AI integration programs such as chatbots can sometimes make our employees a little nervous. While any type of change can be scary, especially when it comes to one’s livelihood, the most prevalent concern about AI initiatives is job security.
Is a robot going to take my job?
The simple answer to this is no. AI solutions like chatbots have incredible potential to alleviate simple or routine tasks from employee’s shoulders, but they will not replace skilled human efforts. In fact, we’ve found that bots open new doors to even greater possibilities.
The first step to getting your employees ready for AI integration is to educate them about what this step means for their jobs and the organization. There’s certainly a lot to learn in this department, but we should do our best to break it down into manageable, understandable pieces.
Show your employees how chatbots will help them to do their jobs. Give them examples of the tasks that bots will start to cover, and then introduce them to the new, more interesting work ahead. They will soon be able to solely focus their attention on complex, meaningful work.
Simply put, educate them about how bots take care of the most unpleasant parts of their jobs and promise to upgrade their average workday. This goes a long way towards alleviating these tech anxieties.
Problem-solving still belongs to humans. Enable your employees to embrace this simple fact.
Your employees will see new opportunities in their career paths as they take on more responsibilities for high-level tasks like business strategy and critical thinking. They will figure out how to properly handle escalation issues, and they will form the backbone upon which the organization depends.
We also want to enable them to learn as much as they want about AI solutions like chatbots. We recommend earnest and passionate engagement with the change initiative at all business levels. For instance, we may introduce weekly breakout sessions or host part of a regular team meeting to share successes and discuss improvements. The point is that we’ll share in the overall change effort as a team.
Once you’ve bought into an AI solution and trained your employees on how to use it, one step remains. Empower your employees to use their brains and find creative uses for the bots.
Ultimately, employees are responsible for a successful bot integration program. They are any company’s most valuable asset. So, we should recognize them as such and treat them accordingly.
Give them space to experiment with this technology. Provide a forum for them to give feedback and submit recommendations. Empower them to take the lead in driving your organization into the future. One way to do so is by restructuring company policies and reward structure to weigh in on the change initiative. By tying the reward structure in with embracing the change, we can facilitate this change by revisiting and updating any dated company policies in the change’s wake.
The first step towards preparing your company for chatbots is getting your people on board. They need to understand that AI isn’t going to replace them. They should feel valued, and they ought to understand their critical role in the business strategy. This is the part where we should pacify the small but sometimes powerful “detractor voices,” the naysayers, to help pave the way for embracing the change.
After that, though, there’s still more work to be done. Enable your workers to take charge of the AI initiative. Empower them to bring their humanity to the forefront. They have powers that computers simply don’t.
Emphasize these exceptional qualities to show them how man and machine can work together in harmony, augmenting our capabilities and business outcomes.
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