For knowledge workers everywhere, the nature of work is shifting fast. Digital transformation has been impacting some roles for years, but automation powered by artificial intelligence is dramatically accelerating the rate of change across industries.
One app in particular, the generative AI tool ChatGPT, was adopted practically overnight by professionals in a range of roles. In fact, it’s one of the fastest-spreading apps of all time, racking up one million users in just five days. In contrast, it took Spotify five months and Facebook 10 months to reach their millionth-user milestones. When it comes to AI, we’re talking blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speed of change.
Everyone seems to be using generative AI these days, from copywriters and software coders to data analysts, doctors and CEOs. Less than six months after ChatGPT launched, TalentLMS conducted a survey of 1,000 corporate employees and found 70 percent of them had already used the app at work.
For good reason, too: More than half of respondents said AI made them more productive by substantially reducing time spent performing daily tasks. ChatGPT was initially employed for mundane to-dos like researching topics and drafting emails, but now it’s being used to build HTML pages. Other AI-enabled apps like Midjourney and DALL-E emerged to handle visually oriented tasks like creating illustrations or photo-realistic images for use in websites and presentations.
Meanwhile, the algorithms of AI tools, particularly those powered by eerily clever large language models, keep adapting and advancing their capabilities. Like the star employee who’s eagerly embraced a growth mindset, AI is making the most of every learning opportunity it’s presented with as a chance to grow smarter and more proficient. It’s hard to predict exactly where it will take hold next, but it’s safe to assume AI will impact every job in one way or another, and much sooner than you think.
AI and automation are reshaping how we work
We are clearly entering a new era — one that will look a lot different than the era we just exited. According to LinkedIn, workplace skills have changed by 25 percent since 2015, but that number is expected to double by 2027. Put another way, half of the skills knowledge workers have today will be useless in less than five years. The world is evolving so quickly it’s difficult to gain a clear, confident picture of what the future will look like for our companies and our employees. Yet we, as learning and development professionals, still must make our teams future-ready, without knowing exactly what tomorrow will bring.
What skills should we invest in building next? Digital fluency is certainly a competency every employee needs if they are to work well with AI-enabled tools. But as promising as AI is, it won’t be able to do everything humans can do, at least not immediately. As far back as 2018, McKinsey Global Institute declared that in the future demand will be high for “skills that machines aren’t good at doing: social and emotional skills, creativity and applying high levels of cognitive function and expertise.” Even now, LinkedIn’s “2023 Workplace Learning” report states emphatically that “human skills remain critically important.”
In conducting research for this article, I couldn’t resist asking an AI tool what humans can do that it can’t. It responded this way: “Humans can show empathy, intuition and creativity that AI cannot. AI can process and analyze large amounts of data but cannot think outside the box or come up with creative solutions. Communication is a uniquely human skill because it requires an understanding and appreciation of language, context, and emotion. Additionally, communication requires empathy, the ability to understand and respond to other people’s emotions. This capacity gives humans the ability to express themselves, build relationships, and create a sense of community.”
Yes, AI has its strengths, and so do we. By working together, we can ready our organizations for the future.
Soft skills are needed to thrive today and tomorrow
While many routine tasks can be automated, our uniquely human skills are still needed to solve tough problems and collaborate with others to get work done (whatever that work may become). Think about the last particularly tough conversation you had at work. Would you have trusted an AI tool like ChatGPT to script that entire dialogue for you? Probably not, because you understand the situation and your audience more completely than any app could. As a result, you’re far better equipped to read subtle emotional cues, adapt how you communicate, and guide the dialogue toward a successful resolution.
These same abilities are essential for transformation of any kind, including deploying technologies like AI. In its ”2023 Future of Jobs” report, the World Economic Forum stated that “soft skills are critical to companies being able to respond to change,” particularly cognitive and social skills. Disruption challenges people to imagine new possibilities and invent novel solutions to old problems, which takes a blend of analytical rigor and intuitive leaps. Getting those novel ideas adopted requires people to exert influence on others, by exercising a nuanced combination of empathetic listening and artful persuasion.
To successfully ride this wave of change (and the one after it), leaders and their teams need three essential skills: creativity, communication and empathy.
No. 1: Human creativity gives ideas clarity and impact
The ability to think creatively can help people identify potential uses for AI technologies, but it’s also necessary for using the technology itself. While generative AI tools can produce text or images in seconds, the algorithm needs a “prompt” fed to it by a human that tells it what to represent. So, before you can use AI to communicate an idea, you first have to describe that idea in words an algorithm can understand. What’s more, that description has to ultimately generate text or images that other humans can understand. That takes analytical thinking and creativity, too.
