Shaping the C-Suite’s Relationship with AI

In the words of our Director, Richard Chiumento, “You probably will not lose your job to AI, but you will lose it to a human who is using AI effectively.” An organisation is extremely unlikely to replace its leadership team with artificial intelligence (AI), but rather must enable its C-Suite to form a strategic relationship with technology to drive impact. Doing so will require a baseline understanding of how AI can benefit the business, and how to derive maximum value from it.

While many existing roles will be replaced by technology over time, businesses are unlikely to eliminate their entire workforce in favour of technology, despite the bleak predictions we often see making headlines. Rather, what lies ahead is a massive reshaping of the working world and ‘modern’ workplace as we have traditionally known it through the optimisation of everything we do, every process, and every production. The C-Suite will hold the responsibility of guiding the organisation through this transformation, which will require effective management and fostering a closer relationship with technology by all.

In this article, we provide key factors for organisations and senior leaders to consider to effectively leverage the current AI wave.

Differentiating Between Tactical and Strategic Uses of AI

Business use of AI can be split into two categories: tactical and strategic. What this looks like in practice will vary by business, but here are some general use cases to be aware of based on the solutions available in the marketplace:

• Tactical: Drafting text copy and imagery for marketing materials, sending outreach messages, communicating with prospects, automating parts of the manufacturing process, taking notes across sales interactions, answering customer queries through chatbots, screening job candidates, delivering tailored training, generating reports, etc.

• Strategic: Gauging customer sentiment through social listening, analysing historic data to identify opportunities, assessing performance, reducing production costs, streamlining operations, monitoring employee performance and engagement, lead prediction and scoring, competitor research, etc.

Understanding the Tactical Side of AI

The C-suite will likely have very little to do with the tactical uses of AI as part of their everyday role but should still be concerned with these practices. Team leaders should decide which systems to adopt, which vendors to work with, and where to invest. For this to be successful, each member of the C-suite will need to work collaboratively with their teams to identify where opportunities and efficiencies sit.

It is therefore critical for the leadership team to understand how specific areas of the business can benefit from the adoption of technology and how that might feed into the bigger picture. For example, the marketing, customer service, and sales functions are the most outward-facing functions of the business and stand to benefit greatly from the introduction of AI systems. It is likely that these functions will use generative AI to automate their communications with customers, create more compelling materials, become more targeted, and deliver the right offer in the right place at the right time. The CMO and CRO will need to work with these teams to find out which tasks could benefit most from AI’s helping hand and crafting a case for investment.

On the Operations and Supply Chain side, ongoing disruption has made an already challenging role even more difficult. The expectations placed on the COO will be to improve decision making, keep things running smoothly, and ensure cost efficiencies. They will need to think about how AI can facilitate innovation and identify how investing in new tools might improve long-term revenue and contribute to overall productivity and efficiency.

The urgent business need for digital transformation has fundamentally changed the CIO role from IT operator to business strategist. The CTO and CIO will be concerned with the technicalities of AI adoption and will most likely lead any conversations about vendors and tools. The ability to communicate the value of complex technology to the business is critical, as is the skill to drive and manage long-term change. Tactically, they will oversee the actual implementation of AI systems and need to ensure that the business possesses the necessary infrastructure, hardware, and software.

The CFO will most obviously be concerned about the cost of any AI investment and the returns it will generate. In addition, adopting the right AI will play a huge role in supporting the expectations of shareholders, regulators, and audit committees specifically in providing information in the areas of financial and nonfinancial reporting, transparency, and governance. The CFO will need to work closely with the other leaders to provide structures for governance of AI models to help ensure end-to-end AI governance. This will span from defining the AI strategy through training, testing, deploying and monitoring AI and the data used to train it.

Meanwhile, the CEO will have to keep a finger on the pulse of all this activity. They will be assimilating the massive amounts of data from AI initiatives taken forward by their peers to form answers to complex strategic questions at a massively accelerated rate. The CEO will also likely be the public face of the business’s transformation and will need to communicate with key stakeholder audiences both internally and externally.

In summary, despite not having a hands-on role in the tactical use of AI day-to-day, the C-Suite will need to stop going it alone and start thinking with a machine, using increasingly sophisticated analytic tools to help them rally the organisation. Selecting the right AI solutions, deciding what processes are automated, where money is spent, and how the business can benefit through business model transformation will be critical. This will require a need to ask questions that weren’t previously economical to answer as well as questions they didn’t even know to ask.

Leveraging the Strategic Side of AI

Most businesses possess more data than they know what to do with and in today’s increasingly digital age, even more is accumulated each day. This data is a goldmine of untapped potential that can offer a genuine snapshot of the business, its customers, stakeholders, and performance. However, to try to manually assess this data is a fool’s errand. It would take far too long and by the time any real progress is achieved, so much more new information will have been generated that the old data is obsolete.

Making sense of a business’s data in a tangible and useful way is the most valuable strategic benefit AI offers. In such a competitive landscape where customer habits change regularly and disruption is always on the horizon, having real-time insight into the business can help in staying ahead of the curve and gaining a competitive edge.

Measurement of KPIs is often focused on hard figures such as revenue, number of sales, and other tangible metrics. But every C-Suite executive knows that cost and value is often not that simple to nail down. There are often soft KPIs that are harder to measure but impact the business nonetheless. This includes reputational gains, employee or customer satisfaction, perceived CX, and loyalty. Because these indicators are not tied to an organisations figure, they are often harder to quantify.

AI can help with this, too. Again, the C-Suite will not need to have much direct interaction with tactical AI platforms on a regular basis, but these solutions and their activity can generate insights that can make the C-Suite more effective at what they do. For example, your marketing team’s social listening tool can provide insight into who your customers are, what matters to them, and how they feel about your business. Your sales team’s CRM platform will offer plenty of intelligence into what it takes to attract new prospects and what it takes to retain them. All of this information can be fed back to the C-Suite to help inform their wider strategy and measure success in a much more nuanced way.

The C-Suite will need to redefine the KPIs of the business for the AI age. This is where that grasp on the tactical side of AI comes into play. By understanding how each function of the business uses technology, it becomes possible to determine what can and should be measured. For example, if you know your sales team is using AI to manage relationships with existing customers, you can ask them to measure retention and loyalty. AI tools offer advanced reporting capabilities which help the C-Suite gain a deeper knowledge of the business as a whole. With this information in their arsenal, the leadership team can be much more targeted in their strategic objectives, agile in a crisis, and smarter with their budgeting.

