The future role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in shaping organizational cultures within workplaces could be substantial.
The future role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in shaping organizational cultures within workplaces could be substantial.
When my organization, Centric Consulting, witnessed a significant growth phase, fissures started appearing in our workplace ethos. An escalating number of situations didn't progress as anticipated. Our leaders found it challenging to invest quality time in coaching every employee on our fundamental values. To guarantee the enduring survival of our intended ethos as the company expanded, we implemented an extensive ethos training program for all employees, coupled with value system leadership training for our leaders.
This situation transpired over two decades ago. If similar fissures unraveled in our ethos today, AI could potentially be a relevant solution.
AI and ethos may appear to be an unusual pairing. AI is synonymous with advanced technology, whereas ethos is deeply rooted in humanity, covering interpersonal relations, client interactions, and work partnerships.
However, some experts advocated that AI may be the appropriate tool to address the predicament my organization encountered years ago: how can one ensure every employee grasps the ethos and develops better habits in communication and teamwork?
Employing AI to Enhance Employee Coaching and Foster Better Workplace Ethos
One such proponent of employing AI for ethos improvement is Andrew Rashbass, a member of the van der Schaar Lab, renowned for AI and machine learning research at the University of Cambridge. Rashbass is also the founder of ScultureAI, a tool that coaches employees in their everyday digital interactions, guiding them towards desired organizational ethos valuations.
Coaching has long been celebrated as a potent catalyst for organizational change, aiding companies in enhancing leadership, team efficiency, and employee self-efficacy—all attributes contributing to ethos. A recent Harvard Business Review article described coaching as “a task that all managers should engage in with all their team members, all the time, in methods that shape the organization’s ethos and proactively advances its mission."
One-on-one coaching is also time-consuming, and leaders can only mentor a limited number of individuals. While AI-driven coaching cannot replicate the effectiveness of one-on-one guidance, Rashbass suggests that an '80/20' approach should be considered. "Is it feasible to achieve 80% of that value and scale it to thousands of instances?" he ponders, adding that AI should be regarded as a supplement, not a replacement for, personalized coaching.
Rashbass and his team developed ScultureAI to accomplish just that. The tool is trained on an organization's fundamental values—a process CEO Elie Rashbass refers to as ethos encoding—and leverages its insights to suggest modifications to emails and collaborative team chats on platforms like Teams or Slack. Spread across an entire organization, ScultureAI can facilitate countless everyday coaching moments each day, accumulating a substantial impact, Rashbass asserts.
"Many organizations haven’t actually considered the colossal volume of in-the-moment everyday transactions, which is where a significant portion of ethos challenges arise," he says. "Micro-interactions, especially digital ones, are the genuine fabric of organizational change." This becomes particularly relevant in hybrid or remote work environments, where communication primarily occurs through digital channels (such as my company).
Admittedly, employing AI for coaching is merely one of several potential applications of AI to ethos enhancements. For instance, the technology shows potential in mining ethos-related insights from digital residue, assisting leaders in pinpointing regions requiring improvement.
Guidelines for Using AI to Improve Workplace Ethos without Eroding Trust
Implementing AI to improve any facet of an organization—including ethos—presents a distinct challenge. One prominent challenge is "AI trust." Adam Holtby, a workplace transformation and future of work expert and analyst at Omdia, a technology and advisory group, explained, "Decisions made using AI-generated insights or data should be executed with an element of transparency and fairness."
Ethos is paramount when it comes to trust. A potent ethos simply cannot thrive without trust among team members and between employees and leadership. In essence, if employees perceive AI as an invasive tool, this could significantly degrade organizational trust.
So, how can an AI tool like ScultureAI circumvent this "AI trust issue" without damaging organizational trust? Rashbass asserts that his team prioritized this concern during the design process to prevent any unintended damage to organizational trust. They opted for an on-demand coaching mechanism—employees must actively prompt the tool to accept coaching in the moment—and the company is committed to avoiding data collection.
Naturally, leaders should perform a thorough evaluation before implementing any AI tool, including those for ethos or other purposes, to ensure the tool possesses safeguards against trust concerns. Holtby suggests that leaders focus on data security and confidentiality, along with adherence to ethical standards. Moreover, he emphasizes, "From a data perspective, it is vital that employees comprehend the data being collected and how it will be utilized. From a broader strategic perspective, engaging staff in the creation and subsequent implementation of any AI system is essential."
Pondering How AI Could Amplify Workplace Ethos
While ethos has yet to attract substantial attention in the discussion of AI's potential to enhance workplaces, this may change soon. Ethos plays a pivotal role in an organization's performance, and it is a common area of difficulty: A recent Gallup poll revealed that just 21% of U.S. employees feel strongly connected to their ethos.
Leaders have a considerable undertaking when contemplating the nexus of AI technology and workplace ethos. Several leaders have confined their pondering to how AI can automate processes or boost productivity, Rashbass says.
"The significant opportunities lie with people who are considering more advanced transformation—those who are questioning what it is that we can now do that was never before even imagined, and striving to alter the essence of work, changing what's possible."
In the context of enhancing employee coaching and fostering a better workplace ethos, Andrew Rashbass from the van der Schaar Lab suggests using AI tools like ScultureAI. This tool is trained on an organization's fundamental values and offers suggestions for improving digital interactions, potentially facilitating countless daily coaching moments.
Implementing AI for ethos enhancements presents a challenge of ensuring trust among employees. To address this, Rashbass' team prioritized an on-demand coaching mechanism and avoided data collection, leaving the decision to seek coaching to the employee's discretion. Leaders should perform a thorough evaluation of any AI tool to ensure it adheres to ethical standards, secures data, and makes its usage and data utilization clear to employees.