Creativity is equally necessary when making graphics using AI tools. In my own dabbles with apps like Midjourney, the quality of images it generates can best be explained by the programming principle of GIGO, which stands for “garbage in, garbage out.” When using Midjourney, you’re first presented with a text box that begins with the phrase “/imagine” followed by blank space where you type words about the concept you want the AI to visualize. If your thoughts about the concept aren’t precise and specific, the images you get back will be off the mark. It takes trial and error, a process that forces you to think about your idea from multiple angles until you hit on a phrase that truly gets it across.
The same is true even when asking human designers to create visuals. Graphic designers at the presentation agency, Duarte, Inc., begin by asking their clients, “What do you want your audience to take away from this slide?” If they can’t explain it in one or two crisp sentences, the designer asks more questions that help the customer uncover the essence of their message and distill it into a clear statement. Once the idea is clearly stated, designers can easily riff on clever ways to express it visually. Creativity and communication also work together when you’re trying to articulate change and get people to embrace it.
No. 2: Human communication boosts productivity and cohesion
Effective communication is at the core of how high-performing teams get things done. When individuals communicate well with each other, collaboration improves and barriers to success fall away. Beyond helping projects run more smoothly and efficiently, communication fosters an environment where everyone feels heard, understood and respected. However, technology can only go so far in helping individuals interact with each other.
The process of crafting communication deliverables, like writing articles or designing slides, can certainly be accelerated by AI-powered apps. Until robots replace us entirely, important discussions and decisions will still take place person-to-person. Whether through an email or chat exchange, a casual conversation, group meetings or formal presentations, influence is an art best left to humans. Sure, you could rehearse for an important talk using the Speaker Coach feature in Microsoft PowerPoint online, which will flag every “um” or “you know” or warn when your pace is too fast. But if a speaker doesn’t have a good command of public speaking skills to begin with, they’ll come off looking and sounding robotic. Ironic, isn’t it?
Connecting with and relating to others is one of the basic building blocks of influence. Robert Cialdini’s research on persuasion found that when individuals share a common interest or bond with another person, it increases likability and influence. Finding common ground with an audience requires human skills like self-awareness as well as emotional intelligence. A speaker must know themselves well enough to identify a relevant shared experience, then be willing to get vulnerable by talking about that experience in an emotionally appropriate way. Sharing experiences in the form of a story is an especially powerful method for building connections within teams and creating a deeper sense of belonging and purpose. But to truly move people takes the most human skill of all: empathy.
No. 3: Human empathy makes work satisfying and meaningful
In the pantheon of so-called “soft” skills, empathy could seem like the hardest one to quantify. Yet it has been proven to deliver substantial business benefits. A study by EY Consulting found that practicing empathy in the workplace increases efficiency, creativity, satisfaction, innovation — and revenue. It’s doubly important to exercise empathy in times of change like we’re all in now. As Kim Billeter of EY put it: “In order for businesses to successfully transform, they must put humans at the center with empathetic leadership to create transparency and provide employees with psychological safety.”
Most people define empathy as the ability to “walk in another person’s shoes.” That definition isn’t wrong, but it’s not precise. I prefer the term “perspective-taking.” When you attempt to “take on the perspective” of another person, you not only imagine yourself in their position, but you learn how to see the world through their lens. In the process, you come to a deeper understanding of not only what they might be thinking and feeling, but also why they hold that perspective. With that newfound insight, you can make different choices about what to say and how to say it. Imagine how collaboration between teammates, or between leaders and their teams, would shift if each person truly took on the perspective of the other and used it to adapt how they communicate.
Beyond social benefits, research shows that perspective-taking can dislodge routine thinking and unlock the mind’s ability to imagine. Researchers at the Wharton Neuroscience Institute discovered that when people attempt to consider another perspective, two functions of the brain are engaged: “mentalizing” and “exploring” networks. Consider, for instance, that you’re driving down the road when another car suddenly cuts you off. While fuming about their rudeness, you start to wonder what could possibly have led that driver to do something so careless. The mentalizing part of your brain thinks about the driver and what their state of mind might be, while the exploring part begins to invent a story about the driver’s situation. Perhaps they’re late for an important meeting with the boss or just got a call from school that their child was hurt on the playground. Maybe you even start to feel sorry for the other driver and worry about their safety more than yours (hi there, fellow empath!).
The same function of your brain that considers the perspectives of other people can help you think more creatively about a lot of things. All those creative possibilities could spring from the simple act of empathizing with your audience. Imagine, indeed.
Embrace human potential to power growth and agility
Creativity, communication and empathy form a foundation of “power” skills that are essential for the future. Embedding these skills in your culture will make entire teams stronger contributors who are better able to adapt to new technologies like AI. These skills can be developed through training, but skill-building at this scale takes effort and time because change is a journey in itself.
Ironically, this means learning and development professionals must also master the same skills our teams need to succeed. But with the right training, resources and support, everyone can grow their capabilities, overcome obstacles and emerge transformed. When you help your teams and organization build the human skills they need to cope with change and excel in the midst of it, you’ll be unstoppable.
