How AI And New Skills Are Reshaping The Future Of Work

Here’s a quick breakdown of Microsoft’s work trend research. You can download your copy here. These are my personal takeaways.

1️⃣ You’ve got a friend in AI

Despite mass hysteria in mainstream media that AI will take our jobs. The data tells a different story. When asked, “What would you value most about AI in the workplace?” business leaders were 2x more likely to choose increasing productivity over killing jobs. I’d say that’s positive.

It seems the everyday individual contributor is also pumped about AI’s potential at work.

1. 73% of respondents want to use AI to find the information they need
2. 76% believe it can enhance their creativity
3. 86% want to use it to summarise their meetings, and who can blame them with the sheer volume we endure?

It sounds like there’s a lot of optimism. Of course, you should be aware this report comes from Microsoft which is one of the biggest players in the AI arms race.

Psychologist Adam Grant summed it up nicely when he said:

“It’s fascinating that people are more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout than they are worried about it eliminating their jobs.”

See pages: 11 – 14

2️⃣ New skills for new times

Newsflash: Learning isn’t keeping up with the pace of work.

You probably knew that already.

It’s not just AI skills that leaders are looking for employees to develop. They want those that will enhance an AI-powered future too.

The top 3 are:

1. Analytical judgement
2. Flexibility (I think they mean adaptability)
3. Emotional intelligence

Human + AI skills are the winning combo. If you want to work smarter with generative AI tools Like ChatGPT, it would be a miss for me not to tell you about my crash course.

I’m teaching L&D and HR pros like you how to make AI your partner, not the problem. Interested? Join the next cohort 👈

See page: 16-18

3️⃣ Meetings are killing workplace creativity

68% of people say they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday. This is the oldest battle. Creation vs. Consumption.

The folks from Atlassian found that a massive $37 billion a year is the cost of unnecessary meetings in the USA alone. That means the average American wastes about 31 hours a month in unproductive meetings!

I feel like meetings have got worse since the pandemic. I’m looking at you here, Zoom!

Along with meetings, ‘not easily finding the information I need’ was a top barrier to performance. I’m pretty sure we can do something about that.

You might find my meme-laden 3 Tools To Avoid Pointless Meetings article useful in your pursuit of slaying the meeting demons.

See pages: 5 – 8

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