Developing a future focussed workforce

But of course, with any significant change comes resistance, hesitation, and discomfort. It is likely that integrating AI into normal business practices will be met with all of these. Businesses are likely to encounter negative mindsets from their teams and this can include those in the C-Suite. Here are some common negative mindsets our team have come across and advice on how to overcome them

• Replacement: With so much hysteria surrounding AI and several bleak predictions pertaining to massive job losses, it is understandable that your people will be concerned about job security. How the leadership team communicates with the rest of the organisation will be critical here. Instead of shying away from these fears, address them head on. Acknowledge that this is a big change for everyone but provide reassurance that your people will be active participants on this new journey. Set expectations, and assign actions and owners. That way, employees will be reassured of their value and feel more secure in their place with the company. If there are redundancies to be made, be honest about that, too. However, do not leave those you let go of to fend for themselves. Invest in Executive Outplacement services such as those offered by The Rialto Consultancy to support these employees through the transition and help them to land on their feet.
• Obsolescence: Witnessing how impressive and effective AI can be at tasks people have been contending with for years may stir up feelings of intimidation. Individuals may begin to question both their value and their abilities. The truth of the matter is that AI is an assistant, not a boss. When AI takes over those more routinised tasks, it will create more time for individuals to focus on value-add activities that technology cannot yet replicate. This includes creative thinking, strategy, and providing a human touch to the customer journey. The leadership team will need to reshape the roles of their team to assign new purpose behind them. While experiencing changes in one’s role may be uncomfortable at first, it can also reinvigorate individuals and breathe new life into their careers and levels of motivation. The C-Suite will need to consider how to best reshape responsibilities in their organisation to provide adequate support for AI while deriving the most impact from their human workforce.
• Complacency: On the other side of the coin, after witnessing how effective AI can be, individuals may begin to incorrectly assume they can hand off their entire workload to technology. While generative AI is impressive in its current state and growing smarter rapidly, we have not yet reached a point wherein technology can replicate certain human capabilities. When reshaping your people’s roles, it is important to emphasise that their new responsibility is to fill the gaps that technology cannot currently replicate. AI should always be presented as a partner rather than a substitute. By setting expectations early and clearly defining the roles of both technology and humans, the leadership team will be sending a clear message that there is still very much a job to be done by their employees.
• Inadequacy: However, some of your people may be more tech savvy than others and will pick up new tools quickly. Those outside of this camp may struggle and feel ill-equipped to cope with new technology, especially if they have become accustomed to doing things a certain way. You will need all your people on the same page and performing at the right level and may need to invest time and money to get there. It is important to not let these employees struggle in silence. You therefore need to develop a culture of open communication wherein everyone feels encouraged to speak and feels reassured that they are heard. Conducting check-ins with both managers and their direct reports can help the leadership team—especially the HRD or Chief People Officer (CPO)—to gauge where issues lie and where intervention is needed. It will also be crucial to provide necessary training for new tools, whether that be conducted in-house or externally.

Securing Necessary Skillsets

The C-Suite must be strategic about how they develop the necessary skills for successfully deploying AI and using it in practice. A lot of this will fall on the HRD and CPO, but each member of the C-Suite should be just as concerned and involved. Again, training will be necessary as AI skills will not just manifest on their own. The leadership team will need to decide the best approach for themselves, their people and budgets. In some cases, it may make sense to conduct in-house training led in collaboration with the Technology function and HR. It may also be of value to bring in outside experts such as vendors or consultants. You may need to conduct not only technical training, but also offer coaching to help create new mindsets conducive to supporting cultures of change. In other cases, it may make more sense to fund and encourage individuals  to pursue their own upskilling and continuous learning development outside of the organisation. While this lifts the burden of having to organise training in-house, it offers less control. You may not be able to ensure that all of your people are developing the essential skills and covering the necessary bases. The C-Suite will need to seriously consider which option best suits their needs and shape their upskilling programmes accordingly.

You may also consider introducing necessary skills through recruitment. This is a strong option for securing more specialised skillsets that might be costly or time consuming to cultivate with existing team members. Depending on your needs, you may want to secure a full-time employee for this, or may find that a temporary contractor will suffice. However, given the ongoing skills shortage and fierce competition for qualified candidates, businesses should be prepared to face difficulties in securing the talent they need. The leadership team will need to consider their value proposition for new hires. Gaining an understanding of what today’s professionals expect from their employers can help to both attract and retain valuable talent. The C-Suite may need to reshape their hybrid work policies, employee benefits packages, and overall corporate culture.

While the AI landscape is fast-developing and ever-changing, adopting it successfully does not need to be difficult. If the C-Suite is willing to invest time and effort into their own learning whilst building the right physical and emotional infrastructures, the organisation is more likely to reap technology’s business value with minimal disruption.

To get started, explore our upcoming AI-focused webinars.

If you are looking to build cultures of change within your organisation or further your own Leadership Development, we can help. Get in touch with us to discuss our Business Transformation services.

Today’s customers and markets are vastly different from five, let alone 10 years ago. The sheer pace of change, digital transformation and disruption of traditional models and markets are among the factors that are radically altering the world of enterprise. Leaders have to respond to them and ensure their organisations and workforces can adapt to these new demands more readily than competitors. And they need to ensure they have the agility to continually react and respond to the changes as their growth and bottom line depends on it.

This white paper sets out to show leaders some of the areas and issues they need to consider to ensure their organisations have the agility and adaptability to remain ahead of the curve and their competitors in the digital age.

At Rialto, we often stress the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) for the future of business. We published a white paper on the digital imperative, discussed how to navigate your career through technological change, outlined strategic priorities for leadership, made predictions for AI’s role post-pandemic, and highlighted some of the ways that AI can help with leader’s people management challenges. This technology has impossibly vast potential that is finally coming into mainstream acceptance, meaning that innovation is happening at a rapid pace with changes happening frequently.

There are a number of forward-thinking leaders who got on board early and are now exploring more advanced applications of AI, but the majority of global business leaders are just beginning on their journeys. In this article, we aim to bring leaders up to date with the state of AI as of Q1 2022, and put this into context in terms of what may be expected of their role during the adoption journey of AI in transforming business models.

The Current State of AI

AI adoption has only continued to grow in the past year, with more businesses and their decision makers coming to grips with this technology. In McKinsey’s latest State of AI survey, 56% of all respondents reported AI adoption in at least one function of their business, which is an increase of 6% from the 2020 survey. Gartner’s Second Annual Emerging Technology Product Leader Survey found that the majority of respondents (87%) predict industry-wide funding for AI will increase at a “moderate to fast pace” throughout 2022. Their survey also found that a third of global organisations with plans to adopt AI intend to invest $1 million or more into the technology over the next two years.

Zooming in on the UK, it seems as though businesses of all sizes are betting on tech for their recovery and growth efforts. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) recently published a report on the current and future use of artificial intelligence by UK businesses, which found that around 15% (432,000) of all UK businesses have adopted at least one AI technology, while around 2% (62,000) are currently piloting AI and a further 10% (292,000) plan to adopt at least one AI technology in the future. 68% of large companies, 34% of medium sized companies, and 15% of small companies have adopted at least one AI technology.

IT and telecommunications (29.5%) and legal (29.2%) currently have the highest rate of adoption, while hospitality (11.9%), health (11.5%), and retail (11.5%) represent the lowest adoption rates in the UK. In terms of actual use cases, the DCMS report found that AI solutions for data management and analysis are the most commonly adopted with 9% of UK firms having adopted them. This is followed by natural language processing and generation (8%), machine learning (7%), AI hardware (5%), computer vision and image processing and generation (5%) tools. Looking ahead, the DCMS report predicts that expenditure on AI technologies could increase to between £27.2 billion and £35.6 billion by 2025. By 2040, that figure could increase to between £50.4 billion and £127 billion.

This reaffirms what we already know: AI is inevitably the future of business and the majority of leaders will need to become more confident in utilising AI. The increase in adoption rates indicate that the resistance to transformation is dwindling as many of the hold outs enter the exploration phase and the more forward-thinking businesses transition to application or explore further AI projects. For transformation projects to be successful, there needs to be buy in and involvement at every level and department. Whether your organisation is just embarking on its AI journey or looking ahead at what other problems this technology can solve, there will certainly be impacts on your specific role and function.

