AI-Powered Teams: The Future of Organizational Strategy in Insights with Simon Glass

[00:00:00] Simon Glass: I really believe success will mean getting this right balance between the human and ai, uh, but that the human needs to needs to routine control of the end-to-end work process. 

[00:00:11] Z Johnson: With, 

[00:00:11] Simon Glass: with AI significantly automating and improving many tasks within that process. 

[00:00:16] Z Johnson: Yeah. Um, 

[00:00:17] Simon Glass: I’m of the opinion, gosh, and there’s so much conversation on this right now, but I’m of the opinion that it’s hard for AI to fully replace a lot of the jobs unless the job’s no longer needed, and that’s obviously a different matter entirely.

[00:00:30] Simon Glass: Like AI can’t take a business trip to go and meet a key customer. AI can’t run a complicated negotiation process, at least not yet. 

[00:00:39] MRII Announcer: Welcome to MRII’s Insights and Innovators podcast where we talk to top market research professionals to get their inside stories about innovative and enduring best practices.

[00:00:49] MRII Announcer: Now here’s your host for today’s episode. 

[00:00:52] Z Johnson: Welcome to today’s episode, AI Transformation Within the Workplace with Simon Glass of Discuss. I’m your [00:01:00] host, Z Johnson, and today we’re exploring how Gen AI is reshaping, not just the way insights are collected, analyzed, and reported, but also the very structure of teams and organizations.

[00:01:13] Z Johnson: Joining me is Simon Glass, CEO of Discuss, a research technology company that is deploying AI from top to bottom, redefining roles, teams, and strategy. We’ll look at how AI is transforming roles, what it takes to prepare people for this shift, and why the future is about humans and AI working together. Simon, welcome to the show.

[00:01:37] Simon Glass: Thank you Z. Lovely to be here today. 

[00:01:40] Z Johnson: So Simon, during our discussions about today’s episode, you said that you’re passionate about the topic of transforming teams with ai. What led you to want to focus on the organizational, organizational, and the human side of AI rather than just the technology itself?

[00:01:59] Simon Glass: Yeah. [00:02:00] You know, I guess it’s stating the obvious to say that people are very excited by the tech innovation provided by I, by ai. It’s incredibly transformational, but for me, I try to come at this from a, a slightly different angle. As I believe we’re staring down the biggest change management project in the history of the world, and that, that’s a big statement, I guess.

[00:02:22] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:02:23] Simon Glass: And, and if we don’t give equal focus to the people and organizational side of this massive change in it’s, it’s not gonna go very well. And, and I also believe. We have the responsibility as leaders to look out for our people and for our employees. And if we don’t focus on them and how they should think and work differently and consider what new skills they might need and give them a framework within which to operate on this new world of like explosive change, then we as leaders are not doing our job.

[00:02:55] Simon Glass: And then maybe just one other thought that here at discuss, [00:03:00] when I meet a new employee, I always ask them to fast forward and picture their last day on the job because it’ll come, right? Yeah. Like it’s only finite. Uh, and I say to them that my hope for them is that they leave. When they leave that day, they’ll be able to speak to both personal and professional growth.

[00:03:17] Simon Glass: And for me, AI is now formed firmly part of this growth journey that they’re on with us. So we have to do right by our people and preparing them for the future is part of our responsibility, in my view. 

[00:03:30] Z Johnson: Yeah, absolutely. You know, we’re hearing that AI is redefining roles, entire roles, and not just automating tasks.

[00:03:41] Z Johnson: So where is it that you’re seeing the most profound changes in how people are working and what does that mean for leaders? 

[00:03:49] Simon Glass: Yeah, I know. Super interesting and like, I guess the profound shift I’m seeing is that both employees and leaders are having to think differently about their work [00:04:00] as AI automates more and more tasks within end-to-end work processes.

[00:04:06] Simon Glass: The biggest change isn’t just that task can now be done quicker, it’s that people are stepping out of their old boundaries of their jobs. 

[00:04:14] Z Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

[00:04:15] Simon Glass: At discuss here, we’ve seen a lawyer build a contract generator using ai and this now enables a 60 to 80% faster turnaround of contracts. And we’ve seen an HR manager a couple of time from weeks to literally about 30 minutes to draft policy memos.

