How HR leaders can balance innovation with employee experience
Amid uncertainty about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, two things are clear – jobs are set to change and workers will need to upskill to meet new challenges.
Brad Elphinstone, senior lecturer in the psychology department at Swinburne University of Technology, spoke to HRD about the imperative to upskill in-house before turning to external talent and the psychology around accepting change.
“HR leaders utilising in-house knowledge creates a positive culture – it means people feel trusted and respected. There’s a lot of research that suggests psychological safety is a big part of engagement and when people feel heard and valued, there’s an increased sense of wellbeing.”
Findings, from McKinsey, highlights the “upskill imperative” as a key motivation for workers in the modern world of work.
“The transition to AI is already underway, according to the results of the latest McKinsey American Opportunity Survey (AOS) in which roughly 20 percent of employed respondents say that they have used gen AI for work purposes. As work transforms amid the adoption of new technologies, upskilling that enables occupation switching will be even more important than it is today,” the report states.
Elphinstone noted this isn’t surprising – especially surrounding concerns AI could replace jobs.
“There’s an increasing element of finding purpose and satisfaction in the work that you do and how you interact with AI can have an impact on that. It could be that the part of the job you enjoy is now being taken over with AI efficiencies and protocols – so as a people manager, you need to be able to balance innovation with employee experience.”
Elphinstone told HRD that to get the most out of an upskilling program, it must be driven by the desires of your team.
“There’s a difference between upskilling because you must and upskilling because you want to. Finding what is important to you and your employee is part of that journey. If the skill you’re making them learn is purely for external demand, they’ll begrudge the process, whereas it’s important to focus on internal motivation and what interests them.”
“With autonomous motivation, there’s a desire to continue learning even if people are telling you that you’ve done enough training – we see this a lot at University level, the people that actually want to be there seem to do better than those who have been forced or think it’s the right thing to do, when in reality they aren’t interested,” he added.
This is particularly important factor to consider because, Elphinstone noted, we’re in the infancy stages of utilising AI – so whilst “the future isn’t certain, people having motivation and the trust to be able to learn makes the change journey easier,” he noted.
As well as ensuring a future-ready workforce, it has also been noted the importance of upskilling for psychological reasons – such as feeling trusted and respected.
Elphinstone outlined that this overlaps with psychological theories which explains why we work best in certain situations, telling HRD it links to a person’s flexibility and tolerance to change and uncertainty.
“It’s a Buddhist philosophy that looks at impermanence and the fact that things are always changing – so you kind of have to just roll with the punches and adapt. It focuses on being focused and engaged, but accepting things aren’t going to go to plan all of the time.”
This positive but realistic point of view, Elphinstone concluded, is something managers can instil into their workforce and evoke a growth mindset.
“In a world of AI and change, what we need is wisdom. It’s a level of intellectual humility that you’re not always going to have the answer,” with leaders needing to show “empathy and compassion” to effectively upskill and engage their workforce.