The Role of Senior Leadership

CEOs

The role of the CEO or top executive of the organisation is that of both decision-maker and champion. These executives are tasked with delivering results to various stakeholder groups, while also serving as the public face of the business. The two entities are so deeply intertwined that the failures of the organisation are often considered to be the failures of the CEO in the court of public opinion. Plotting, strategising, and delivering a change project is a massive undertaking and a huge responsibility for the CEO. Getting it right will ensure happy stakeholders and customers, but getting it wrong could have major career consequences.

Of course, any transformation plans should come from the board as a whole, but it is often the CEO who has the final say. Typically, they are also the ones responsible for selecting which tools to adopt, sometimes with input from the CTO or other knowledgeable parties. However, not every organisation has a tech expert on hand to advise, and CEO or top exec might have to go it alone. Therefore, it is essential that these leaders have a strong understanding of AI and its capabilities so that they may make informed decisions about the future of their organisation. Continuous learning and upskilling will be valuable to professionals in all functions, but for top leaders especially. Seeking out training, keeping up to date with the news, or pursuing a proper course on AI can make a massive difference. The most successful leaders are those who realise the world is changing around them and work to change with it.

But arguably more important is the CEO’s role as a champion of change. Wherein staff in the organisation will need to adapt to working alongside these tools, the CEO is not likely to see their role massively reshaped by AI. Instead, top leaders will need to focus on getting the rest of the team on board and encouraging a willingness to give this technology a try. Change is uncomfortable, and there will likely be staff who resist the introduction of new tools. The team will be looking to their leadership for guidance and reassurance, and the CEO is about as senior as it gets. Your people will be looking to the top in order to assess the legitimacy of these new mandates. Does it seem like you truly believe in what you are saying? Are your words telling one story, but your actions telling another? Top executives need to lead by example. If you want your people to buy into new initiatives, then you yourself need to practice what you preach and truly understand what you are asking for.

The Rest of the C-Suite

The rest of the C-Suite serve as the top representatives for each of the business’s various functions, including Marketing, Finance, Operations, Technology, Sales, Growth, and so on. Individually, these executives are responsible for their individual departments and all the staff and activities that fall under their domain. Collectively, these leaders must unite these individual pieces to work towards the best interests of the business. If the sum of its parts is successful, then the senior leadership team could be considered successful as a result.

At this level, you may find yourself less concerned with the day-to-day use of automation tools in your role and more focused on the ‘why’ of it all. It will be your responsibility to determine what role technology will play in your function, give input into the tools that will be introduced, and help to form a business case for adoption and transformation. But more important than that, your role will be to champion and to help shift the rest of the organisation towards an AI mindset. While the CEO may serve as the main spokesperson for your company’s transformation efforts, it will fall on you as a top-level executive to reinforce that message within your division of the company. It is crucial for the senior leadership team to present a united front when it comes to change management. That way, the message is clear and reinforced. Communicate clear expectations with your team so that there is an unimpeachable understanding of roles and responsibilities. Depending on the structure of your organisation, you may choose to funnel this message down via your managers, but your stance as the head of your department should never be in question. Help form the plans and stick by them once they are introduced. Otherwise, you risk losing all confidence from your team and your project may be doomed before it even has a chance to begin.

HR Director

When undergoing a transformation project, ‘people costs’ need to be factored in alongside the costs of the technology itself. According to the DCMS report mentioned previously, the 432,000 UK companies who had already adopted AI in 2020 spent a total of £46.0 billion on labour associated with the development, operation, or maintenance of those technologies. The average labour spend was £24,400 per small business, £1.7 million per medium business and £3.1 million per large business. This overall expenditure is predicted to increase to between £80.2 billion and £103.2 billion by 2025, and between £185.2 billion and £456.0 billion by 2040.

HR Directors (HRDs) will likely be the ones tasked with managing this expenditure, whether it be via onboarding new talent or upskilling existing staff. When adding talent to the team, it will be essential to look for baseline technological skills, but attention should also be paid to the types of capabilities that technology cannot match in order to create a well-rounded team. These are what we typically consider to be ‘soft skills’ such as communication, creativity, strategy, and so on. If adding new talent to the team is too costly, investing in the people you have is a strong option. Upskilling initiatives will likely fall under HR’s domain

Beyond ensuring the right talent and skills are on hand to cope with new technologies, AI tools can also be used to help facilitate a lot of these processes. AI can help to automate some tedious activities that eat up time for HRDs. For example, AI can help with document verification and data entry, scheduling staff, managing leave, setting up meetings and appointments and automating communication with prospects and current staff. Automation can be introduced to various stages of the recruitment process to streamline the experience for the candidate and save time for the HR team. But further than that, AI can help with a major challenge HRDs currently face: retaining their staff in the wake of the Great Resignation.

AI can be leveraged here to gain insight into the mindsets of current staff. How satisfied are your people? What has motivated them to stay, or what is driving them to leave? AI can help provide answers to these tough questions, and also provide insight into the needs and desires of the market. Often, these tools can signal HRDs to potential problems before it’s too late, allowing them to potentially intervene and retain. Investing in existing talent is a draw for people to stay, and HR will likely be tasked with leading any upskilling or retraining initiatives for current staff. E-learning platforms can help support these training efforts by tailoring the materials to suit individual needs, helping to ensure that staff are grasping the information and that HR’s training budget has been used effectively. While the directive for upskilling may come from higher up in the organisation, HRDs should expect to be the ones the board turns to in order to help figure out the logistics and oversee the process. It is recommended that anyone in this position take the time to learn about some of the tools available in preparation.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the greatest technological advancements of our lifetime, and its impacts will be felt across industries and job functions. However, AI is here to assist and augment, not replace and make redundant. This technology can achieve remarkable things, but not without the assistance of human intelligence. These projects will only be as successful as the teams driving them.

After coming to grips with the idea that AI is something you need to explore, we recommend focusing on building your skills and understanding. Knowing that AI is important and actually believing in its potential and the benefits it can bring to your business are two very different things. Your mindset can make or break you when it comes to delivering change, regardless of your role in the organisation. As a senior executive, you need to ensure you buy into what you are looking to achieve before you can ever expect your team to buy in. You need to walk the talk if you want your people to follow.

If you were to say that the pandemic changed the whole course of technology in business, you would only be partially correct. In truth, what the pandemic did was push us further and faster along a path we were already heading down. Digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI) adoption have been on the annual strategic agenda for many businesses for the past several years, mainly as an exploratory item. At the start of 2020, the average global share of products and/or services that were partially or fully digitised was at 35%. By the midway point to the year, that figure had jumped to 55%, indicating that the onset of the pandemic led to approximately seven years’ worth of progress in around six months[1].

Now that we are well on the path to some version of recovery, no one is going to drop their tools, say “Well, that was fun while it lasted,” and go back to the way things were before we realised we could do it all differently. Nor should we go back. The pandemic not only changed the market conditions that leaders must navigate in order to keep driving their business forward, but also changed the way they need to lead within new target operating models.

