As generative AI and LLMs have increasingly become a staple in how teams work, the demand for skills to effectively leverage these technologies has surged dramatically.
However, companies are paying little attention to how they can equip their existing workforce with the skills needed to get the full value from generative AI. Our recent survey investigating the uptake of AI in the workplace revealed that there’s a lack of centralised education around AI tools, with a majority of workers in the UK educating themselves by reading articles about AI (40%) and experimenting with AI tools on their own (41%). In fact, only 28% are acquiring skills through work-sponsored AI training.
With this in mind, it is crucial companies provide employees with the collaboration skills, training, and guidance necessary to work effectively with AI models. If done right, this can unlock huge productivity benefits. But, it is imperative firms bring employees along on the journey and not lose sight of the goal of helping them to do their jobs better.
Technical skills to seize the benefits of AI
Generative AI relies heavily on descriptive prompts to produce valid results, which is very different from discussing a task with a colleague. While our survey found 56% of UK knowledge workers believe human input should always be used to prompt a generative AI model, vague prompts or industry jargon can still result in unhelpful outcomes being generated. Overcoming this challenge requires workers to understand the importance of including any limitations, parameters, or context in their prompts that could guide the output of a model. However, this won’t necessarily be intuitive for employees, especially when dealing with niche generative models that use different formats from natural language.
Without the right training, employees may not see the value in what generative AI can do for them and decide to simply not use it. Concerns about reliability and security can also deter people from exploring how the technology could enhance their work. The most effective way to overcome these barriers is to provide clear guidelines and training on responsible AI use, while also creating opportunities for employees to experiment with the technology and integrate it into their everyday work.
AI-enhanced teamwork
Generative AI presents new opportunities to collaborate and communicate with colleagues by supplementing typical collaborative processes. During brainstorming sessions, AI can introduce fresh ideas and iterate on them and with Lucid it can automatically generate diagrams to save employees valuable time. This increased efficiency allows teams to focus on higher-value tasks.
Further, leveraging AI within a team can help create consistency between projects and ensure that learnings from prior work aren’t forgotten. Providing models with access to contextual business data turns them into tailored encyclopedias. In a workplace where over a quarter (27%) of workers are spending more than 10 hours a week searching for information, this can help keep teammates who may be working in different locations or time zones–or who simply missed a meeting–get up to speed.
The ability of generative AI to analyse prior work to create documentation and act as a source of truth for teams shouldn’t be underestimated. It addresses both team-level alignment issues and broader organisational challenges. By effectively integrating AI, teams can break down silos and boost productivity, particularly in hybrid work environments.
Hybrid working made productive with AI
With that, AI holds great transformative potential in enhancing productivity for hybrid companies. Lucid’s recent Hybrid Whiplash survey found 54% of organisations report difficulties in balancing employee productivity in hybrid and remote working settings, despite workplaces now having so many years’ experience with hybrid work. Unfortunately, this has often been due to the fact that many firms have not given their staff the skills they need to succeed, with just 29% of workplaces providing collaboration training to employees.
Generative AI can help ease some of the common pain points people experience when working remotely, and even aid productivity when replacing and not adding to existing processes. With uses for real-time language translation and acting as a reliable source of company information for employees, the technology supports teams in hybrid work settings to complete tasks in a much more efficient manner. The benefits from training your employees to use AI can even extend to work where the technology isn’t used. Generative AI depends on clear, comprehensive prompts that communicate relevant information well – the skills needed to draft prompts like this are also used to communicate clearly with colleagues.
Generative AI supercharges collaboration
Undoubtedly, generative AI can help people work together faster. But, without providing employees with the skills needed to work with it, these benefits will never be realised. Training your employees on how to use the technology for their personal work, and on how they can take their collaborative efforts with colleagues to the next level, is imperative for ensuring generative AI investments are successful.
Dan Lawyer
Dan Lawyer is Chief Product Officer, Lucid Software. Prior to Lucid, he led product and design organisations at Adobe, Ancestry, and Vivint. During his 20 years in product leadership, Dan has developed a deep understanding of the art and science of experience design and loves helping others realise their leadership potential.
