Are leaders still needed in the age of AI?
By Declan Noone
According to a joint study by Oracle and research firm Future Workplace ‘as many as 64%of workers say they would trust a robot over their manager[1]’. This study examined responses from 8,300 employees across 10 countries.
Are leaders still needed?
This appears to be an absurd question. After all its challenging our mental models as to what we understand is a key role in our organisations and society. How can anything function if you don’t have someone leading? It is this paradigm that we were raised within. It’s what we see, read and hear across all forms of media. We need leaders, who bring about change and deliver what we want them to deliver.
Consequently, we project onto leaders our expectations and hopes. We expect them to set as conditions that will enable us to achieve our true potential either as an individual or as a collective. So leaders are expected to be good decision makers, strong communicators with the ability to inspire trust in others.
Coming back to the study, it is a stark warning to leaders, that how they are leading today is obsolete. The greater use of artificial intelligence in workplaces is highlighting the distrust employees have in their managers and leaders. Especially with percentages below outlining the amount of workers that trust robots over their managers[2]:
- India: 89%
- China: 88%
- US: 57%
- UK: 54%
So what areas do workers trust AI more than leaders?
26% valued AI providing unbiased information with 34% valuing its ability to maintain work schedules[3] both connected to the leaders role of communication. While 29% valued AI’s ability to solve problems i.e. critical analysis and decision making.
If workers now trust and rely on AI to aid and enhance communication and decision making, then this underlines our failure as leaders to provide what we know to be key pillars of any leadership style. As a result, our leadership paradigm needs to shift, shift face and dramatically because what has helped you get you to where you are is becoming rapidly obsolete.
We need to evolve as leaders.
We need to enhance our knowledge of the areas where robots can’t replicate, to gain our advantage. Our role, as leaders is now primarily focused on being ‘Context Creators’. We need to develop the skills necessary to create the conditions necessary for our workers to flourish. Building strong and positive work cultures. Enhancing our personal connectivity and relationships with other and enabling the same between others. Embracing technology as a leadership aid rather than a competitor to help us make more informed decisions and to communicate with clarity and authenticity.
These are the skills of a Positive and Mindful Leader. The time is now, not tomorrow, to begin your leadership evolution. Despite the increasing presence and influence of technology in the workplace, organisations and leaders need to be more human-centred than ever before to be competitive. Competitive for Talent, Customers, Clients, and Innovative products/services. Contact us at Serrano 99 to learn more about our CPD certified Positive leadership programmes.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/15/future-of-work-two-thirds-of-workers-trust-robots-over-their-manager.html?__source=sharebar%7Ctwitter&par=sharebar
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