Much has been said about AI’s potential benefits for different business functions, but can this technology help leaders bridge some of their key people management challenges? We explore the question in 5 key areas:

1. Can it support business decision-making?

Just as businesses have begun using more technology in their day-to-day practices, so have their customers. Every website visit, virtual appointment, online communication, and social media interaction creates a data story that can tell business leaders more about their consumers needs, habits, wants, lifestyles, and feelings. But the problem usually is that most businesses have no idea what to do with any of this data or no way to make sense of it.

That’s where AI comes in. These tools can continuously collect, process, and analyse large volumes of data quicker and in more detail than any human could possibly replicate. This data is translated into more digestible formats for easier analysis, detailed forecasts, and insightful recommendations that bring focus to leaders and their teams more quickly. This analysis might reveal trends to expect, issues that have been overlooked, or areas for improvement.

Collecting and making sense of this data will fall on technology, but it is up to leaders to decide what they want to do with it. AI gives leaders the clearest picture possible of what they are up against and where the opportunities are. Because these tools work continuously and provide insights in real time, leaders can act fast to course correct and keep their finger on the pulse of an ever-changing consumer market. This capability will become increasingly valuable as global competition rises and the customer journey continues to evolve.

2. Can it support diversity and inclusion?

Issues of diversity, inclusion, and equality have been thrust squarely into the spotlight as several societal conflicts have arisen this past year. As a result, many decision-makers are taking more purpose-led approaches to leadership (we have a blog on that here) and prioritising these issues in their company’s strategy. For these efforts to be genuine, they need to be reflected in the makeup of the organisation.

AI helps to build more diverse teams through hiring by eliminating some of the inherent biases that human decision-makers may unknowingly bring with them into the process. By automating everything from scanning CVs to conducting early rounds of interviews, AI is able to keep the process as impartial as possible. Of course, this does not always work as intended. AI follows the algorithms that it is trained on, so if it is fed biased information its outputs will reflect that. For example, perhaps the algorithm is trained to hire candidates that sound like a good fit for the organisation and was trained to determine this ‘fit’ based on the organisation’s current team. If the existing staff is predominantly male, all went to a certain set of schools, or are a certain racial background, then the algorithm will most likely select candidates that also possess these attributes. Some have tried to counteract this by programming the algorithm to seek out clearly diverse candidates, but this practice of ‘token’ hiring has raised questions of whether this is a truly fair practice.

It is important for leaders to remain conscious of the suggestibility of algorithms if using AI tools with this purpose, but when programmed correctly these tools can facilitate more equal hiring and help to minimise some of the bias that presents itself in the process.

3. What benefits can it bring for recruitment and onboarding?

Beyond promoting more diversity, AI can make it easier to build the right team and support their growth long term. As mentioned, automation can be used to streamline some of the process, such as scanning CVs for keywords in order to narrow down your candidate pool. While this initial screening will likely be handled below the management level, the increased accuracy of this process helps to ensure that the candidates presented to decision-makers are the best talent available for the role.

Additionally, these tools can help ensure you match the right talent to the right roles, every time. This is typically accomplished through the use of augmented and autonomous AI to personalise the experience and guide the candidate to the role that best matches their capabilities. This makes it easier for the leader to ensure that they have the right skills on their team and the support they will need for long-term success.

Integrating new talent to your team is another area where AI thrives. Technology can help to improve the onboarding process by getting new hires up to speed efficiently and via a more tailored experience. For example, there are tools available that can match a new employee’s preferences with recommendations about which benefits package best suits their needs. Starting employees off on the right foot helps to improve long-term retention, meaning leaders can focus their attention on achieving objectives rather than worrying about their team.

4. How does it support upskilling and training?

While many organisations may be actively recruiting and some leaders are having to build and onboard new teams, others have focused their attention on their existing staff. The adoption of new technology impacts all parts of the organisation, not just those at the top. If new tools are being introduced, then training and upskilling activities may need to be undertaken in order to ensure the team has the right capabilities to use them effectively. But your people don’t know what they don’t know, and as a leader, you should never assume that all members of your team are on the same level of capability and comfort with using technology.

AI learning tools can not only assess your team’s current level of knowledge but also meet them where they are. The use of personalised learning tools in L&D functions is on the rise due to their ability to tailor training to suit individual skill levels and learning styles. For example, these tools might offer staff a series of questions or activities. On the back end, AI and machine learning algorithms are analysing the responses to pinpoint the individual’s level of understanding of the topic at hand. Based on this assessment, the platform may offer the information in a new format that is more suited to the individual’s learning style and repeat the lesson until the information is absorbed, or may deem it suitable to move on to the next lesson.

For leaders, this helps to ensure that staff are getting the necessary training in the most effective way possible. Training can be a costly expense for businesses and approaching this in a one-size-fits-all way cannot ensure effectiveness. Tailoring training to your team helps to engage them in their learning and provide the best chance at absorbing these new skills.

5. How can it impact culture, progression, and engagement?

In an ideal world, every team member would be perfectly satisfied in their role and your best team members would stick around forever. But that is not our world, and therefore leaders need to pay attention to their team’s needs, levels of engagement and team atmosphere.

Sentiment analysis tools are able to assess employee communications to identify potential dissatisfaction, while intelligent employee surveying can be used to gather insights directly from staff about their feelings. If an employee is showing signs of displeasure, AI algorithms can be trained to identify patterns that suggest when they may be ready to turn over. The system would then send an alert to the HR team, allowing them to intervene before it’s too late. In some cases, this desire to leave is tied to compensation. AI tools can analyse market factors, the employee’s performance, and their job achievement to help suggest compensation.

Beyond holding onto staff that is on the verge of turning over, AI can help your team progress within the organisation. Some talent intelligence platforms are able to provide personalised career guidance to employees based on their innate capabilities, potential, and future positions of interest to encourage long-term planning. Some companies use this intelligence to match employees with mentors in the organisation who can provide relevant advice related to that individual’s identified pathway. Additionally, these tools can help to identify higher performers who may be ready for the next level or may be well suited to a leadership opportunity.

The mark of a successful leader is a successful team. By partnering with AI, leaders can conduct more regular temperature checks with their people and intervene before issues can have negative consequences.

It’s clear that AI can take on some of the heavy lifting of leaders’ people management responsibilities, but it should be noted that this technology should be treated as a tool rather than a replacement. Leaders should not become complacent and expect that AI will solve all their problems. There still needs to be a ‘human touch’ involved, especially in matters of people management. When considering AI, leaders should simultaneously work to adapt their own styles and skillsets in order to incorporate these tools into their style of leadership, but should not lose sight of all the attributes that make them a strong leader in the first place.

[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever

We recently discussed some of the strategic priorities regarding artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology that leaders will need to keep in mind for the future. Whilst deciding on the best plan of action, there are many factors to consider. What is the current vs future 2–5-year climate likely to be? What will this mean for workforce reskilling and day-to-day practices? What ethical and governance issues need to be considered? These are just some of the crucial questions to consider when undertaking any digital or change programme.

The State of AI

One core message relayed in the previous blog is well worth reiterating here: artificial intelligence is no longer a distant ‘maybe.’ The time has arrived to either sink or swim, adapt or get left behind. AI is guiding decisions from crop harvesting, to bank loans, to medical and pharmaceutical testing.

