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The Role Of AI And People Analytics In Developing The Leaders Of Tomorrow

Forbes Technology Council

Founder and CEO of Numly. Leveraging ML/AI to measurably improve employee performance and engagement.

Employees are the lifeblood of every enterprise and one of the key pillars to ensure the success of a company. Without engaged, productive and, above all, happy employees, businesses lose their competitive edge, team members are more likely to leave — leading to major recruitment and hiring costs — and, ultimately, it can have a huge impact on the bottom line. Strong bench strength is critical for companies to navigate the COVID-19-induced economic downturn.

Additionally, more than 40% of corporations surveyed in a 2018 Workday-Bloomberg Next study said new hires "lack the soft skills to perform at a high level in a professional environment." Soft skills have become increasingly important in the age of automation, as companies need them to build bench strength, grow the next generation of leaders and effectively compete in the future of work.

Organizations realize this reality all too well. Consequently, they are stepping on the accelerator to identify high-potential employees in their workforce and develop them into the leaders of tomorrow via coaching and mentorship programs. 

Until now, most coaching programs were designed based on the proverbial "gut feel." But gut feel only has perceived value. Doesn't it make sense to use advanced analytics to intelligently develop leaders? Not only are artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics transforming industries using predictive capabilities but also giving coaching a much-needed facelift.

­So, what role does AI play in your coaching programs? Based on my experience working in the big data analytics and ML/AI space for over two decades, here are five ways I believe AI can help companies develop leaders at all levels in an organization:

1. Identify next-gen leaders.

Your high-potential employees today are tomorrow's leaders. However, it can be hard to identify these employees in the vast sea of people in your organization, especially if they are remote. High-potential employees are usually self-motivated, problem solvers and value-driven, irrespective of their rank.

AI can help you identify this high-potential talent base. You can also precisely identify the areas where these employees need coaching and mentoring in order to develop them into strong leaders. Help employees identify their strengths and weaknesses using AI-backed self-assessment tests and create coaching programs that add value to their career trajectory.

2. Determine the right coaching competencies.

Looking at past data doesn't necessarily guarantee great future outcomes. Data, situations and demographics change. In the midst of many growing forces at play, such as the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, historical data analysis will only get you so far.

With a volatile market, changing workforce demographics and growing smart labor shortage, organizations need to be proactive in identifying what kind of coaching programs they need to create. AI can help companies use technology to accurately measure and assess the skills gap across every function and department in the company. This helps manage employee development programs through personalized coaching for each employee in a very structured, consistent manner and at scale across the entire company. 

3. Support high-quality conversations.

Using AI and analytics, it becomes easier for enterprises and coaches to identify what topics draw the most attention from their employees. For employees, detailed self-assessment tests can help deliver deep insights into their own behaviors, strengths and weaknesses.

Such data-driven insights help both the coaches and employees have more productive conversations. Armed with data and analytics, they can work together to identify major pain points and areas of improvement. As a result, the quality of the conversation between the two parties becomes more value-driven.

4. Create robust behavioral skills development programs.

In an age when change is constant, organizations have to focus on robust behavioral skills development programs to help employees face the challenges of the future of remote work. Strong behavioral skills are a hallmark of great leaders. Thus, focusing on coaching programs that enhance behavioral skills development becomes a no-brainer in today's climate.

Using AI, enterprises can capture and analyze data based on employee self-assessments that are mapped to key skills and competencies. They can determine what kind of behavioral skills training employees need to become better leaders. AI can also be used to deliver coaching recommendations to make the process more proactive and enable continuous learning.

5. Drive engagement and productivity.

The lower your employee engagement levels, the lower your employee productivity. A great way to boost employee engagement and productivity is to show employees that their growth matters to the organization. This can be achieved by accurately assessing their present and future coaching and training needs. Currently, only 16% of less engaged organizations spend time coaching employees. 

The Role Of Employers 

The future of work post-COVID-19 is going to challenge companies to manage their employees in new ways. Though organizations are turning to AI-based solutions to help predict and solve employee experience challenges, the truth is that analyzing behaviors, values, relationships, workplace habits and social sentiments can be very tricky, as they are people-centric. And people can be quite unpredictable. This is where employers come in.

In addition to managing technology, time zones, hierarchy, languages and diversity, employers should focus on deliberately creating a strong sense of shared identity and a shared understanding among their teams. One way to do this is to make employee engagement initiatives empathetic and to also make it a continuous process, rather than an annual or quarterly one.

This requires continuous interaction between the key stakeholder(s) and employees. Organizations have to facilitate two-way conversations between employees and those involved (such as mentors and coaches). They should also create forums or channels that allow virtual teams to converse, listen and proactively manage progress and enable employees wherever work happens.

AI is no panacea to addressing employee engagement challenges, but it can help managers lead their teams better. AI completes the human touch, and everybody wins in this process. HR can adopt AI to identify and retain top talent, grow the next generation of leaders, drive productivity and effectively compete in the future of work.


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Chief Executive Officer of Numly, Inc. Improving employee performance & engagement through Peer Coaching on Critical Skills, enabled by AI. Read Madhukar Govindaraju's

Chief Executive Officer of Numly, Inc. Improving employee performance & engagement through Peer Coaching on Critical Skills, enabled by AI. Read Madhukar Govindaraju's full executive profile here.