[00:04:33] Simon Glass: This like kind of what I would call an identity shift is super interesting is, is what we’re seeing. Non-technical staff are suddenly acting like technologists. So instead of just automating a task within a process, they’re creating end-to-end business solutions. And that’s a. Big shift. It’s a big shift in what it means to be an HR manager or a lawyer, or a finance lead.

[00:04:57] Simon Glass: And I, I, I, I think it’s super [00:05:00] radical and it’s also really profound. Like roles aren’t shrinking, is what I’m seeing. They’re, they’re more like stretching 

[00:05:07] Z Johnson: and 

[00:05:07] Simon Glass: what rises in value is judgment and critical thinking. 

[00:05:11] Z Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

[00:05:12] Simon Glass: And z for, for leaders, like what I really think it means that you’ve got to rethink how you hire and grow talent.

[00:05:21] Simon Glass: Because we’re no longer hiring only for technical and job experience and competencies we now need to hire for and nurture, like curiosity, adaptability, right. The ability to interpret and question machine outputs. 

[00:05:36] Z Johnson: Right. 

[00:05:36] Simon Glass: It’s so different now. 

[00:05:38] Z Johnson: Right. Right. And learn the desire to learn. Right. Absolutely.

[00:05:43] Z Johnson: And the ability to learn on the fly constantly. 

[00:05:47] Simon Glass: Yes. 

[00:05:48] Z Johnson: Yeah. What changes have surprised you the most when it comes to ai? Like where has it gone beyond what you expected? 

[00:05:56] Simon Glass: Yeah, yeah. I mean like this, I guess for me the surprise [00:06:00] wasn’t engineers coding faster. We knew that would happen. Right. It was more like a little bit of what I was just talking to there, that accountants and lawyers turning into builders to automate work they never thought possible.

[00:06:12] Simon Glass: Yeah. Uh. For me, like those changes, like, or that changes what leadership looks like and, and our job as leaders to unlock this, not slow it down. 

[00:06:22] Z Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. You know, there are so many organizations that are struggling to prepare their teams for this change because it’s happening so fast. So what skills or mindsets, or even approaches do you see as essential for navigating this transformation successfully?

[00:06:41] Z Johnson: I mean, are we talking about technical upskilling or do you think the mindset is the bigger piece? Yeah, 

[00:06:48] Simon Glass: I’m, I’m really like, this is a real hot button for me. I’m really passionate about this particular point or question. ’cause for me, it’s, it’s so much about the mindset. 

[00:06:58] Z Johnson: Mm. And, 

[00:06:59] Simon Glass: and more [00:07:00] specifically the need for critical thinking.

[00:07:02] Z Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

[00:07:03] Simon Glass: We need our employees of today and the future to be able to like, observe, assess, think critically about what’s going on around them in the world. Mm-hmm. And within their work environment like, like so much is coming at us every day and we have to quickly assess if it’s real or not and if it’s important or not.

[00:07:23] Simon Glass: And I, I really believe z that the people who will thrive in the workplace of the future will be able to make quick and effective judgements and will not necessarily accept the content thrown in front of them. 

[00:07:35] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:07:35] Simon Glass: They’ll have to, they, they will have the thinking and the analytical and the reasoning skills, as you were mentioning a minute or two ago, to sift through it and make same decisions.

[00:07:45] Simon Glass: But, but, but for many, this is an acquired, this is not an acquired skill. Yeah. Like many people are not born with the ability to think critically on their feet. Yeah. So, so my advice here to the audience is to like read more, read material that challenges our [00:08:00] minds, understand what’s going on in the world and why, and actually always ask why about everything.

[00:08:07] Simon Glass: And, and, and if you wouldn’t mind, because this is a little, I know I’m a little bit in my soapbox here, but I wanna make a big plug for a liberal arts education in case we have some high schoolers listening in today. Yeah, like studying subjects in college, like English philosophy, history is a great way to teach your brain how to think and prepare you for what is fast, becoming a very different economy and an economy of the future of.

[00:08:32] Simon Glass: So there, sorry, Z That’s my little rant on critical thinking and how it really is a critical success factor for AI influenced work of the future. 

[00:08:41] Z Johnson: No, uh, I couldn’t agree more. I, that’s one of the things I am right there with you. I think, think teaching AI critical thinking is, I think as I is going to be more and more a critical skill.

