We have heard some CEOs contest the longevity of the knowledge-based economy. As AI and digitisation take a stronghold across most businesses and in nearly all industries, many CEOs are wondering if artificial intelligence will replace jobs. However, job transformation does not need to mean job replacement. Instead, new specialised jobs will need to be created to maintain these technologies. Today we’ll be elaborating on this topic as we talk about a comprehensive overview of job replacement with new technologies.

 

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Before we delve deeper, let us first discuss job transformation and job replacement for us to better understand the difference.

 

Job Replacement and Transformation: What makes the two different from one another?

 

Job transformation and job replacement are two business strategies. They are related but they are not exactly identical.

 

Job transformation is complex. It is a condition in which pliable workspaces go through modifications to fit various types of work, personnel, and technology. It takes place as leaders choose to take action by motivating the organization, investing in people, as well as developing and managing change. 

Prospering in a digital world requires job transformation, especially when adjusting to technological advancements. Your business must continually adapt due to the rapid pace of change.

 

It is crucial for the growth of a workforce to be knowledgeable, strategic, cognitively flexible, and skilled. Therefore, weaving transformation into the organization’s fabric is vital.

 

Job replacement, on the other hand, by its definition is simpler. It is when one takes the place or becomes a substitute for someone’s job—in our context, AI replacing humans. Several enterprises, including but not limited to e-commerce, food, hotels, fashion, automotive, and retail, have previously gone this route.

 

At Taylor Wells, we believe that job transformation does not always have to be the same as job replacement. In the next section, we talk about how and why.

 

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Job Transformation: How to build and lead a digital sales team structure effectively

 

There is no doubt that significant technological advancements are disrupting how people think about and do work. To date, 9.1 million jobs have been lost to AI. These include jobs that are highly dependent on routines, which even include accountants and lawyers. Many wonder what the are effects of how AI is transforming the world.

 

Basically, any jobs that can be encoded into an algorithm could be at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence in the coming future. Physical or manual labour work that involves repetitive movements could also be transformed.

 

Many people fear that eventually, there won’t be enough work for everyone in the coming years. This is a question that will remain unanswered for a certain period of time. But some experts remain optimistic that this won’t be the case.

 

Why AI Can’t Completely Replace Humans in the Workforce

 

The primary reason why experts think that AI will never be able to take over our jobs relies on its lack of emotional intelligence and inability to do creative work.

 

Many jobs entail building trust and social relationships. This is to encourage employees to settle, open up, and communicate about themselves. Some artificial intelligence-based devices are known to imitate human speech, but they lack empathy which humans are capable of.

 

We must also deal with and collaborate with a variety of people when we work. What’s more, many of us achieve higher potentials as individuals while working in groups.

 

Additionally, several studies suggest that teams produce superior and more creative outcomes. While AI’s are not usually found working in teams or collaborating.

 

The code dictates and limits AI’s capabilities. This results in falling short in terms of developing creative solutions to many emerging challenges. It is feasible that one day a machine will be able to think for itself but it will not happen anytime soon.

 

Nonetheless, we must consider the tremendous shifts in the workforce brought about by technology. CEOs, managers, and leaders must prepare to navigate their businesses through difficult times that demand job transformation.

 

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In his study, Gownder quotes a rather conservative estimate of the total global number of jobs lost. The number is still significant; indicating that robotics and AI are likely to progress at an unprecedented rate.

 

CEOs are thinking deeply about the progress and impact of AI on their workforce. Whether it is software, robots, algorithms or automation, most CEOs know that AI is gradually taking over basic thinking and tasks. How long will it be until AI subsumes more complex, specialist knowledge-based thinking and tasks? And what should CEOs be doing now to prepare their people for the future of work?

 

Below are 3 basic management skills that will help organisations how to build and lead a digital sales team structure effectively:

 

Technical skills

 

Technical skills impart the knowledge and abilities required to improve sales, optimising products and services development, and marketing strategies. These are industry-specific skills such as task or project management and planning. It may also be product management that oversees user experience design, product testing, and building roadmaps.

 

These skills are best suited for first-level managers than for top managers and in the bottoms-up approach, they become less and less important as you reach the higher hierarchy.

 

Conceptual skills

 

This requires more abstract thinking that includes the analysis and diagnosis of internal problems. Research, presentation, brainstorming, analysis, collaborating, innovating, decision-making, and implementing solutions are just some of the examples. These skills often enable forecasting business and marketing trends, apart from the future of the organisation and its teams.

 

You have to be knowledgeable in communicating, pinpointing the causes of problems, and conceptualising in the process. These skills are crucial in dealing with and solving complicated problems with more than one solution.

 

Conceptual skills are highly suited for top managers and much less required for mid-level supervisors. The need for this range of knowledge and abilities grow as you reach up the hierarchy.

 

Interpersonal management skills

 

How you work with people speaks volumes, regardless of your position in a workplace hierarchy. As a subordinate, having the right knowledge and ability to work well with people can make or break your career (earn a promotion or be fired/demoted or transferred). As a manager, interpersonal skills are a major indicator of a team’s overall success or doom.