The gravity of the situation is evidenced strongly in the various tech-focused initiatives included in the UK Government’s latest budget plans. Their aim is to support businesses, enabling them to come to terms with an increasingly digital climate. Two initiatives worth mentioning are a new fast-tracked visa to draw in top tech talent from around the world, as well as the £520 million Help to Grow scheme which is aimed at aiding SMEs to be more competitive while enhancing digital skills. The scheme will allow up to 130,000 SMEs to have subsidised access to university-level training, 50 hours of tuition, and one-to-one business mentoring. In order to further support digital transformation in enterprise, the scheme also includes a 50% government contribution towards productivity software up to £5,000 and delivered in vouchers.

According to a report released at the end of 2020, the UK is ranked third out of the G20 countries in terms of total implementation, innovation, and investment in AI. Britain is ranked first overall in ‘Operating Environment,’ which encompasses the regulatory context and public opinion surrounding artificial intelligence.

The UK government has been taking strides for years to secure this position, most notably through the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence (APPG AI), of which Rialto is a permanent board member. The group meets regularly for evidence sessions and discussions of the major issues and innovations in AI, all with the intention of supporting the adoption of the technology in enterprise. Membership of this community and access to these sessions is one of the benefits of our AI Leaders Programme, designed to help leaders stay up to date with key developments.

The Human Cost of Automation

The Help to Grow scheme itself is an acknowledgement of the government’s understanding of the necessary role which AI and other technology will play in this next chapter. The pandemic was a ‘trial by fire’ lesson in the importance of digital transformation, as even the most resistant organisations and individuals were left with no choice but to rely on technology to function. The difference now is that while most of the technology we turned to during the pandemic helped us simply stay connected and stay afloat, the technology we turn to next will be strategically focused on creating impactful and long-term change.

Much has been written about the numerous benefits that AI and automation can provide to organisations, especially in terms of productivity and cost savings. Normally, when business leaders are thinking about their AI adoption plans and their objectives, it is these benefits that they tend to focus on. But opportunity has its costs, and the change in practices that AI brings about raises some very serious questions about the impact on human staff.

The major focus we should take from the Help to Grow scheme is the emphasis on skill building, which is both intentional and necessary. It is crucial that any organisation looking at digital transformation, no matter how big or small, ensure that human staff understand the technology they are adopting as well as its uses and implications. A common misconception surrounding AI is that it is here to replace the human workforce. The reality is that AI has not yet reached a level of human intelligence that would allow it to be fully self-sufficient. Most tools that businesses will be looking to adopt tend to rely on a partnership between human and machine. Teams will be needed to oversee the technology, but more importantly they will be required to make sense of any insights and transform them into actions for the business.

That said, there will be certain cases where technology does displace human staff. In AI’s current phase, this is more likely to occur in tasks or roles that are heavily routinised, potentially dangerous, or methodical. There are many examples of this already occurring in manufacturing, agricultural, and distribution functions, amongst others.

When beginning a transformation project, it is essential that the organisation’s leadership look beyond the benefits to the business and examine the potential impacts on staff. On one hand, effort is required to ensure that the staff you have on hand are well prepared to deal with any changes. This is where upskilling initiatives such as those included in the Help to Grow scheme become crucial in terms of involving staff in the next phase of development.

On the other hand, what action is required to assist those left behind by AI? One option is reskilling and helping leaders and staff to develop skills and capabilities that differ from those required by their current role so that they may serve the business in another area. This reskilling may also focus on the human capabilities that technology (currently) cannot replicate, such as empathy, understanding, or strategy. However, if redundancies are deemed necessary, how can you provide support? It might be worth investing in executive outplacement services to help these individuals transition to a new role. Regardless of the approach you select, it is essential that you factor in the human and reputational costs when adopting AI.

Bias and Ethics

Apart from the displacement and critical reskilling needs of the human workforce, additional concerns with AI tend to focus on macros issues such as privacy, bias, and ethics. Customers are wary about the amount of personal data collected and how it is used. In Europe and the UK there are certain policies in place such as GDPR which partially govern this, but at present, AI remains largely unregulated.

Several professional bodies have begun developing their own codes of practice, and governments around the world are working to do this on both a national and global level. The work of the APPG AI community is helping to contribute to these efforts in the UK, and these issues are often discussed in the group’s evidence meetings. But until there are a set of standards or guiding principles that businesses can refer to and adhere to, how can you ensure your AI project avoids violating any ethical rules?

The past year raised some very pertinent ethical discussions, especially in regard to diversity and equality. The leadership team will need to deeply examine and make decisions about potential issues that may affect the outputs of the new technology. This will require answering some very important questions. Who do you have overseeing these systems? How do you plan to use the data you collect? What steps do you intend to take to protect this data and the customers it belongs to? What potential biases may arise from the data or how it is treated? Having answers to the tough questions will help to develop a set of standards or practices for the entire organisation to abide by to ensure any major breaches are avoided.

When adopting AI or other disruptive technologies, it is easy to become blinded by the potential benefits for the business. As we enter the next ‘normal’, it is essential that leaders deepen their understanding of what is happening with technology on a macro level, what impacts might be felt within the business, and how they can ensure that their new endeavour has both internal and external benefits. Membership of the Rialto AI Leaders Programme is a great way to accomplish this, which enabled members to take part in thought-provoking high-level evidence sessions, hearing discussions of the major macro issues first-hand. Furthermore, members are kept up to date with the latest developments, trends, innovations, ROI case studies, and investments on AI.

In the first instalment of our Personal Digital Branding series, we introduced the foundations to creating a representative ‘personal’ profile. In the second blog of the series, we delved into the ‘digital’ side of personal digital branding and provided our top tips for selecting the right social medium and using it to your advantage.

This article continues the series, exploring the ways in which you can bring your brand to life through thought leadership and the creation and curation of quality content. The right thought leadership can make the difference in positioning you as an aligned and relevant leader in the future world of work, thus ensuring you are better known and sought after in target areas.

What is Thought Leadership?

Every industry has its key players, the individuals that others turn to for insights or expertise on selected topics. These individuals are considered thought leaders and have earned that distinction through the active and strategic building of their profile within their designated space.

If executed properly, thought leadership can be a hugely beneficial tool for differentiating oneself in an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace. This may prove helpful in an executive career transition, with securing new business, or attracting other opportunities for networking, NED roles, or further reputation-boosting publicity. Implicitly, people want to work with someone they can trust; an individual who they believe is best suited for the job. Thought leadership helps build that trust, authority, and credibility.

Thought leaders actively connect with others in their industry and attract valuable connections from outside of their immediate network, too. They are up to date with the latest developments and engaged in discussion about the issues, trends, and news impacting their space. They may be frequent commentators in the media, or active on the global keynote circuit (virtual or face-to-face). Alternatively, these individuals benefit from having a really strong and active social media presence or a great content strategy.

Our previous blog provided guidance for developing this strategy, but a key question is what should you actually be sharing in order to build your credibility? What separates good thought leadership content from average material?

What Do Thought Leaders Share?

We work very closely with our Personal Digital Branding clients, helping each Executive to perfect their thought leadership. In doing so, we help them to stand out from the crowd. Typically, once a client reaches this point in the process, they have already completed the essential work of clarifying their objective – for example, identifying the top organisations for whom they would particularly like to work and clarifying the compelling value proposition they have to share. They will understand their personal digital brand and areas of expertise. Our experts will also have helped them research the best ways to reach their target audiences and helped them to articulate key messages through different communication channels. Strong digital content is the next step for bringing those elements together to create results.