[00:08:57] Z Johnson: Right. You know, there’s, there’s [00:09:00] no, no way around it at this point. Um. You know, as, as we talk about those skills and the change in the skills and the, the kind of that higher emphasis in those ability, in those skills to think critically and to question constantly. Yeah. You know, we’re talking about change management, right?

[00:09:22] Z Johnson: Yeah. At bottom line. Yeah. And change management is hard. It’s always hard. It’s, it’s behaviors that we’re changing and AI is accelerating that challenge. So what lessons have you learned so far in, in what you’re doing at discus and what lessons have you seen others apply as you are leading people through this?

[00:09:42] Z Johnson: Yeah, this disruptive shift, 

[00:09:44] Simon Glass: I totally, I mean, it’s, it’s such a monumental change and you know, as I mentioned up top here, like. As I refer to it, the biggest change management project in the history of the world. 

[00:09:53] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:09:54] Simon Glass: So, so at a hundred percent it has to begin at the top of our organizations, like the scale and the [00:10:00] enormity of this is, is really massive.

[00:10:02] Simon Glass: So, so we, as leaders in the executive ranks must create a, like a clear point of view what AI means for our businesses and what success looks like. 

[00:10:12] Z Johnson: Hmm. 

[00:10:13] Simon Glass: And, and I really believe we have to act fast and act with purpose. Like we can’t dilly dally around and be silent on this topic. Yeah. Because if we do, our companies will become a kinda a wild west of random tools and inconsistent work processes with like zero governance and no guardrails.

[00:10:30] Simon Glass: Yeah. So leaders really need to speak up and, and set the tone. I guess here at discuss, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve really focused on this and we actually led out a three point plan, uh, once we realized we had to fully adopt and basically go all in in ai, so, so I’ll just share a little bit of that here. So like our step one was to create an AI policy document that addressed key topics such as, you know, privacy and responsible use.

[00:10:58] Simon Glass: And we had all of our employees [00:11:00] sign it. Now, this, this document clearly led out our ways of working on AI and what employees shouldn’t, shouldn’t do. Mm-hmm. Basically our guardrails. 

[00:11:09] Z Johnson: Mm-hmm. And then 

[00:11:09] Simon Glass: the second thing that we did was training and enablement. Right? We created an internal training cur curriculum, and we set up everyone in our company with a chat GPT teams account.

[00:11:20] Simon Glass: For everyone in the, across the organization, no matter what role they played. And then we entered into, uh, what we call a test and learn and sharing phase. So we encouraged employees to look closely at their calendars and start to cancel and decline meetings unless they. They absolutely need to be there.

[00:11:37] Simon Glass: Uh, but then in turn, use this time to experiment and AI enable themselves. And, and then also we’ve put a, an AI leadership council in place with a representative from each function and they hold regular AI learning and sharing meetings within their function. And then they also own a monthly AI farside chat for the whole company to meet and work together and to share.

[00:11:58] Simon Glass: Mm-hmm. Uh, and, [00:12:00] and you know, just a couple of other quick thoughts here, like one other lesson. That we’ve tried to implement, and I’ve seen others do as well, is to really encourage balance in the usage of ai. 

[00:12:14] Z Johnson: Mm-hmm. 

[00:12:15] Simon Glass: This is a bit of, this is a bit of a hot button for me too, so, so for example, a few minutes ago or a few, few months ago, I could easily tell that, gosh, 40 or 50% of the emails I received had either been written almost fully by AI or had key sentences written by them.

[00:12:30] Simon Glass: Right. I find that, I find this really discouraging. Like what, what was going through my head was like, sure, use AI to brush up on your grammar, but don’t rely so much on it. If we do, we’ll lose our own voice as humans. And that’s, that’s kind of depressing. Yeah. And, and anyway, I’ve even had examples where people have used AI to effectively write performance reviews.

[00:12:52] Simon Glass: And for me, that’s way beyond the pale of acceptable use. Yeah. So, so the point here is that balance is mission critical and we should not [00:13:00] let AI erase like our human judgment, our empathy, our voice. 

[00:13:05] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:13:06] Simon Glass: And as leaders z my my last point, like we, we have to constantly reinforce this message to our people.

[00:13:12] Simon Glass: Like the, the point of balance is so, so vital. 

[00:13:16] Z Johnson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Um. There’s a lot of fear about AI replacing people right at, at either within organizations or even in the industry itself. Right there, there are fears about analysts being replaced or moderators being replaced or, mm-hmm. Just all throughout it, throughout the industry.

