Ms Rachel Falzon, is a People Performance Consultant. She has held positions as Director of Studies, Business Development and Communications Manager, Strategic HR Consultant and until recently, Advisory Manager with one of the Big Four. In this second part, Professor Alexiei Dingli, an AI expert, asks her about digital disruption but from a people’s perspective. This follows a first article where the disruption caused by AI was discussed.
- How can you effectively deal with change in such a fast-moving world?
I think it’s a matter of taking stock holistically of how and why the business landscape has changed so dramatically. We talk of a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) with continuous technological disruption on the horizon where humans and machines will increasingly working side by side. It’s business as unusual from now on – we need to be in a perpetual state of learning, adapting and innovating. It is very much about nurturing a growth mindset across all levels of the organisation and developing what Peter Senge called ‘learning organisations’. There’s no room for fixed mindsets – we all need to be up-skilling to cope with the demands of the evolving workplace and the concept of a career is disappearing.
2. What are the skills sought after in today’s digital world?
Apart from the technical skills such as technology design, programming, coding and data analysis, for example, the core skills, sometimes referred to as the ‘soft’ skills, will be increasingly in demand. These human, more transferable skills are irreplaceable, and the more automated our work becomes, the more the interpersonal dimension, Emotional Intelligence and self-awareness will play an important role at the workplace. According to research carried out by Linked-In, the top 5 skills companies will be looking for in candidates are creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and time management.
3. Does this transformation necessarily mean that people will lose their job?
Some jobs, especially where there are repetitive tasks, will be either wholly or partly automated. However, new jobs will be created – hence the importance of upskilling and learning. We still think very much in terms of job roles and job descriptions. Jumping forward feet first into the future, I anticipate we will be hiring for skillsets, rather than a ‘job’. Employees and recruits need to be profiled both for their hard and ‘soft’ skills, and upskilled in the areas they are likely to be able to drive most value for the organisation in future. I think it will be a matter of hiring for more fluid-based desirable skills profiles rather than a job ‘role’.
4. Is Digital Transformation for everyone?
I don’t think all organisations are change-ready and certainly there have been a number of transformations that have failed (70% of transformations are said to fail). From the more human-centred angle, lack of proper change management skills and treating the ‘transformation’ as a project to be implemented without taking the human factor into account (such as resistance to change), could be one of the reasons. Then, of course, there are the technical competences. Without the right team and necessary skills, either in-house or outsourced though an external AI consultant, the appropriate data and capacity, transformation would be a non-starter.
5. How do you assess if an organisation is ready for digital transformation and what is the process you advocate?
Initially, I would say by assessing the organisation’s Change Readiness and Internal Capabilities as well as establishing whether there are the required change management and technical capabilities available to drive and see the transformation through. I would start by ensuring that there is the necessary groundwork in place and involving all stakeholders in the process from the outset. Communication, proper stakeholder management and transparency are key.
6. How long would such a process take?
This would vary depending on the targeted end result, nature and extent of the change. If we are looking at a deeper transformation, this will entail a shift in goals, redefining the mission and purpose of an organisation and significant changes to business model, culture, structure and processes. It requires also changes in the way of thinking and behaving – this transformation takes time. We are looking at a two to three-year period depending on the size of the organisation. On the other hand, if it’s about automating a single simple process through AI, that change should be more straightforward and will not necessarily involve reviewing the underlying culture and business model.
7. How flexible should today’s workplace be?
I would say extremely flexible and adaptable. The nature of the workforce has changed and we now have Gen Z and Baby Boomers, freelance, Gig or contract workers and full-timers working in the same workforce. Individuals are increasingly looking for flexible working conditions, autonomy and reasonable workloads. Both employer and employee need to consider whether they are in fact changing their ‘known’ ways of working to accommodate the new reality. Employers who do not revisit their tried and tested practices and employees who are not ready to upskill and embrace a more growth mindset pattern of thinking, will face serious challenges.
8. Who drives change / transformation and what role will HR play in all of this?
Generally transformation is seen as a top-down initiative where the direction and initiation of the change is a strategic mandate. However, there have been successful bottom-up or ’emergent’ initiatives where responsibility is passed on to employees. In fact, a directed top-down approach may not garner the right commitment and buy-in. This is why the concept of the hero-leader as sole decision-maker and driver is becoming obsolete and being replaced by a more shared Leadership, participative model which involves wider groups in a co-creative, decision-making process. Innovation and change can come from all echelons of the organisation but senior management and the organisational chart needs to support this.
The role of HR is paramount. As the workforce of the future continues to evolve, the role of HR has continued to grow to meet the demands of transformation and change. Even HR needs to upskill in terms of acquiring change management skills, driving learning and development based on the right andragogy, strategic workforce planning, facilitating design thinking workshops to allow for co-creation, for example. I think this role will become even more important in future-proofing organisations. Sadly, I still see many instances within organisations where HR is not given the required power and budget to enact the required changes.
9. What training do you suggest to future-proof the workforce?
Initially I would recommend future-based scenario planning to be able to envisage where your organisation will be in 5 years’ time. Following that, the organisation should predict what skillsets (in terms of the more technical ‘hard’ skills and the core ‘human’ skills) will be required to give competitive edge and drive the organisation forward.
Learning and development that drives required behavioral change and positively impacts the business (like adopting more of a growth mindset or developing Emotional Intelligence and self-awareness) doesn’t happen overnight and requires cyclical learning interventions, coaching and mentoring. Once you establish a baseline in the target technical and core skills, it is a question of providing learning opportunities and motivation for employees to develop so as to bridge the skills gap. There are loads of effective learning solutions available, but you need to have someone to drive the learning and development initiative and ensure that it delivers the required behavioural changes to positively impact the business.
10. If one decides to embark on such a transformation, what is the first step?
I think this would be analysing and understanding the nature and extent of the transformation, the competencies required and how this will impact the entire business. Also, planning how this will be rolled out – will it be a slow and incremental roll-out or is a more ‘big bang’ approach required due to urgency?
Ms Rachel Falzon holds an MBA from Henley Business School, University of Reading with a specialisation in HR. She has held positions as Director of Studies, Business Development and Communications Manager, Strategic HR Consultant and until recently, Advisory Manager with one of the Big Four. She recently branched out alone as People Performance Consultant. Her purpose is to empower individuals and futureproof organisations in the face of modern day challenges and ongoing digital disruption by nurturing learning organisations and offering core skills and leadership training, strategic HR/Business Partnering, change management, design thinking workshop facilitation to foster innovation and creative ways of looking at HR issues and coaching.
Prof Alexiei Dingli is a Professor of AI at the University of Malta. He has been conducting research and working in the field of AI for more than two decades, assisting different companies to implement AI solutions. His work has been rated World Class by international experts and he won several local and international awards (such as those by the European Space Agency, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the United Nations to name a few). He has published several peer-reviewed publications and forms part of the Malta.AI task-force which was setup by the Maltese government, aimed at making Malta one of the top AI countries in the world.