The types of content you should share as a thought leader will and should vary. Here are just a few examples:

• Blogs/Articles: The long format of this type of content allows you the space and freedom to go into depth about your key topics. You may choose to publish these directly on your personal website or your company’s site, if allowed, and share a link to the article via your chosen social platforms. Alternatively, LinkedIn allows its users to publish ‘Articles’ directly on the platform. These articles function exactly the same way a blog would and are an excellent option for executives who lack a platform for posting elsewhere.
• Personal updates: These posts provide your network with glimpses into your professional life. This may include news of any nominations or awards won, initiatives you have taken part in, promotions or new roles you have taken on, and attendance of or participation in any relevant industry events. However, do not confuse the definition of ‘personal’ here. Any updates you share about yourself should pertain to your professional developments or achievements.
• Company updates: If allowed and appropriate, you should share the projects your company is working on, relevant news or updates from your organisation, any mentions of your company in the news, case studies, or awards won.
• Third-party resources: Sharing news, articles, blogs, or other content from credible third-party sources about relevant topics is a great way of showing that you are tuned into what’s happening in your industry and the wider world around you. That said, when you share this type of content, you should always ensure that there is some sort of value add. Do not simply share a link and go. Always try to add a bit of insight, commentary, or critical thought.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, a great way to get a feel for what this content looks like in practice is to examine the profiles of the thought leaders you admire. Visit their social profiles, read their blogs, and note the things you feel that they are doing right. Take those lessons back with you and adapt them to suit your style, goals, and strategy.

Thought Leadership Content Tips:

Thought leadership takes time to cultivate. To become a thought leader, you need to remain vigilant and stay on top of your posting. Here are a few final pieces of advice to build your personal digital brand:

• Tag to build your network: Tag in posts wherever you can in order to draw more eyes to your content. Tag anyone directly related to the content, or you can even tag individuals who you think might be interested in what you have shared. Actively interacting with peers is a great way to continue growing your network and raising your name recognition in the industry.
• Add value: Reiterating our earlier point, thought leadership content should always come with a value add, no matter what the style of content. When sharing third-party content, avoid presenting it without any type of commentary or simply recapping what is there. A few brief lines of analysis will help to establish your position as a thought leader in that particular topic or area. When writing a blog, share any advice or insight you can with your readers. Do not be afraid to inject your own professional experiences in order to provide real-world context.
• Let your brand shine through: After all of the hard work you have put in up to this point, you should have a very clear idea of what your personal digital brand identity is. This should hopefully make it very easy to shape the content you create and select the topics you discuss. The time has come to let your brand shine through. Be your own champion. Do not be afraid to voice your opinions or share your insights and expertise on the topics you are experienced in and passionate about.
• Stay active: This will play into the strategy you previously devised, but in order to become a thought leader and stay that way, you do need to engage with your audience regularly. Our previous blog provided tips for determining the frequency of your activity. But a mistake that many professionals tend to make is pursuing thought leadership to achieve a specific goal, and then dropping their activity once that goal has been met. Maintain it if you can. If your thought leadership activity helped you to secure a new role, it is likely that your new employer was drawn to the idea of having a respected expert on their team. If thought leadership brought in some new connections or opportunities for you before, it will continue to do so if you maintain momentum.

Personal digital branding and thought leadership can be hard work but can also bring about some incredible and valuable opportunities for your career including internal promotion or external appointments. Once you have found your stride and determined which content works for you and your audience, keeping up with thought leadership should become a natural and effortless part of your normal professional activity. Make it part of your daily routine. Be patient, as it will take time to build trust and credibility. But with time, you are likely to find that putting in the work to pursue thought leadership was a worthwhile investment in your career and professional development.

During 2020, digital transformation initiatives helped businesses to stay afloat when the world was plunged into challenging and uncharted territory. 2021 is a time for businesses to build on what they put in place in order to thrive rather than simply survive. We touched on technology in our Essential Leadership Requirements for 2021, but felt it was worth highlighting some of the key artificial intelligence (AI) and workplace technologies that leaders are prioritising this year and exploring how they will impact our working lives. Here is what you need to know about AI and tech’s potential in the working world in 2021:

The AI Imperative

We have spent the past several years discussing ‘the future of work’ and the ways that technology will eventually shake up the workplace. But the fact of the matter is, developments such as COVID and constant global innovation have accelerated the timeline, and the future has now arrived. Going forward, the future we have been predicting and planning for will start to be accepted as the norm. The time has come to sink or swim, adapt or accept defeat.

At this point, the benefits of AI, Cloud, and other disruptive technologies have been discussed at length. It should no longer seem unfathomable that AI will touch every aspect of our lives in due course. We interact with it on a daily basis without even realising or thinking twice about it. The tech already lives in our phones, our smart speakers, our email, our social media feeds, our streaming platforms, and our online shopping baskets. It may already be embedded in features of the software you use at work or will likely be introduced soon.

Better Technology, Bigger Possibilities, and Buy-in Challenges

We can expect to see an even greater acceleration in the advancement and intelligence performed by technology during 2021.

What this means is that work will become ‘smarter’ as businesses adopt new technology to help enhance their practices, speed up their processes, gain in-depth insights into the needs of their customers, discover patterns, reveal anomalies, and make predictions and decisions. Given the advancement of AI and machine learning in the past year, and the developments still to come in the year ahead, AI is increasingly becoming a key driver of organisational performance. The organisations who are leading the pack in adoption are already reaping massive benefits in productivity, efficiency, cost and resource saving, and competitive advantage.

We have become a bit spoilt for choice when it comes to available tools and vendors. The benefit of this is that regardless of an organisation’s challenges or goals, there is likely to be a solution readily available to help. With automation able to handle the routinised and data-driven functions of the business, human staff are freed up from the mundane aspects of their role and able to focus on more meaningful work.  They will also have more time to focus on the creative or strategic functions that technology cannot yet perform, this being a huge benefit for businesses which need to drive more innovation.

However, even though AI will reshape rather than replace most professional roles, there will almost certainly be discomfort or pushback from staff as their jobs change. Some may cling to the status quo and reject AI’s assistance, or feel threatened. The key here is for business leaders to offer their staff adequate support and preparation throughout the transformation process. This will likely involve offering retraining or upskilling opportunities to help staff develop future-ready skills and adjust to the evolving needs of the business. It is also crucial for leaders to serve as champions of change within their organisation. By increasing their own understanding of new technologies, business leaders can better address staff concerns, which helps to inspire confidence in the future of the organisation and its leadership.

Changing Expectations

2020 was a massive turning point when it came to our level of comfort with using digital interactions in our daily lives. Customers’ priorities and expectations have shifted after a year of living through a pandemic. Businesses closed their physical doors due to restrictions, so their customers flocked to their websites. As a result, there is a greater focus on providing effective, differentiated digital experiences than ever before.

We do not know how long the current restrictions will last, but as we look ahead to when life returns to some semblance of normalcy, it is likely that customers will no longer be satisfied with distinctly physical or digital experiences. Instead, business leaders need to prepare to offer their customers a blend of the best of both. AI can be used to offer customers a personalised experience that transitions seamlessly between the digital and physical environments, when allowed. Expect forward-thinking leaders to begin planning for this over the next several months.

