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By Carolyn Crist

The vast majority of business leaders responding to a recent survey said they’re concerned they can’t train employees quickly enough to keep up with AI and tech developments in the next three years.

A similar amount said AI and other tech disruptions will require companies to rethink skills, resources and new ways of doing work, according to an April 4 report by the World Employment Confederation.

“It is clear that advances in AI have the potential to transform the workplace at an unprecedented pace, yet the growing technical and soft skills gap is a critical hurdle businesses must overcome,” Jonas Prising, chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup, a WEC member organization, said in a statement.

How CIOs are putting data in action
“While Gen AI will revolutionize many aspects of work, there are elements of jobs that are, and will remain, quintessentially human: collaboration, communication, creative problem solving, and empathy towards others,” Prising said. “Organizations must cultivate these uniquely human traits and invest in upskilling and their workforce to succeed in this new digital era.”

In a survey of 715 senior executives worldwide, including 680 from Forbes Global 2000 companies and 35 public sector organizations, 80% said it’s never been this difficult to plan for future talent requirements.

Overall, 92% of senior executives said they’ll need a more flexible workforce in the next two years. They pointed to several strategies to build this flexibility, including sectoral talent pools, a skill-based approach to hiring, online talent platforms, higher use of contingent workers, more internal flexibility through inter-department secondments or job rotations and talent from other countries.

Notably, employers are increasingly looking to contingent workers for in-demand skills and talent, with 79% saying that employing these workers with knowledge of AI and new technology is an effective way to spread understanding to employees.

Ultimately, AI literacy will be key for workforce transformation, according to a CompTIA report. To build this literacy, employers can offer learning and development opportunities such as short online programs about AI basics, targeted training for specific job roles and hands-on experiences across a company’s existing workflows.

About 90% of HR leaders believe that up to half of their workforce will need to be reskilled in the next five years due to AI shifts, according to a PeopleScout and Spotted Zebra report. Incremental reskilling and upskilling could help, with employers communicating what the future of AI looks like in the company, addressing fears and ensuring employees receive the skills they need to meet those changes.

As AI reshapes the workplace, career development and learning opportunities will drive business agility and innovation, according to a LinkedIn Learning report. Although several barriers continue to exist for L&D, such as budget, C-suite leaders appear to be listening and are more open to conversations due to skill gaps around AI and other tools.

Source: ciodive.com

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by Ko Kuwabara, INSEAD; Yejin Park, Stern School of Business; and Kelly Nault, IE Business School

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by Peter Cappelli

A recent report showed that 59% of managers said that they had received no training on how to be a manager before becoming one. Management professor and director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources Peter Cappelli says that stunning statistic is compounded by the fact that most of those managers are now supervising people who were their peers before they were promoted.

“Research tells us that the individual contributors who get promoted — those who are the highest performing when it comes to their individual role — make terrible managers. It’s not just that they’re not good — they’re the worst.”

And yet although the practice (and its poor results) is common across industries, few companies and individual managers figure out why the fail rate is so high (hint: the new role requires completely different skills and behaviors). “To be a good individual contributor,” Cappelli says, “you must think about yourself, your performance, and how you can improve. But once you are a supervisor, you need to think about how to help other people do well. You can’t just expect people to make that kind of change on their own.”

Cappelli says in addition to recognizing that what got you promoted isn’t what you need to succeed in your new role, there are three other common reasons why new managers struggle. The good news? They all involve skills that can be learned.

1. Accept That Social Relationships Have to Change

Not everyone is delighted that you got promoted. Some of your new subordinates may have believed they were in line for management, were better suited for the role, or otherwise resent the advancement. “You have to recognize that your relationships with your former peers have to change,” says Cappelli, “and changes are often unpleasant.”

Specifically, he says the belief that a manager can be the boss in the office and switch into friend mode at the end of the work day is “a division that’s impossible to sustain. It’s the reason why in organizations like the military, where the bosses are in charge of putting people in harm’s way, they don’t even want officers socializing with their direct reports. Problems arise when authority becomes clouded by personal relationships, and that’s just as true in the office. Our MBA students are often surprised by this, thinking that the job of a supervisor is to be a friend to your subordinates. It’s not.”

