How to Lead in the New AI Economy

Feb 28

Over the last month, there’s been growing chatter about the skills and competencies that will give employees an advantage in the new AI economy - or what experts recently dubbed the “relationship” economy!

And I wasn’t at all surprised to hear that “human skills” - like interpersonal communication, customer engagement, and collaborative leadership -are now in high demand, as companies pursue productivity and innovation above and beyond their underlying technologies.

So how will you gain your advantage tomorrow, and unlock future potential, no matter your level or industry?

Well, you can start by noticing emotions as valuable data in the workplace…

As an organizational psychologist, I’ve studied motivational theories, adult learning models, leadership framework, but none of them have gotten to the heart of the matter in my opinion, because none have lingered in what it feels like to be a human at work these days.

As we step forward into the “relationship” economy - an new era of work supported by adaptive AI technologies - it's increasingly clear that more “human skills” will be needed to help us all stay engaged and collaborating on increasingly complex challenges.

But no matter which human skill you’re inclined to prioritize, you will need to work with an operating system that isn’t technological in nature!

You’ll need to work with human emotion.

TRY THIS exercise AT WORK TOMORROW

NOTICING EMOTIONS AS DATA

There’s a ton of brilliant psychological research out there on emotions, but one of the best ways to start embracing emotions at work is to get as curious about them as you would other quantitative or qualitative data.

I. Observe them, in yourself and others

How many emotion(s) do you feel on any given day at work?

How do those feelings show up in your face? In your body?

What similar (or different) signs do you notice in your teammate?

And it’s okay to guess…

II. Ask for help to name them

How many words can you use to describe the feelings?

If there are feelings that are harder to label as specific emotions, ask a teammate:

The story I’m telling myself is that there’s a lot of ______ here. Is that right? How would you describe it?

And before you jump to judging, fixing, and problem-solving…

III. Ask open-ended questions to find out what needs and desires are behind the emotions.

What needs aren’t being met?

What wishes or desires have I/we not yet addressed?

Try to be radically honest with yourself, and invite others to try it too, because the more you can learn about what’s driving the emotions, the more effective you can be in working with them!