Even as business leaders, it is currently difficult to clearly define the direction of AI development.

Although leaders' tasks are to establish clear AI use cases and regulatory frameworks within the enterprise, most bosses are still struggling to figure out how to use AI effectively.

If you're a business owner, how do you face the sudden impact of AI technology on your employees?

From an entrepreneurial perspective, we must firmly ground ourselves in the present while looking towards the future—and recognize the practical implications of AI technology on our business models, employee experiences, and users.

This is a daunting task that requires adaptation and learning. Honesty about our learning needs is the best path forward.

The rapid introduction of generative AI across various industries has created a significant skills gap among both leaders and employees, putting pressure on all of us to quickly enhance our knowledge base and stay current.

However, this evolution does not happen naturally: 62% of employees say they lack the skills to use AI effectively and safely, and only one in ten employees globally believe they have the necessary AI skills.

As leaders, bridging this knowledge gap is a top priority. There are many things we can do to guide our organizations through changes, including the AI we are currently facing.

But what should sustainable skills development look like in the age of AI?

Here are three strategies for integrating AI technology into your daily routine:

Upskilling for the new generation of AI is neither a one-time effort nor an overnight achievement. The complexity and continuous evolution of technology require dedicated educational pathways, ongoing learning opportunities, and financial support.

As leaders, we need to provide resources for employees to engage in learning opportunities (such as skills training), participate in third-party courses offered by organizations like LinkedIn, or offer tuition reimbursement for needed skill upgrades. We must also ensure access to these resources for all employees, regardless of their daily job functions.

Building on this foundation, we can institutionalize mechanisms for documenting and sharing learning outcomes, including establishing and popularizing communication channels that incentivize employees to share feedback, learn together, and identify lingering challenges. Encouraging exchanges and dialogues around learning, and personally participating in these discussions, often leads to greater innovation across the entire organization.

Within a company, it is recommended to integrate learning and sharing, for example, by conducting monthly learning activities on relevant topics and encouraging everyone to participate simultaneously.

Specifically, a theme can be set—such as AI—where employees can choose courses relevant to their individual responsibilities to learn new AI skills, while also joining a 'learning lounge' to share ideas and challenges with colleagues.

Invest time in understanding emerging generative AI solutions and their impact on your business. This demonstrates commitment to employees and clarifies your vision for how AI can tangibly improve operations.

Leaders need to dedicate significant time to enhancing their own skills while also seeking opportunities to mentor others, making AI usage a routine part of work interactions.

Additionally, consider hosting solution-focused hackathons or other engaging challenges to foster creativity, cross-functional problem-solving, and collaboration.

Whenever possible, incentivize action through hands-on practice on actual projects. Employees often wear multiple hats, so regardless of how important skill upgrades may be, it can be challenging to find time.

Injecting new learning initiatives into existing workloads can satisfy both needs, especially for employees with heavy schedules.

Communicate regularly with employees, such as by seeking team feedback periodically, to ensure their evolving professional development needs are met. Open dialogue with company leaders is crucial and may be difficult to achieve through more standard meetings (like regular one-on-ones between employees and managers).

To enable employees to upgrade their AI skills, providing them with the necessary technology, data, and infrastructure is vital. Collaborate with leaders to make necessary improvements in data management and technology stacks to support AI goals.

For instance, AI solutions thrive in data-rich environments supported by fast and reliable connectivity. Don't let data issues, insufficient capacity, or security concerns dampen employees' enthusiasm for skill enhancement or innovation, especially in industries heavily reliant on data and computation like healthcare, finance, manufacturing, network infrastructure, and education—act swiftly.

Over time, continuously iterate and strive to ensure that AI technology infrastructure remains up to the task. The new generation of AI is constantly evolving, and keeping pace with these changes requires a multifaceted approach to skill enhancement, aligning AI and data with employees, not against them.

The impact of generative AI solutions may extend beyond cloud computing, exerting a broader and longer-lasting influence on our organizational operations and growth.

However, this future can only be realized when we master the relevant technologies and prepare to integrate AI into the daily work of all employees.

Currently, the effective and sustainable use of AI solutions is inevitable for organizations. Therefore, fostering a company culture that values collective and ongoing learning, complemented by flexible AI training programs, is crucial for growth.

AI skill enhancement may seem far removed from typical daily routines, but it's a point leaders must start prioritizing as AI has the potential to revolutionize our current ways of working.