“Research tells us that the individual contributors who get promoted … make terrible managers.”— Peter Cappelli

Cappelli says although the role of manager has evolved from the “ruler of the office who doesn’t have to worry about the subordinates” to a more collaborative and even compassionate leader, it doesn’t mean managers and their direct reports are on the same level. “One way you might discover that is when you become a supervisor and you don’t get invited to happy hour anymore.”

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by David McCann

With remote work destined for good to be a fixture of the modern workplace, almost half of companies are monitoring remote employees’ online activities.

Among 1,000 remote and hybrid U.S. employees who participated in a February survey, 43% said their employer monitors their online activity. That broke down into 48% of hybrid workers and 37% of fully remote ones.

An additional 21% of respondents said they weren’t sure or were unaware whether their employer is monitoring their online activity, according to the survey, which was commissioned by Forbes Advisor and conducted by OnePoll. Forbes Advisor is a platform designed to help consumers make financial decisions, but its report on online surveillance of workers offers some worthy insights for employers.

Monitored activity can include active work hours, websites visited, chats, and messaging logs. Almost a third (31%) of respondents said their employers are monitoring their computer screens in real-time.

Unsurprisingly, many employees dislike the monitoring, and some of their viewpoints might make employers pause. Among the scrutinized workers, 39% said the monitoring has a negative effect on their relationship with their employer, and 43% said it negatively affects company morale.

Further, 27% of survey participants said they would be at least somewhat likely to quit their job if their employer began monitoring them.

On the other hand, 30% said they are “very comfortable” with their online activities being monitored, and 31% reported a positive association with job satisfaction. “This could indicate that a segment of the workforce feels more aligned or accountable when such practices are in place,” the survey report said.

Room for Improvement
According to the report, a “concerning aspect” of the trend is insufficient communication about surveillance policies. Only a third (32%) of those surveyed reported having received clear guidelines or policies regarding the monitoring.

Are there ethical issues with companies monitoring employees’ online activity? Three in five (59%) of the surveyed workers agreed that there are. However, ethical concerns go both ways, as 25% of those whose online activity is monitored admitted to pretending to be online while performing nonwork activities. In fact, 11% of such employees said they use anti-surveillance software, and 9% said they’ve attempted to “trick” the monitoring software.

Source: cfo.com

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by Rebecca Knight

Do you have what it takes to be a great leader?

It helps if you excel at communicating. And, of course, you need to be adept at planning, problem-solving, and delegating. You also need to be capable of navigating any and all challenges that arise.

Beyond these skills, though, the qualities that set great leaders apart are more elusive and can at times appear otherworldly. Exceptional leaders possess a certain X-factor that makes it seem as though they inherently know what to do.

But according to Harvard Business School professor Linda Hill, one of the world’s top experts on leadership, star leaders aren’t born with superhuman capabilities. Rather, they tend to have intentionally put themselves in situations where they have to learn, adapt, and grow — a crucible for developing the tenacity and fortitude to motivate and guide others.

“Leadership is a process of self-development, she says. “No one can teach you how to lead; you need to be willing and able to learn how to lead. Mostly we learn from our experiences and facing adversity. Stepping outside of the spaces where we feel safe — is a powerful teacher.”

Here are what Hill says are the top eight most important qualities for successful leadership — along with ideas on how to cultivate them.

1. Authenticity

Being genuine and true to who you are is fundamental to success in any role. Hill says that as a leader, you must embody your best self — the version that’s not only highly effective but also capable of motivating and inspiring those around you.“Your competence is not enough; people need to trust your character and connect with you, otherwise they will not be willing to take risks with you,” she says. This understanding ties deeply with your ability to be self-aware: “You need to figure out how to create the conditions for your success, and don’t assume others will do it for you.”

How to show up as your best self.

Understanding how people perceive you is crucial for growth. But asking for and receiving feedback can be complicated and emotional, says Hill. She recommends seeking feedback at a time when you can remain open, without becoming defensive.

Start by asking for feedback from peers in low-pressure situations and work your way up to higher-stakes scenarios. Say something like: “I’m trying to understand my impact and the kind of experiences I am creating for those who work with me. Can you give me some sense of what I should keep doing, start doing, and stop doing?” Finally, don’t dwell on the negative and the things you need to fix. Instead, Hill recommends you “home in on the positive.” Continue reading →