If you're a tech professional who writes code for a living, you're probably well aware of how generative AI can impact your workflow. But for tech managers, the impact of these technologies might seem a bit more vague: Can generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini improve the way you manage your team?
The short answer is yes, if these tools are used correctly. Let’s take a closer look at how tech managers around the world can get AI-powered assistance when interacting with their employees.
Increased Productivity
If there's a reason why many tech professionals fear moving into management roles, it's because they see the job as repetitive, focused on answering emails and scheduling meetings rather than working with cutting edge technology. Fortunately, generative AI can take over some of these more mundane administrative tasks, such as:
- Use AI to summarize reports and emails. Need to whittle down a 5,000-word report to its essential points? What about a string of emails you still haven't processed? AI can help with that. Scan through the original material and make sure what the AI generates matches your content.
- Draft message: Sometimes, especially for internal emails and other communications, you need to produce large amounts of text very quickly. By giving the AI the essentials and synopsis of what you want and personalizing the output, you can speed up communication, especially with large teams.
- Schedule a meeting: A new generation of AI tools is becoming more capable of assisting with mundane tasks like scheduling.
- Brainstorming… to an extent: Many people are using generative AI for brainstorming sessions, generating content samples, and even creating compelling project proposals. Although AI is not as creative as humans, it may help generate solid ideas.
Collaborate with your team
Here are some ways AI can help you manage your team more efficiently.
- Personalized learning and development: AI analyzes individual strengths and weaknesses and suggests appropriate training materials and resources for each team member. This personalized approach to upskilling keeps your team engaged and future-proofs their careers.
- Enhanced performance management: Generative AI helps you set clear, specific goals for your team members and track their progress over time. It can be used to generate performance reviews with actionable feedback to encourage continuous improvement and a results-driven mindset.
AI-powered management: Top tips
Integrating AI into your management workflow requires a bit of planning.
Identify the right tools: Explore the different options before making a selection: for example, if you envision using the AI purely for quickly drafting emails, you may want to choose an option like ChatGPT rather than a specialized, complicated app.
Security is key: You don't want to include your company's proprietary information in an open, free AI product, as it could pose a significant cybersecurity risk if your data is absorbed into the AI provider's database, but many AI providers offer paid enterprise options to protect your data.
Focus on efficiency, not automation: Generative AI augments human interaction, not replaces it: use AI to streamline processes, not to remove the human element from leadership.
Value transparency: Be upfront with your team about your use of AI tools. Explain how they will be used and how everyone will benefit. Be prepared to answer questions.
Embracing at least some of these AI techniques can free up time and bandwidth for mission-critical tasks like strategic planning, empowering team members, and coming up with new ways to move your company forward.
