Date Published August 26, 2024 - Last Updated September 3, 2024
In part one of this series, we discussed what leaders are facing when it comes to Generative AI. Looking at the IT support landscape related to Generative AI — there are two options — fear or hope. These will not coexist within our organizations for long. One will push its way to center stage, dominating the culture of our teams and making its counterpart all but invisible.
We left off with a simple fact: the impact of Generative AI is something that leaders must take seriously. Intentional leadership is critical to setting up a team to thrive in hope amid immense uncertainty surrounding the advancements of AI. The good news? Intentional leadership isn’t as complicated as it may feel. Let’s explore three things leaders can do to take action.
Transparency Matters
Leaders must have the same level of transparency when it comes to Generative AI. Organizations are at varying stages of figuring out what the future of Generative AI looks like for them.
Being intentional in communicating the organizational plan — regardless of how early or advanced in progress it is — is a great starting point to transform fear into hope. It’s impossible to hope for a future that you cannot see. When there is no visibility ahead, it becomes natural to remain frozen in fear, unable to see the light more than the abyss of the great unknown. Disney’s Elsa from Frozen 2 summed this up in a few lines in the song better than I ever could:
“There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day and ignore your whispers which I wish would go away. I've had my adventure; I don't need something new. I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you into the unknown.
What do you want? 'Cause you've been keeping me awake. Are you here to distract me. So I make a big mistake? Or are you someone out there. Who's a little bit like me? Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be?
Every day's a little harder As I feel my power grow. Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?
Are you out there? Do you know me? Can you feel me? Can you show me? Where are you going? Don't leave me alone. How do I follow you into the unknown?”
Leaders who want to bring hope must not leave their teams feeling like Queen Elsa, truly unsure of the direction — alone and just hearing whispers. Leaders must be intentional in communicating their organization’s AI strategy.
Regardless of industry or size, every organization can take one intentional step to help ensure transparency, while simultaneously proactively preventing fear from ever being generated (pun intended).
Give Your IT Support Team a Seat at the Table
Open communication is essential to any thriving team. If leaders of IT support teams want to foster hope, they must engage their team. This doesn’t mean sending out annual surveys to get to know their sentiment about the technology the organization has put in place. It means proactively inviting them to help in the process of identifying what technology solutions are put in place to begin with. IT support teams are uniquely set up to understand the pain points of the entire business when it comes to technology because it’s that team that helps fix those pain points, every single day.
When leaders choose to introduce technology without engaging this group of stakeholders, they are not only at risk of missing critical aspects of the business needs, but they are sending a message (even if unintentional) to their IT support team, that their voice doesn’t matter.
Giving your support team a voice also means not asking, “How can we benefit our consumer or customer?” but rather asking, “How can use Generative AI for our support team?”
Be Realistic About the Future
AI has never removed IT support teams from existence. Yet AI has often been viewed as the equivalent of a New York-sized meteor hitting Earth — wiping out every trace of the once-populated existence of humankind. This is not reality.
Varun Singh speaks about the future of Generative AI in a way that reflects much closer to the actual reality:
“Customer experience teams and contact centers are going to benefit from AI. We are already finding ways to assist contact centers (both voice and chat) with solving customer issues faster. Helping customers and agents find information quickly and assisting them in solving issues will result in a smoother experience and higher customer satisfaction.”
Leaders of IT support teams must intentionally look for ways to leverage Generative AI to enable the team to gain quicker access to knowledge and solutions, while giving them more complex challenges to fix. IT support teams consist of a lot of smart people who typically didn’t sign up for the gig to spend eight hours a day resetting passwords. Not only will this intentionality lead to more satisfied IT support teams, but you will also have a team that is impacting the organizational business outcomes at a higher rate.