Customer needs, behaviours, and expectations shift quickly and often. It is crucial for business leaders to stay on top of these trends in order to provide the experiences their customers expect and the products and services that will best meet their changing needs. It can be hard to keep track of these shifts, but AI tools make it easier track changes as they happen and gain deeper insight into their customer base. This will prove critical to business leaders as they try to move their organisation forward post-pandemic, and it is a benefit which leaders should factor in when considering adopting AI.

Smarter Strategy

Every industry has its leaders and its laggards, but most businesses today fall somewhere in the middle. These organisations and their leadership most likely understand that the world of work is evolving and that they need to adapt in order to survive. But as we start 2021, most of these organisations are still struggling with where to begin.

While having many vendors and tools in the market means that businesses have plenty of options, the drawback is that it can be difficult to know who to turn to. Conversely, with so many shiny tools available, it can be tempting to adopt whatever sounds the best or makes the most promises as opposed to the most effective tool for solving the problems at hand.

That is why it is so crucial for leaders to have a strategy in place. This should be the starting point for all digital transformation processes. Businesses undoubtedly have many challenges to overcome this year, but the specifics of those problems and the outcomes you are looking to achieve need to be identified first and foremost.

We have spoken in previous years of there needing to be a greater emphasis on having tech savvy executives in the C-suite to drive the change process, and we expect to see this accelerate in 2021. The shift of technology being the responsibility of the CIO or CTO will also continue to decline as more ownership needs to be held across many levels. Given that the impacts of new technology will touch every aspect of the organisation, it is crucial that the entire board understands the impacts, benefits, risks, and so on. Whether it is the CEO or CTO who leads the change, there needs to be a team of empowered and well-informed executive leaders driving the development of the strategy. It will be the responsibility of this team to define, expand, and shape the vision through effective collaborations with the workforce that creates alignment and buy-in throughout the organisation. Having the right skills, displaying the right behaviours and understanding how and what each person and process contributes is critical.

Investing in the future of work

Last year opened our eyes to just how much more beneficial and impactful technology can be in the workplace to remain competitive, increase employee experience and customer satisfaction. This year, leaders need to further expand their thinking to focus on how AI and technology can be used to help them get ahead rather than just stay afloat. Upskilling or retraining can help leaders deepen their understanding of AI while also developing the right skills to help inform the strategy and implement it.

It will also be vitally important for leaders to understand how AI and disruptive technology are impacting businesses across their industry and other sector, as well as learning how this technology is being regulated, and what the major trends are globally*.

Attending AI courses or programmes such as the Rialto AI Leaders Programme is a great way for executives to improve their relationship with AI, deepen their understanding of it, keep up with trends, and gain actionable insights that can then be applied to their business. They can then take the insights, skills, and knowledge gained back to their boardroom to create a strategy that leverages AI to its full potential.

As many executives begin to come to grips with AI, we expect 2021 to see greater investment, shifts in priorities, a bigger focus on digital skills, and smarter and more tech-driven strategies. Just as the idea of returning to a five-day in-office work week may seem old-fashioned to many of us now, we expect that by the end of this year, we will feel the same about not using artificial intelligence in our day-to-day practice.  The fact of the matter is that the time has now come to sink or swim, and those who swim safely to shore after the major waves of the pandemic have died down will most definitely be those who leveraged AI to chart their path forward.

In this short video, Martin Barrett, Managing Director of Turner & Townsend Suiko, talks to Lesley Lindberg about some of the leadership challenges he has observed through the UK lockdown.

We know that digital is the new normal. As Nike CEO John Dinahoe has put it, the customer today is digitally grounded and simply will not revert back.

With more aspects of our lives incorporating digital, a strategic personal digital branding programme is now an essential component of a successful career plan.  In a previous blog, we discussed the steps you should take in order to define your personal digital brand. This stage required you to think realistically and critically about your personal and professional talents, strengths, achievements, and aspirations. You took the time to determine your purpose, set out your short to mid term goals, audit yourself, and identify the key accomplishments, skills, and attributes you need to champion to align to future market needs. The next step is it to delve into the ‘digital’ element, and how you can begin to convey that personal brand online.

The ‘Digital’ Aspects of Personal Digital Branding

For many, their perception of a ‘personal digital brand’ may be limited to a social media presence. While it is arguably the area with the most opportunity for growth and experimentation, your social profiles are not the only place where your brand comes to life.

Your online presence needs to match who you are in every other setting and scenario of your professional life. Your personal digital brand identity should be felt in the text and WhatsApp messages you send to your contacts. It needs to come across in the email communications you have with partners and prospects. Is the tone consistent? Do you convey similar messages across your digital footprint? This echoes the message in the earlier blog about consistency being the key to authenticity. Your personal digital brand will only work for you if it truly reflects who you are and what you have to offer professionally and how relevant it is for the future market trends and needs.

Social media is not the only digital element of your personal digital brand, but it is definitely where it will be leveraged and showcased the most. It is a tool that is proving too vital to ignore. According to a recent report, the most social media-savvy CEOs had a 5% higher Glassdoor rating, with their companies being rated 3% higher, too. C-suite leaders from some of the world’s top brands use social media daily to advocate for their organisations, establish themselves as industry voices and thought leaders, manage reputation, and build their own personal digital brand. To see some strong examples of this in action, visit the LinkedIn profiles of Walmart Inc’s Doug McMillon, Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman, or Royal Dutch Shell’s Ben van Beurden.

Looking at how other leading executives are using their social media to leverage their personal digital brand online should provide you with inspiration for developing your own strategy. Here is some guidance from us to get you started.

Deciding which Social Medium is right for you

We recommend that you choose one platform and focus your efforts on actively engaging your shareholders, employees, prospects, partners, industry peers, and the general public there. You do not need to maintain a presence on every single site. In fact, if you allocate your efforts properly, you can usually secure better results from a single platform than you would from attempting to be everywhere at once.

Typically, LinkedIn and Twitter are the two most popular platforms for professionals. LinkedIn is the most popular platform for corporate leaders with 44% of CEOs having some sort of presence, while Twitter is second choice with 15%. The choice of which platform to use may come down to personal preference. Some executives may feel overwhelmed by the range of available features on LinkedIn, while others may find Twitter’s character limit to be a bit challenging for detailed thought leadership.

There is a vast amount of data available about social media usage, segmented by a wide range of demographic and psychographic characteristics. If you know who you want to target, you should definitely look into where you have the best chance of reaching them and how they actually use their chosen platforms. It will vary by site.

It is called social networking for a reason, so ask your peers, colleagues, and contacts what platforms they use and how they use them. Check out your competitors’ profiles to see how they exploit social media. If there is a person you particularly admire, learn from their profiles and note what you believe they are doing right.

Even if you already have a social media presence, there is always something you can learn from your peers. Social media is not static. Platforms, trends, and user behaviours change regularly, and your strategy will need to evolve.

