In recent months, as artificial intelligence products advanced at lightning speed, news about the impact of this technology on organizations spread at the same rate. The subject has been on people's lips and dominated countless agendas. Fears about human replacement became entangled with enthusiasm for innovation.

However, nothing has been said about how organizational culture will keep pace with this movement. After all, if it is something that is going to transform business, ways of working and human relations, it will have an unprecedented cultural impact on organizations.

Culture is business in practice and it lives in the coherence of everyday life, not in inspirational presentations. I still remember a simple example of this. During a mentoring session with a company in the energy sector, it was pointed out that there was a difficulty in promoting a super cool decompression space that they had opened in the office and that no one felt comfortable using it. I asked if, along with the informal environment that had been implemented, there had been a review of the culture to reflect the new proposal, such as closer internal communication, more flexible dress code rules, support from the leadership, etc.

Now imagine if a simple space generated discomfort in the current culture, imagine a new technology. And if I want to be at the forefront of this race, how do I prepare my company's culture to receive this transformation?

That's right. That's the thought that's been on my mind for the last few weeks. I had some ideas about it, but before I said them, I decided to ask the intelligence itself what it thought.

First I asked what its impact on companies was. And the answer was exactly that:

• Increased process efficiency and productivity.
• Promoting innovation, creativity and encouraging experimentation.
• Improved communication and collaboration, facilitating the sharing of information and knowledge between teams.
• Improving decision-making, providing data, analysis and recommendations based on evidence and algorithms.
• Continuous learning and development.

To my surprise, the AI's own conclusion was:

"requiring cultural and behavioral changes, demanding new skills, attitudes and values from employees and leaders."

Score! You can't implement something so disruptive if innovation, data, ethics, continuous learning, communication and collaboration aren't at the top of your culture's agenda. This will generate more resistance from people than interest. It is essential that organizations prepare themselves to take advantage of the benefits and face the challenges of AI in their organizational culture.

Imagine the following situation: I'm a company that doesn't bring any innovation agenda into my day-to-day work. I don't allow people to make mistakes. I don't promote collaborative space to test new ideas. I don't encourage curiosity. I don't discuss market trends. But overnight, the world is riding the wave of artificial intelligence and I can't be left behind. How can I convince the team to deal with this technology if people are more afraid than curious to test it?

This is one of countless examples of the internal impact of implementing IA. So I continued with my research and asked the second question. What do companies need to do to prepare? And the answer was:

• Cultural change in organizations
• Establish a strategic vision and a clear purpose for the use of AI
• Involving employees and stakeholders in the definition and implementation of AI projects.
• Develop a learning culture to keep up with developments.
• Ensure that AI systems are ethical, transparent and reliable, respecting the values and principles of the organization.
• Investing in employee training and well-being, promoting diversity, inclusion and collaboration.

I don't need to say any more to draw your attention here. The advance of AI needs to be accompanied by a cultural transformation if the tool is to generate the positive impact expected by the business.

The champion will be the one who, at the starting line, looks at the structure of their organization and implements values, behaviors, principles, tools, processes, rites and many other points aligned with the impact of the new technology.

Get ahead in the race!

Natália Zeferino 

Culture Specialist and Head of Communications at Chiefs.Group

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