Congratulations. Someone got you AI.
It arrived with an announcement, a login, and an invitation to identify things you could automate.
There is a honey badger in the gift box.
You may need more than the login.
“Here. Go automate” assumes people understand what the tool can do. It also assumes the work they currently perform is the best expression of what they have to offer.
That is quite a lot to assume about both parties.
We should be curious about the human.
What do they understand? What catches their attention? What have they wanted to attempt, but lacked the time, tools, or help to try?
Their job description will tell you some things. It is unlikely to contain everything.
The OECD’s research on workplace skills documents a gap between what people can do and what their jobs give them opportunities to use. We already have human capability going underused.
Now we have a powerful new tool.
I would like us to introduce them properly.
HI. Then AI.
Certainly, find the repetitive handling that an assistant can take on. Gathering information. Preparing a first pass. Moving something from here to there without requiring a human to perform twelve small ceremonies.
Then ask what becomes possible with that help.
The person with an eye for design might finally build something interactive. Someone who knows the customers might investigate an idea for a service. A patient colleague who explains things beautifully might develop training people actually enjoy.
These possibilities deserve some attention alongside the time-saving spreadsheet.
Research gives us reason to explore them. In a product-innovation experiment at Procter & Gamble, AI assistance helped professionals develop proposals that reached beyond their usual technical or commercial specialties. People could bring more than their own familiar part of the problem to the work.
That is interesting.
What could someone with deep knowledge of your customers do with help exploring the technical possibilities? What could a technical person attempt with support understanding a new market?
You might discover abilities that the old division of work gave you very little reason to notice.
There may be more in your people than their current jobs have ever asked for.
This needs an investment from the business.
Give people time to learn, relevant guidance, and someone who can help turn an idea into something usable. Make it possible to ask questions without performing confidence first.
A demonstration can open the door. People need support walking through it.
And assistance can contribute to learning itself. In a Harvard physics study, students using a purpose-built AI tutor learned more than students in the comparison classroom lessons. The tutor was designed around how people learn, with opportunities to work through the material. Human understanding was the intended result.
We can choose that ambition at work, too.
Help someone understand more. Let them develop an interest. Give their judgment something new to work on.
The P&G study offers another useful finding: AI improved the generation of ideas more than the ability to select the best ones. More possibilities still leave us with decisions worth thinking about.
What matters here? Who would this help? Is it worth doing? Could it be better?
Human questions.
You’ve invested in finding out what AI can do.
Put some of that curiosity into finding out what your people can do with it.
And if you’re the person opening the gift box, your contribution is larger than the list of tasks you can hand over.
What have you wanted to make, understand, investigate, or become?
Let’s make room for that.