People skills are more valuable than AI skills

According to LinkedIn’s executive confidence index 92% of leaders in the US and the UK surveyed, believe that people skills are more important than ever. In fact 72% of US executives see that people skills are more valuable to their organization than AI skills.

The fastest in demand skills in the US;

• Flexibility (158%)
• Professional ethics (120%)
• Social perception (118%)
• Self-management (83%).

Busyness Syndrome

The pace of work is outpacing our ability to keep up, with overflowing inboxes, double booked meetings and limited time to think, be creative or if leading; time to lead. According to Microsoft's Work Trend Index, 68% of people say they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday. Their data reveals an urgent need to make meetings more effective with people reporting ‘inefficient meetings’ as their number one productivity disruptor.

Of course if we are stuck in meetings, managing our inboxes and trapped in this busyness syndrome that I see in many companies today, when do we have time for innovation and leadership? Psychological safety doesn't just magically happen and effective leadership needs work! One CTO recently said to me; "I used to think it was all about the tech, but I've discovered the power of deep listening. When you really listen to people, it's incredible what they are capable of". Yet, when do we have time to listen as we rush between meetings, having "half conversations" where we invariably misunderstand each other?

Will AI fix work?

“This new generation of AI will remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “There's an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help alleviate digital debt, build AI aptitude, and empower employees.” This will free up time for us to be human and utilize what we are good at; human skills!

But are we worried? Of course, we are hardwired to be anxious about the unknown. When we are frightened we tend to run away or resist the change. Around 49% of people say they’re worried AI will replace their jobs. Yet, 70%—would delegate as much work as possible to AI to lessen their workloads.

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

It's important that we can build awareness of how AI can change the way we work and at the same time enable an understanding of how important soft skills actually are. We know from the Said Business School and EY research that giving specific focus to a series of complex human factors can increase the probability of successful transformations to more than 70% - so when we put humans at the centre of workforce transformations, we are much more likely to be successful.

Work in 2030

When Microsoft surveyed people and asked them to reimagine work in 2030.

They painted a bright future fueled by AI, which will enable us to:

• Save time
• Work smarter
• End information overload
• Banish busyness
• Solve search
• Unleash creativity

For me of course we are missing leadership. when AI takes away our busyness this will free up time to focus on people. Leaders will have the time to ensure that they can coach and unlock the potential of the workforce by creating psychologically safe environments where everyone can thrive.

What about leadership?

My fear is that we focus so much on AI that we forget about the importance of our human skills. To make the transition from our current way of working to the new future, we need to be able to embrace transformation. When I've seen GenZ automate work tasks that took 2 days, reducing them to 2 hours, I often seen their leaders filling their work days with busyness again. We need to break this pattern and purposefully shift the ways we work.

"AI won’t replace humans — but humans with AI will replace humans without AI", HBR. If we can embrace both our humans leadership skills and AI skills, we can copilot the future to a better working environment. Imagine a future of work where everyone is thriving because they are able to use their unique talents and constantly develop themselves. Those endless inefficient meetings and overflowing inboxes will be are locked away in the cabinet of superfluous things!

Microsoft Work Trend Index

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