As AI tools are increasingly introduced in the workplace, organizations are struggling with how to implement the change. That’s led to low or uneven adoption and has done little to address a major obstacle with AI rollouts: employees’ fear of losing their jobs.
“Change has to come from trust,” says Tara Schmitt, director of Client Organizational Effectiveness at Corporate College, a division of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®). “If employees have no trust in the change, an organization will struggle to move forward.”
Smart Business spoke with Schmitt about ways to better manage the change process when introducing AI into an organization.
How are employee concerns about AI in the workplace affecting its rollout?
A major concern employees have about AI in the workplace is that it will replace them, so its adoption depends a lot on how companies roll out their AI solution and if employees understand their role in that strategy. If an organization simply has a mandate to integrate AI to ‘get better and be more efficient’ without providing resources, education and support, employees tend to avoid using it or use it ineffectively. Rather than using it to free up their time to be more effective and more creative, they’re using it piecemeal. That’s led to an uneven level of adoption across organizations, which widens the gap between what employees are able to accomplish. For employees hesitant to use AI, this gap can contribute to the environment of distrust.
How has AI been introduced, and how has that affected adoption?
There are essentially three ways AI has typically been rolled out by organizations so far. One is that it’s introduced, and everybody is left completely to their own devices with no strategy or mandate on how to use it, which leads to poor adoption. Secondly, some organizations have an articulated strategy but no support, leaving people to do most of the discovery and incorporation on their own. This leads to uneven adoption or a struggle to incorporate it effectively in relation to the work each employee does.
A third approach — and the one that’s most effective — is to have an integration with an embedded change management department working with a digital product team to do a coordinated, company-wide rollout. There’s an emphasis on communicating the strategy, the company policy and guidelines for the tool, while also training people on the skills needed to use AI effectively. This third method leads to a much higher rate of adoption.
What are the keys to effective change management?
Assuaging employees’ fears starts with a transparent and honest change management process. But even more importantly, employers must be proactive in listening to employees and anticipating what they need to feel secure, valuable and a part of the future strategy.
Effective change management starts by articulating the strategy and vision. Explain what the future state will look like, and then educate people on how the organization plans to get there and what each employee’s specific role is in it.
There also has to be continued dialogue where the organization can get feedback from employees to make adjustments along the way. That dialogue is where an organization has the opportunity to help the change make sense at an individual level.
There are professionals who can work with organizations to create a customized change management plan. There are also courses in change enablement and coaching that can be helpful to those within an organization who are going to help lead through a major change. For employees to be advocates for change, they’ll need the tools to do that — it amounts to developing internal change agents. ●
INSIGHTS Education is brought to you by Corporate College®, a division of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®).
