Leading in the AI Era: It's a Wild Ride for Managers!

 

Summary:
AI is changing leadership. Managers often struggle as teams become hyper-efficient with new tools. This post explores how to lead and motivate AI-empowered workers by embracing continuous learning, enabling rather than just directing, prioritizing human skills, and redefining motivation beyond traditional incentives.

So, AI is seriously changing the game, right? Our teams are becoming super-efficient and empowered with these incredible tools, often knowing more about the tech details than we managers do! It's a challenge, for sure. How do we lead and keep these AI-savvy folks motivated when the old rules just don't apply anymore?

The days of the boss being the sole fount of all knowledge? Pretty much gone, especially with AI in the mix. Your team is probably humming along, leveraging these tools to work smarter and faster. That's fantastic, but it means we need a different kind of leadership.

First off, let's be honest: we've gotta keep learning! If your team is crushing it with AI, you need to understand the big picture of what these tools can do. You don't need to be an AI guru, but staying curious and adaptable is key. Lead by example!

Next, shift from "telling" to "enabling." Your role is no longer just directing tasks. It's about clearing roadblocks, providing resources, and giving your team the freedom to innovate. Trust their expertise and let them run with it!

And here's a big one: human skills are more valuable than ever. While AI handles the data crunching, we managers shine in areas like critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence. We're there to coach, mentor, and build a strong, collaborative team.

Finally, rethink motivation. For AI-empowered professionals, it's about more than just a paycheck. It’s about autonomy, purpose, and tackling exciting problems that AI can't solve on its own. Let's foster a culture where continuous learning, smart AI use, and shared problem-solving are celebrated.

The AI age is changing not just what we do, but how we lead. It’s a dynamic and exciting challenge!

Cloud is SMB's killer weapon, if you are starting now

Cloud is the best weapon an SMB can have, if he is starting up now.

Cloud has certainly been picking up now and is becoming more commonplace than ever. But to make it more prevalent, it is critical to demystify the concepts of Cloud, especially among the Small and Medium sized Businesses, as they are the ones who are poised to gain the maximum out of Cloud.

In one of my earlier blogs on LinkedIn, we had talked about the fact that any Internet facing end-user is in all likelihood already using cloud. 

• For example, if you are using Dropbox, then you are keeping your files in one device, while accessing from any other device, provided you install the Dropbox app or access it through browser. This is driven by a Cloud provider (Amazon AWS), which stores your files in the backend in some remote servers and shares back with you when you provide your user id and password from any other device. 
• If you are on Google Drive, you are again using the cloud features for similar usage. 

In a related post on +Digital CRM blog, we tried to give you some idea about why an SMB owner is much better placed to start up a company today compared to 5 years back considering the advent of Cloud. 

• For example, to host your business web pages, you would not need to build an IT Infrastructure from scratch and also think on keeping it large enough assuming your business clicks soon and the site doesn't crash. You can build a scale-able infrastructure on Cloud, where you can increase the computing power, storage almost on the fly. 

Any SMB owner should be more interested and would like to spend more time on:

• The products 
• Pricing 
• Go-to-market strategy etc.

The IT infrastructure, Analytics etc is expected to come as an on-tap service. And that's precisely what can be achieved through Cloud. 







Are you an SMB owner or an SMB startup?
Are you wondering where to start on the IT side of the business?



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Thank you for checking this article. I contribute regularly on Technology & Management related stuff. Apart from this blog, you can follow me at 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/csubhamoy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csubhamoy
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/csubhamoy

About me: I have been working in the areas of IT strategy & usage of Digital technology to deliver business growth. My areas of interest include Enterprise Mobility, Cloud Solution Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Social Media and Big Data. I am an alumni of Indian Statistical Institute (MTech Computer Science) and also attended Harvard Business School Executive Education on Innovation and Driving Growth.

Managing Super Performers in the team

Have you managed a team at any point of time in your career? Was there someone in your team who was above average and was clearly a super performer? 

And did you get confused on how to "manage" this breed? Then you are not alone. This is a common challenge the average Managers face almost everyday, while handling above average employees. Few suggestions you might like to try out:

1. Stop trying to "Manage" - Managing people is not the most loved word in industry anymore. Knowledge workers don't want to get managed by someone else, more so if they know their work well and at times better than their Managers. Instead of managing them, start behaving as a partner, and together work towards the success of the project.

2. Don't overload smarter people - More often than not, smarter workers end up getting the most difficult assignments as their managers depend on them in delivering the toughest component of the project. But that's not really fair as the super performer ends up getting a stressed out engineer, burning midnight oil all the time.

3. But don't bore them out - This might seem contradictory to (2). but the catch is in the frequency of the challenging jobs. If all the tasks assigned to your super performer are challenging in nature, then she might find sticking to the job challenging as well. Also challenging job doesn't necessarily mean a stressful job. This is a delicate balance, but it is the most important one in retaining super performers in your project and company.

4. Compensate them more than the others - Unfortunately though the managers have a say during work assignments throughout the year, they start losing their voice when the time for yearly pay hike comes. Super performers need some additional benefits compared to the rest 90% population. You should not cover your face behind company policy and what-not when the time comes to compensate your best employee in the best possible manner.

And don't preach Maslow's pyramid during Appraisal cycles - it generally loses its effectiveness during that period of the year.

5. Let them know they are special - Most of the smarter workers know the fact that they are better than others. But they don't brag about that. However their silence doesn't mean that they don't need any external recognition as they also belong to the same planet as you. Use the appropriate forums to appreciate the good work they have done and share the story with the other team members.

Not all the Managers get a super performer in their team every time. But if you have got lucky, don't blow that out. Do your level best to retain that super performer in your team and together make a wonderful growth story.

Also published in LinkedIn blog.



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Thank you for checking this article. I contribute regularly on Technology & Management related stuff. Apart from this blog, you can follow me at 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/csubhamoy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csubhamoy
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/csubhamoy

About me: I have been working in the areas of IT strategy & usage of Digital technology to deliver business growth. My areas of interest include Enterprise Mobility, Cloud Solution Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Social Media and Big Data. I am an alumni of Indian Statistical Institute (MTech Computer Science) and also attended Harvard Business School Executive Education on Innovation and Driving Growth.