Any professional, who has been around since the early 2000s will recognise the situation currently playing out in the UK economy. Higher inflation, increased taxes, reduced order books, strategic and organisational operating model reviews leading to redundancies and a freeze on recruitment. And while this may seem like a familiar scenario, there is a new kid on the block, namely AI, stealthily taking advantage of this situation and putting firms and their employees at risk …….
Most leaders will have been through at least one economic downturn and know that when money is tight, firms significantly reduce discretionary spending on training, coaching and mentoring. Some leaders may take the attitude that “staff are lucky they still have a job,” while others will recognise that this lack of investment will inevitably come back to haunt them.
History has shown that when staff feel underinvested in they are more likely to walk away when the good times return. In fact, the cost of recruiting and onboarding new employees often exceeds the savings from not providing training, coaching and mentoring to existing talent. This fact alone should be enough to convince firms to continue to invest in their staff, to avoid the loss of valuable company intelligence and expertise
Ambitious and driven individuals, ideally the same staff you want to retain, do not give up on personal development or career growth, even when it’s withdrawn by their employer. Instead, people find other ways to satisfy this need for enrichment. This can include accessing the vast amount of free online content available, covering everything from interpersonal skills, to system coding, cybersecurity, and beyond.
Now AI is getting in on the act …… in some ways that’s a good thing. It allows for increased efficiency and faster learning opportunities. However, it also raises concerns about ethical use and privacy, as AI could harvest information about your staff and your firm. A recent study has highlighted a fundamental shift in how employees are using AI. While it used to primarily address “technical or skills-based questions” it is now being used for “companionship, coaching, mentoring, and training etc.” With little to no guardrails around privacy and data security, these confidential “conversations” between your staff and their new AI “friend” about their career, frustrations, biased insights, and perceived shortcomings of the firm as an employer could be shared and regurgitated by this AI “friend” in future interactions. Computing magazine reported earlier this month that “Thousands of private ChatGPT conversations are now showing up in Google search results, some containing highly sensitive personal details never meant for public view.” The issue stems from users being unaware that by clicking on the “Share” button on ChatGPT it not only shares their conversations with selected contacts but these shared chats become publicly searchable too.
Whilst AI can undoubtedly provide transactional training, skills support and guidance, by its own admission it lacks the common sense, empathy and understanding that human mentors bring to the table. It also struggles with complex situations requiring ethical judgment, moral considerations, and the ability to understand human motivations. In addition, AI can’t build the deep connections, trust and strong relationships that are essential for effective mentoring, nor open doors to opportunities or inspire mentees in ways that only a human can.
So, while you are busy not investing in your staff, they will seek other ways to invest in themselves via their new AI friend, potentially exposing both their own and your firm’s confidential secret information………
Only human mentors have the ability to truly understand the complex array of human emotions and accelerate an individual’s career pathway and inspire mentees to be top performers.
Whilst we can all understand that most staff will need to develop AI skills at some point in their career, using AI as their confidant definitely isn’t the best introduction to this ever developing yet largely unregulated area of IT.
Debbie helps mentees survive and thrive in a world facing into AI. Please contact Debbie or I to discuss further.