Summary: Skill-Based Job Setups, AI, Identity, and Team Dynamics
1. AI and Skill Identification in Organizations
-
AI-Driven Talent Management:
Organizations are increasingly using AI to analyze employee data, identify hidden skills, and match people to new roles or projects. This helps optimize workforce deployment and supports upskilling initiatives. -
Benefits:
AI enables more efficient talent placement, better prediction of future skill needs, and proactive workforce development. -
Concerns:
Reliance on AI raises privacy issues and ethical concerns about how personal data is used. It may also challenge employees’ sense of identity if they feel reduced to a set of data points.
2. Professional Identity and Personal Identity at Work
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Identity Matters:
People often define themselves by their profession (“I’m a writer,” “I’m an accountant”). This professional identity is closely tied to personal identity and self-worth. -
Challenges of Skill-Based Assignments:
When work is assigned solely based on skills, employees may feel their professional identity is diluted or undervalued. This ca
Episode Transcript
Find yourself in.
Thank you for joining the Hopeand Possibilities podcast.
I'm Nola Simon.
So I want to talk about skill-based,job setups particularly organizations
(00:41):
who use actual AI to determine skillsthat they have within the organizations
that they don't realize their peopleeven have, and how they use that to
actually move people into different jobsand upskill and do different things.
And that's all great.
(01:02):
But the thing is, if you'reconstantly only just.
Being assigned to projects basedon skills that you have, and you
don't really have an identity.
That's something that you'redeveloping within the organization
that's tied to a profession.
So it makes it easy forsomebody to say, I do this.
Like I am a dentist, I'm anaccountant, I am a whatever.
(01:24):
You're going to actuallyhave some pushback and some.
Problems with how people adaptto that because work honestly
is tied up in a lot of identity.
And sometimes that's healthy,sometimes that's not.
But it becomes a how do youtell the story of what you do?
(01:47):
What is the impact of what you do?
How do you explain it in away that's easily digestible
and people understand it.
So when you're walking your dog,for example, you can say, hi, I do
this because people will ask you.
A lot of times, personally,I blow that off because.
People don't understand thedepth of what it is that I do.
So I honestly, a lot of times justtell people that I'm a writer.
(02:10):
I do a lot of writing.
It's not untrue.
It's just sometimes if I'm not investedin the relationship with that particular
person, it's the easiest thing to say.
So skills great.
I think upskilling is fantastic.
I can understand why you wannatap the skills and abilities in
(02:30):
your organization because it's.
It probably easier than tryingto hire for specific skill sets
that may or may not exist in thecurrent market that you operate in.
But you really have to pay attention to.
How that impacts the identity thatpeople have in relation to their work
(02:54):
and how that also impacts autonomy.
Do they have the choice whetherto take these projects or not?
I am very skilled in data analysis.
And I don't really enjoy it.
If you give me a task, a wholespreadsheet of data and ask me
to interpret it, I can do that.
I can work with it.
(03:16):
But my interest is not that.
So I would turn you down because that'snot the type of work that fuels me.
That's not intrinsically motivatedwork that feels great to do.
I can completely do it with a lotof skill and ability, but that's
(03:37):
not what I want to be doing.
What I want to be doing is looking at thestories attached to that data and what
that data truly means when you actually.
Look at the narratives that it represent.
That's my sweet zone.
So definitely data oriented, but muchmore in how that ties into strategy
(03:59):
and narrative intelligence, right?
This is where it becomes a whole issue.
On paper, you might look likesomebody who wants to do that work.
But you might not honestlywant to do that work.
It could be tied up in personalpreference, it could be tied up
in physical ability, it couldbe tied up in emotional trauma.
(04:22):
Work is a lot of different things toa lot of different people, and you
don't know everyone's full historybecause a lot of times they're not
honestly disclosing it to you either.
So you have to be careful whenyou're actually just building
out, skills-based organization.
Definitely you want to look at it.
(04:43):
Upskilling is an amazing thing to do.
Repurposing people instead oflaying them off and, leveraging
their talents in different ways.
Absolutely.
I'm fully aware of thatand I do support that.
But what you wanna be careful withis the identity piece, because if
you're putting in people in work.
(05:04):
And on teams and combining them withpeople that they don't enjoy just because
their skills happen to be compatible.
If the rest of the pieces aren't inplace, you're going to be creating
teams that really don't function in aworkplace that is going to be ultimately
unproductive and maybe even toxic.
(05:27):
So anyways, that's my thought.
(05:47):
Find yourself in.
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