The One Skill That Makes the Lion (King of the Jungle)
In the AI era, it is the fine ability to decide where to and where not to use Generative AI
In the vast jungle, the lion, with its acute instincts and judgment, stands supreme. Similarly, as we navigate the vast expanse of Generative AI (GenAI), analytical judgment emerges as our most powerful skill.
While mastering writing prompts is essential, it’s our analytical ability to discern that stands out.
Want to guess why?
Think of it as our guiding lamp in the AI wilderness. Let’s dive in to explore the why and walk through use cases.
The Rise of Analytical Judgment: What Research Shows
A recent work trend index annual report published by Microsoft, reveals that that 82% of leaders believe their employees will need new skills to be ready for the growth of AI.
Click here to delve deeper into the report findings.
The report also uncovers that 30% of respondents view Analytical Judgement as vital for new ways of working as compared to only 20% who see AI delegation ( prompting) as important. The data signals an emerging new AI-employee alliance.
Considering this, the role of L&D becomes crucial here. And if we are able to respond with speed to help build these skills, L&D can take centre stage. Given AI’s rapid growth, it’s key to start now, rather than waiting for a perfect understanding of all roles, jobs, and skills.
What does this mean to you and all of us — professionals and leaders?
This means that for each one of us individually or in a leader’s role such as a manager, parent, or L&D professional it is a must to take the lead to enable employees to build the core skills that are most relevant to a specific point in time.
After integrating GenAI into my workflow and learning extensively from resources such as Udemy courses, LinkedIn Learning, Masterclasses on GenAI (Straits Interactive), and data security, I have gathered numerous insights on applying AI.
Based on these insights, today, I’ll discuss the skills that L&D or you as an individual or a leader can focus on to start skilling the workforce.
Surprisingly, it’s not technical programming and prompting skills. — Author
Personally, after integrating GenAI into my workflow as an L&D professional, I firmly believe in the importance of Analytical Judgment as a core skill. It is about understanding the capabilities of Generative AI tools and determining the use case that would generate the best business outcome.
We require the analytical judgement skill to make right decisions about where and how to use AI, and to validate the results from AI.
With this in mind, ‘Analytical Judgement’ should be one of the core skills in your evolving AI skills matrix.
My Journey with GenAI: 8 Months In
Allow me to delve a bit deeper into my experience with GenAI. After using these tools to perform tasks ranging from simple to complex, I discovered that understanding what AI can do was just the first step.
Pretty soon into my journey, I realized that what was more critical was my ability to evaluate the output, discern the appropriate input, and validate the output.
This process had to begin with identifying the right tools for the task and ensuring adherence to data protection rules set both at the national and organizational levels.
For instance, while diagnosing the reasons for the gap in meeting sales targets- a use case detailed further in the article, I figured that it was important to verify the solution suggested by the GenAI tool before implementation. This is where human skills, particularly analytical judgment, come into play.
I have used GenAI for a variety of tasks, including designing curriculum, learning experience journeys, data analysis, data-driven design, analyzing performance gaps, and seeking advice on how to improve.
All these experiences have reinforced my belief in the importance of analytical judgment.
I’d love to hear from you. Have you started incorporating AI into your work?
Share your experiences in the comments below.
“It’s fascinating that people are more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout than they are worried about it eliminating their jobs.” — Adam Grant, author, and organizational psychology professor.
Source of quote — Work Trend Index Annual Report
Let’s dive a little into some use cases where analytical judgment can play a role.
What is Analytical Judgement skill?
Work Trend Index annual report defines it as the “Determine when to leverage an AI capability instead of a human capability.”
Analytical judgment: Why does it matter?
Analytical judgment in the context of AI is the skill required to evaluate the strengths and limitations of AI systems and make informed decisions based on evidence and logic.
It’s a crucial core skill because it is the human’s role to decide where to use AI, when, and how and ensure that AI is used responsibly and ethically.
Use Cases: Here are a few use cases that demonstrate how analytical judgment plays a pivotal role.
Please note these examples are aimed to help give pointers to the threshold of where human skills are required. The exact application might vary based on your context.
1. Marketing: If you are a marketer, you might use AI to analyze customer data, segment your audience, personalize your messages, or optimize your campaigns.
But you also need to decide which AI tools or platforms are suitable for your goals, how to interpret and apply the insights from AI, and how to respect the privacy and preferences of your customers.
2. Education: If you are a teacher, you might use AI to create engaging learning materials, assess student performance, provide feedback, or tailor instruction.
But you also need to decide which AI applications or resources are appropriate for your subject, how to evaluate and supplement the outputs from AI, and how to foster critical thinking and creativity among your students. What tools are secure to use for your students?
3. Consultation & Coaching: If you are an L&D consultant or an expert( e.g., Sales) coach, you might use AI to analyze performance gaps and act as a coach. Recommending what areas an individual must focus on to improve. However, as an L&D expert or a coach, it’s crucial to validate if the proposed analysis is relevant and if the suggested solution will actually work. You can ask GenAI to suggest ways to validate, or you can take a coach approach to the situation.
Simulation Example: Let’s look at this example from ChatGPT simulation. Gap in meeting sales target.
Next, let’s look at some action plans. By incorporating the recommended steps below into your plan and continuously refining your AI skills matrix, you’ll initiate your readiness for the transformative impact of AI in the L&D field.
Take Action: How can you embrace AI? Just Get Started!
As it seems that AI is poised to remake work, the future will arrive in months not years.
Here are some key action points for your consideration.
1. Start Using AI: Practical interaction with AI tools will help you understand their functionalities and areas of improvement. With this experience, you will be able to identify use cases where AI will have the best return.
2. Educate Yourself: Understand the ethical implications and data security issues related to AI to use these technologies responsibly. Seek to know your organization’s AI strategy and policy. Also, your country’s policy is good to know.
3. Develop Analytical Judgment: Engage in critical thinking exercises and decision-making scenarios that help in evaluating AI’s performance and outputs.
4. Evolve with AI: As AI continues to redefine roles and functions, remain adaptable and open to learning and innovating.
5. Build AI skills matrix: Build a flexible skills matrix for your team and for your workforce. Update the skills as the landscape evolves.
Conclusion:
Judgment Roars: Being the Lion in the AI Jungle
We’ve embarked on a journey, understanding the might of analytical judgment in the AI-driven world, much like the lion’s mastery over its kingdom.
The essence is simple. It’s not just about wielding the power of AI, but mastering where, when, and how to use it. We must think, question, and lead decisively. It is not time to either sit on the sidelines or wait for the perfect moment or use it for the allure of Generative AI.
I urge each one of you to be the lion in the AI jungle. Your thoughts, your experiences, and your insights matter. Let’s continue our dialogue, share, and grow together.
Now that we’ve discussed the role of analytical judgment in AI, what are your thoughts? Do the points resonate with you?
If you seek more structured inputs and prompts for L&D you can get the free ebook guide here.
https://sofl.gumroad.com/l/aiforland
If you want to delve deeper into any of these practices, I’ve blocked out some time for free ‘coffee chat’ sessions until the end of August.
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