
2. CREATE AN AI FUNCTION
More companies are creating CAIO functions to ensure someone “owns” their AI transformations – both for how to leverage AI operationally, internally, but also for external facing impact with respect to products and services offered to their customers. While you don’t necessarily have to do likewise, do assign an individual (or team) to oversee your AI strategy. This role should offer “office hours” focused on the use of AI, which can serve as a huge support to your team.
Your AI liaison will play a pivotal role in rolling out any human-centric AI, as well as tracking agreed-upon metrics. The liaison will also be able to set up AI training for everyone, including HR. The training should clearly show the roadmap of where your AI is going.
Consider also setting up accounts “for fun” so they can test-drive AI tools in a low-stakes way. There’s also nothing wrong with incentivizing AI adoption with swag, points, or money to emphasize your commitment to making the process rewarding.
3. SHARE INTERNAL STORIES AND USE CASES
As your company becomes more proficient in using AI to boost team and organizational dynamics, take time to highlight your “wins” through video interviews or employee spotlights. For instance, say you begin to use AI-fueled psychometric self-assessments during onboarding. Over time, your new hires show high levels of competency and self-assurance when communicating with their new colleagues. This improvement would be something to highlight for all employees.
The more knowledge your team members have about AI’s usefulness, the more quickly they’ll begin to explore the AI solutions you bring to the table. Eventually, your culture will become one where AI is seen as a way to improve your spoken and written communications. Let’s say John wants to write an email to Liz. He doesn’t know Liz well, so he prompts his AI tool by asking what type of communication method she likes based on her psychometric data. The tool responds appropriately, and John can construct a message that helps him better connect with Liz…almost as if he’s known her for years.
Want a stronger company? You can’t get there without stronger workplace communication. Instead of seeing AI as only useful for operations, data crunching, and process automation, start exploring its advantages to reduce unnecessary meetings, improve team collaboration and leadership, and to get more value from every interaction between employees. Although hard to grasp, new AI plug-in tools leveraging psychometrics-at-your-fingertips can infuse emotional intelligence (EQ) throughout your organization, at scale, instantly with the push of a button. AI that makes work more human by enhancing humans, not replacing them…now, that’s putting humans at the center of your AI workplace strategy.
