Developing an AI-Powered Culture to Embrace Artificial Intelligence

As organizations enter the age of artificial intelligence there are a plethora of unique opportunities. One opportunity is to create an AI-powered culture. Developing a technological infrastructure is one important component but there is another that will likely make or break the traditional organization.  Success in the era of artificial intelligence does not only require money and investment in technology infrastructure, but it also requires a change in the way leaders think about culture as a medium of communication. In this article, we call an effective culture AI-powered culture and provide leaders with the best practices for the development and design of this effective culture.

The best practices for the development and design of an AI-powered culture depend on how senior managers can create a “rapid technology change program.” There needs to be a strong emphasis on maximizing the performance of artificial intelligence development and implementing a culture-oriented project to begin designing and developing a new form of organizational culture, what we call an AI-powered culture.

Designing an AI-Powered Culture

Culture refers to common assumptions and certain behavior patterns that are important for a particular organization. Culture is usually built around participation in centralized meetings, teamwork, trust, and learning. 

• Participation of organizational members through cohesive collaboration in which the entire organization is rowing in the same direction.
• Team building and better sharing of organizational knowledge through greater collaboration improves data quality.
• Trust is a framework of satisfaction coupled with safety. People need to know that when they wake up in the morning they will have a job waiting for them.
• Organizational learning is a given mantra throughout the organization with professional development by vendors and experts in the field that add the glue that creates an ambiance of growing and developing. 

After the culture is set upon these four tenets, there needs to be expansive advertising of activities and milestones. A newsletter or means of communication includes accomplishments not only within the organization but also for those who left for better positions based on their knowledge gained, training and development, and tenure at the organization. The intention to keep all employees is a good one but we must consider natural attrition levels and movement up the organizational ladder or the risk of people leaving for better positions. Thus, while a culture must be the glue that keeps the organization together, it must be elastic and realistic too. Trust is a double-edged sword, one in which, leaders must trust their subordinates the same way that they trust them. We run studies in which we find which employees want to move up the organizational ladder, linear, those who want to keep learning and growing in their current position, technical expert, and those who may be transient and looking to change careers when the spirit moves them to do so. Putting people first, and then offering the technology employees need to stay up to date in artificial intelligence encourages them to keep up with rapid technological changes. Team leaders encourage risk-taking for their teams, and they attempt to be optimistic about innovation. This new mindset offers greater flexibility and agility.