 

Communicating expectations is the first step. Then, you can motivate employees to achieve more targets and showcase leadership, teamwork, and networking skills to solve problems. In conflict management situations, you must know if you are an empathetic manager.  Are you adaptable? Do you empower your employees and encourage creative solutions? Or do you prefer rigid processes? What should your business culture look like? Is there intellectual diversity among your teams?

 

In any team, there will always be clashing opinions and inevitable conflict. So, it helps to know your employees’ personalities, backgrounds, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. On the other hand, you don’t have to act as the referee for every minor disagreement. It’s just as important to teach your team to be able to resolve conflict on their own as much as possible.

 

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Job transformation: how to build and lead a digital sales team structure effectively

Job transformation in AI is changing commercial management teams and how to build and lead a digital sales team structure effectively

 

AI technology is in its early stages and there are still glitches, issues, overloads, and outages that need to be figured out. Hence, buying software is not the ultimate solution to your commercial challenges. You still need talented people to fix, solve, and innovate problems.

 

AI is still about 25 years off automating complex thinking and knowledge tasks. There is no real evidence of AI overtaking jobs. In fact, the number of system failures occurring is actually creating new jobs. People still drive technology, not the other way around.

 

The major disruption resulting from advancements in AI is not job replacement, but job transformation. Better technology changes the mix of jobs and re-prioritises skills and tasks.

 

 

Job Transformation in AI facilitates the creation of new jobs and how to build and lead a digital sales team structure effectively

 

How well humans and AI work together to form adaptive teams will decide the future of the workforce. In combining our strengths and that of AI, we can expect better business outcomes.

 

As AI becomes more widely used in enterprises, there will be a necessity for AI moderators who can help companies build their own AI ecosystems. AI will also create a desire for new positions despite the fact that it also eliminates the need for certain roles. 

 

On the other hand, humans will handle checking, improving, and managing AI in order for it to perform correctly. New roles will require additional expertise for handling the interactions between the employees and technologies.

 

Effect on Pricing

 

There will be more of your pricing, business development manager roles, and commercial management professionals getting involved in re-thinking commercial structures. There will be fewer cases of managing and accounting for manual price reviews.

 


 

You will also see the rising importance of the analyst in flat organisations. That is, the person closest to customer issues and problems is the person you need to listen to. This is the person with whom your customers communicate and trust the most.

 

Traditional leadership structures are changing daily and new kinds of creative roles are being produced. There are commercial jobs that didn’t exist even just a couple of years ago. So, organise your people for the future and prepare well for change (see team management skills).

 

See our blogs on how cognitive bias can impact hiring decisions and how talent can form a value-based business strategy.

 

Job transformation: 3 basic management skills on how to build and lead a sales team structure effectively

 

Job Transformation – What Will it Mean? How to build and lead a digital sales team structure effectively

 

It may sound like a dire future – robots taking jobs away from humans that need them. However, this may not be the case. Automation isn’t a new thing and we’ve been using machines to help us with tasks for centuries.

 

Many businesses today that employ thousands of people wouldn’t be able to operate without AI technologies. Take Kent International’s case which creates the bicycles of Bicycle Corporation of America. It had been operating for some time in China but brought the business back to South Carolina.

 

What did they do? They invested in robotics to automate labour-intensive tasks. This allowed the return of 140 jobs to America, with plans of adding 40 jobs per year. See, jobs are moving from highly laborious to the highly skilled types of work. When you consider the aspects of these advancements, things become a lot more optimistic.

 

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Re-skilling

 

According to the 2020 World Economic Forum’s report, the pandemic could double the disruption for workers. In fact, 85 million jobs are expected to be affected due to these disruptions in the next five years.

 

However, their report also expects that these new advancements will create an additional 97 million jobs. Workers will need to be re-skilled in order to operate and maintain these technologies. Though it may seem like job creation has slowed down due to the pandemic and economic recession, experts reassure us that this rate will eventually surpass the loss of jobs.

 

Implications

 

  • Job transformation will bring about the destruction of old jobs but will bring rise to new job opportunities.
  • By 2025, the number of new jobs created by technological advancements will surpass the number of jobs lost.
  • Workers will not lose their jobs. Rather, there will have to be a mass re-skilling of workers from labour to skilled or specialised work.
  • There will be new demand for work such as data analysts, scientists, and specialists. Other areas include information, business and software development, and digital marketing specialists.

 

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Bottomline

 

In conclusion, AI business transformation isn’t something to fear. Change is constant and technological advancements are not new. What we need to do is remain adaptable to the ever-evolving times. CEOs that want to get ahead of the game can take this time to think about how to restructure their strategies to prepare for AI transforming industries.

 

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Are you a business in need of help to align your pricing strategy, people and operations to deliver an immediate impact on profit?

If so, please call (+61) 2 9000 1115.

You can also email us at team@taylorwells.com.au if you have any further questions.

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