Fear or Fascination? Helping Employees Embrace AI — Compliantly

There’s a fair amount of fear and fascination when it comes to AI — specifically generative AI. Some fear it taking their job or its impacts to data privacy. Others are fascinated by its ability to automate repetitive tasks and boost productivity. 

Staff and their employers have been working through a range of feelings since generative AI became popular. For LaTasha Rice, an LMS architect, there’s been a focus on establishing foundational knowledge among her 22,000 co-workers at Rollins, a pest control company. 

It’s been a similar story at CGI, one of the largest business and IT consulting companies in the world, which has been focused on establishing a baseline competency for all employees, said Christina Fung, senior vice president of consulting services and global AI enablement center of excellence leader. The company has been working diligently to upskill some 90,000 employees, while also supporting its clients. 

Virtually every company — its leaders, compliance and L&D professionals — have been sorting out which training will help their workforce, so they can reap the benefits of this quickly advancing technology. Their approaches vary, and so does their employees’ readiness to embrace it.

That’s what Rice and Fung focused on during a panel discussion with Skillsoft’s SVP of compliance solutions Asha Palmer at Perspectives. The theme of the panel focused on what it takes to build a culture of ethical and technical compliance in the AI era. 

Find the key takeaways of their discussion below. 

In support of their respective goals, the panelists shared their thoughts on which principles and practices have supported their companies’ efforts to help employees embrace AI and maintain compliance. 

A common thread in the discussion was risk-based training. 

Risk-based training adapts material to the risk associated with a person’s role, where they work and other factors. The purpose is to make training as relevant as possible, so it hooks learners, while also supporting compliance mandates. This approach deviates from more traditional — and less effective — strategies that require the same training for all employees. 

Both panelists emphasized the importance of this approach throughout the discussion. They also cited other key factors that are critical to success. 

Here’s what they said: 

The Best Learning Happens When It’s Personalized 

At Rollins, many of its employees work in the field, carrying out pest control for customers. CGI also has many customer-facing employees, who consult on business and IT challenges and solutions. Both companies have large workforces, with thousands of employees whose focus varies widely. 

What does that mean for training? Rice says that it can’t be a one-size-fits-all. 

For example, at Rollins, the training employees in the field receive is specific to their jobs. Even though these employees aren’t in a more technical role — like a software developer — AI still pertains to them and may affect their work. The training teaches that. 

Similarly, Fung says her team at CGI has focused on three primary groups: managers, skeptics of AI, and fanatics of AI. Managers receive training that supports their endeavors at work — namely, working with teams and realizing an ROI. Skeptics receive training to understand the basics and dispel fears. Fanatics learn important guidelines for use.

While the core goal of training remains the same — to help people learn and build new skills — what material people receive should look different. The training must tie to their role, the use cases they face at work and, in this case, how the technology impacts them. 

If it’s irrelevant, workers may disengage and take little away from the material. To help the content sink in, it must be personalized.

Training Must Support Business Goals

A factor that helps propel training programs further and faster is business alignment — meaning the training programs support the business’s goals and it meshes with the culture. 

“Building off of your existing business model is critical to your success,” Fung said. “In order for learning to be meaningful, it has to be driven by purposes and driven by end results… The end result is a business outcome.”

When leadership at all levels agree on the significance and purpose of the initiative, employees will recognize the training as important. 

Leadership at CGI and Rollins helped communicate this to their respective organizations, encouraging their workforces to participate in training. This helped in several ways. 

It encouraged employees to consume the material and become exposed to foundational information about AI. This resulted in more people being familiar with it, which helps dispel skepticism and fear. 

As employees took the training, they recapped with their peers. These conversations spread, with more taking the training. The cycle continues. 

Cross-functional Partnerships Help with Governance

Fung explained that several groups of employees at CGI help govern different disciplines that are relevant to the business, including AI. These groups assess the risks the business may face. They develop tools that employees use when helping clients arrive at ethical, compliant solutions. 

Training leaders work with these groups to determine what employees must know to comply with various rules and regulations. As people consume the training, they learn what’s expected of them, what’s in and out of bounds, and what they should be aware of in their day-to-day work. 

This cross-functional structure has greatly influenced the culture at CGI, Fung explained. Not only has it influenced what employees learn, but also how employees work together and with clients. 

The training establishes the knowledge all employees need to flag issues and confidently coach clients. In this way, compliance and governance have become woven into CGI’s culture. 

Pro Tip: Skillsoft’s Asha Palmer recommended compliance professionals use these tools themselves. Doing so will help deepen their understand of how they function and can be used. This experience will make it easier to govern.  

Tech changes fast. Generative AI is on a whole other level. The rapid rise in popularity and end-user adoption have created many challenges for businesses that see its potential but remain unsure of how to govern it internally. An AI policy helps, but it’s just the start. 

Along with their respective efforts covered during the discussion, the panelists expressed the importance of staying engaged with the technology and its ongoing developments. 

In her parting advice to attendees, Rice said: “Stay engaged, stay focused, pace yourself, and be open to change because it’s coming.”

The team at Rollins confers often to remain in the know about what’s happening with AI, evaluating its impact to the company, and responding with appropriate measures. Learning and development efforts stem from this practice to help employees make sense of change quickly.

It’s a similar story at CGI. Moving forward, however, Fung explained that her team’s focus will become centered on acceleration and standardization. The intent is to move quicker, helping clients arrive at solutions that meet CGI’s high standards of compliance. In addition to moving faster, the training will go deeper, more specific to individuals’ roles. 

Watch the Panel On-Demand

Skillsoft’s annual event, Perspectives, plays host to insightful conversations between talent development experts, industry leaders, and analysts to discuss everything from triumphs and challenges. 

You can access to this full session and others like it by signing up for Perspectives On-Demand today.