Top Tips for Social Media Engagement

Here are some general social media guidelines to follow for those wanting to build their own personal digital branding presence

• Don’t Overwhelm Your Audience: The point of maintaining a professional social media presence is to get in front of your audiences, but there is a fine line between under sharing, oversharing, and just the right amount of frequency. You will of course want to post frequently enough to be seen and considered ‘active,’ but not so much that your posts become irritating and off-putting. If your posts clog their feeds, you risk your audience tuning out or unfollowing. A good rule of thumb is to post three to five times per week, and no more than twice in one day.
• Build an Online Community: Treat your social media community the way you would treat your wider digital or offline contacts. Follow or connect with your colleagues, stakeholders, partners, contacts, and prospects. If you attend an event or speak at a conference, connect with the other attendees or speakers. Also, be sure to follow key figures in your specific industry, news sources, or prominent companies. Interact with others’ content by liking, resharing with commentary, or leaving value-add or encouraging comments. LinkedIn has a Groups feature, which allows professionals to connect with and share insights with professionals they share interests or characteristics with. There is a group for almost everything. Start by exploring relevant groups for your industry or job function, and then look into others related to your geography, education, or other characteristics (i.e. ‘Women in Business’ groups)
• Be Personable: When reaching out to new connections on LinkedIn, be sure you always customise the invitation. These requests feel much more personal and are less likely to be ignored or denied. Your invitation should briefly introduce the contact to you, highlight any common ground you may share (i.e. attendance at a recent conference, group membership, mutual contacts), and close with a friendly message. Just as you would not lead with a sales pitch when meeting face-to-face, you should not attempt to sell overtly in these connection request messages.
• Content is Key: Ensure that your content reflects the goals you set for yourself and the personal digital brand image you defined early on in the process. Your content should not be self-promotion, and to be considered a thought leader you need to contribute to the greater conversation. Share third-party articles relevant to your industry job function, new regulations, or pertaining to other areas of interest or causes you champion. However, instead of simply sharing links, be sure to add some analysis or commentary. If allowed, keep your followers updated about the projects you are working on, the events you are attending and participating in, or the latest news from your company. Your content should reflect that you are tuned into what is going on in your industry and you have valuable insights to offer. Your followers should be able to get a good sense of your interests and positioning based on the content you curate.
• Pay Attention to Your Audience: Keep track of what’s working and what isn’t for your audience. What types of posts resonate the most or earn the most engagement? What time of day does your audience seem to be most active? Do not be afraid to experiment with different times and alternative types of content until you find what works for both you and your followers.

Your hard work in the early stages of digital personal branding will start to take a concrete shape once you begin applying the principles of your brand online. It will require trial and error, but so long as you remain authentic and stay focused on your goals, maintaining your brand will become a natural and integral part of your regular workday activity and attract opportunities you seek.

Don’t let complacency stall your career

Between a global pandemic, a double-dip recession, ongoing digital transformation and more, navigating an executive career move is proving to be both more complex and riskier across every sector. The world is changing around us, presenting new challenges and opportunities every day.

Some executives who may have been resisting digital transformation have had to quickly pivot in order to stay operational and competitive. Meanwhile, those who have been pushing for change in their organisation may suddenly find that they now have the internal support and resources needed to achieve their vision after facing periods of pushback. Some executives will unfortunately be made redundant, while others may feel bogged down by an organisation that is deeply concerned with tightening the purse strings.

Research indicates that in today’s world, the average person has five careers throughout their life which rarely follow a linear direction, instead taking diagonal or horizontal routes. This has been a growing trend, as professionals no longer feel obligated to remain in unfulfilling roles and have an abundance of opportunities for reskilling and changing course. Sometimes, these changes happen due to a desire to pursue a passion or find a more satisfying role. Alternatively, executives may change direction as a means of self-preservation, finding a new path before being made obsolete by plateauing organisations, new technology, automation or other threats. Many executives will be feeling these pressures in the current digital-driven climate, as artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies reshape the business landscape.

With new challenges come new opportunities and dilemmas for professionals whose current situation no longer suits their career path, organisation, or industry. These professionals must decide whether to stick it out in their current career trajectory, or to twist and change course towards something new, fulfilling and future ready. But when faced with such a massive dilemma, how do you determine your next step?

Establish Your Priorities

Circumstances are not created equal, and every executive has their own set of personal and professional considerations. When deciding your next step, it is crucial that you understand your own individual circumstances. Perhaps you have fiscal or familial obligations that you need to fulfil. Maybe your hand has been forced due to changes to your role or within your company or industry. The factors driving you to change course will absolutely play into the decision-making process and should not be an afterthought.

The most important consideration to make involves your own personal and professional fulfilment. In our recent blog on developing a personal digital brand, we discussed the importance of determining your ‘Why’ when attempting to understand who you are as a professional. The same principles apply here. Having a clear idea of who you are professionally, what skillsets you’ve gained that will add value, what is important to you, and what goals you would like to achieve will help you assess whether or not you are receiving the level of fulfilment you need from your current career path. You need to ask yourself what your objectives are in order to continue to be successful and fulfil your ambitions. What is it that will satisfy you personally? What do you need to change or find in order to achieve that goal?

Being fully aware of your personal brand and how you compare with those in the same playing field will be a major advantage here. You will have a better sense of what your skills are, what you enjoy doing, and what you bring to the table. You will also be able to shape what upskilling, reskilling or cross-skilling may be required.  This self-awareness is key for deciding your place in the evolving landscape. For example, you may lack tech savviness, but are a gifted creative or strong strategic thinker. Instead of scrambling to adapt to new technology, you may choose to seek out a role that plays to your strengths. An honest assessment of your own skills, passions, and abilities will help you to ascertain what you have to offer, what you want to do next and where the gaps might be for you to compete given prevailing market trends.

Navigating a career in the face of technological advancement

At Rialto, we advise our clients to consider all of their options when it comes to career progression, whilst being increasingly mindful of the role that technology is playing in the future world of work.

For some, a career transition involves taking a step back to reassess your skillset and what you can offer your industry. This usually means allowing automation and machines to do what they are designed for and to take over the space you previously occupied. This does not mean you are regressing or bypassing innovation. Rather, stepping in this direction involves narrowing in on your talents, skills, and passions in order to develop a specialisation that is not currently serviceable with automation. This specialisation may fall into a field where there is no feasible business case for implementing new technology, or where a human could potentially be more knowledgeable. The focus can be on a skills gap that machines cannot currently fill.  There are niche pockets within every industry that are not currently hot targets for mechanisation, and while some of these niches will stay this way, others may become targets later on. Professionals who step in this direction typically pivot to roles such as those requiring creativity, empathy, or vision. Developing a foothold in these pockets presents an interesting opportunity later down the road for professionals to help drive the development of technology and tools in their specialty.

For others, stepping forward to drive the development of future technology and tools is the answer to immediate progression. While this sounds technical, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Technology and automation are a huge asset to businesses, but it takes human minds to understand the ways that technology benefits specific areas of the business. This direction can involve taking on more transformational, strategic or advisory roles but equally be more hands-on and require you to work directly with the solutions and technologies.  You may lend your expertise to overseeing the work carried out by automation, essentially managing the technology to ensure it runs smoothly and accomplishes what it’s meant to. Or you may need to push aside any previous hesitation or cynicism and fully embrace new tools in your existing role. Machines are incredible things, but even with all of their incredible capabilities, they still require some human involvement to ensure the outputs are right. By choosing to head in this direction you are acknowledging your acceptance of the more hybrid workforce and demonstrating an openness to embrace these tools for the success of the organisation.

As the old saying goes, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” With the amount of change that is taking place daily, we as professionals cannot possibly expect that our careers will not need to evolve as a result. The worst response is to resign ourselves to complacency. This does not always necessitate a full-on career switch. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of thinking differently about what is happening, what is possible, and what role you would like to play in a world being reset.