[00:13:45] Z Johnson: And you often talk about this, like you were just talking human and ai, this balanced approach. Yeah. Tell me more about why that distinction is important, and more specifically how leaders can really ensure that [00:14:00] AI is empowering rather than replacing. 

[00:14:03] Simon Glass: Yeah, no, it’s a really, it’s a really huge question and like I, I, you know, as I was saying, I really believe success will mean getting this right balance between the human and ai, but that the human needs to needs to routine control of the end-to-end work process.

[00:14:19] Z Johnson: With, 

[00:14:19] Simon Glass: with AI significantly automating and improving many tasks within that process. 

[00:14:24] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:14:25] Simon Glass: Um, I’m of the opinion, gosh, and there’s so much conversation on this right now, but I’m of the opinion that it’s hard for AI to fully replace a lot of the jobs unless the job’s no longer needed, and that’s obviously a different matter entirely.

[00:14:39] Simon Glass: Like AI can’t take a business trip to go and meet a key customer. AI can’t run a complicated negotiation process. At least not yet. I’m not sure if it ever will. AI can’t effectively coach and mentor our people. 

[00:14:51] Z Johnson: Right. 

[00:14:52] Simon Glass: You know, AI can’t deliver the meal. Right? But, but, but as leaders, we have to build the AI muscle in our people and get [00:15:00] them to understand how AI can help take their performance and overall impact.

[00:15:06] Simon Glass: To like a higher level. So, so I don’t, I have never really believed it’s an either or scenario. Rather, it’s a case of human plus AI equals better productivity, or at least it should equal better productivity, enhanced output, and elevated levels of value. So, so the way I think about it is that AI tools can produce output and there’s a gonna be a ton of output, but humans need to decide what’s valid.

[00:15:31] Simon Glass: What’s rubbish, what to do next. Right. So hence we’re back to critical thinking. Critical thinking and to be the critical skill of the future. 

[00:15:39] Z Johnson: Yeah. Yeah. So what do you say to to employees who are afraid of ai? 

[00:15:48] Simon Glass: Yeah, yeah. No, it’s, yeah. So, yeah, so of course AI can do many tasks quicker and more efficiently than humans.

[00:15:55] Z Johnson: Yeah, 

[00:15:55] Simon Glass: right. But it can’t care. It doesn’t have the critical thinking we’re talking about. [00:16:00] Your voice, your experience matters. So what I would say to them is, flip this around and instead of being afraid of it, tell yourself that you still have many competitive advantages and you’re gonna put them to work.

[00:16:13] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:16:13] Simon Glass: Right. Like change. Change the mindset. 

[00:16:16] Z Johnson: Yeah. About that mindset again, right? 

[00:16:19] Simon Glass: Yeah. 

[00:16:20] Z Johnson: Shift it, shifted it a bit. Yeah. Um, when you’re looking across these industries, uh, coding, marketing, operations, what applications of AI has surprised you the most in terms of impact? 

[00:16:36] Simon Glass: No, it’s, it’s, it’s another great question and it’s, it’s very timely right now.

[00:16:40] Simon Glass: I’m sure you’ve seen this toosie, a number of studies, you know, starting to come out questioning the ROIA little bit. 

[00:16:47] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:16:47] Simon Glass: Questioning the ROIA little bit on AI use cases. And, you know, just last week in the Harvard Business Review, they published an article calling out this idea of work slop. Yes. Really interesting, right?

[00:16:57] Simon Glass: Like work slop caused the ai, ai, like, you [00:17:00] know, kind of effectively meaning AI generated work content that. Like lacks the substance to meaningfully advance to giving tasks. That’s kind of how Right. The, the, the academics refer to it. And it makes, makes a ton of sense. And, and you know, quite frankly that there’s a lot out there.

[00:17:15] Simon Glass: I’ve seen a lot out there. I’m sure you have too. Yeah. And that’s, I mean, that’s understandable. The world has tried AI for just about anything, and it doesn’t always fit. No, like, so I, I think that’s because we’re in the discovery phase of ai such an early stage and it may well take a step or two backwards in order to go forwards.

[00:17:35] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:17:35] Simon Glass: But I’m very confident it’s gonna deliver the massive transformational change over time. And a massive ROI will be realized. But, so I mean that. Sorry. That’s kind of how I think about it. And then I think one other part of your question there was uh uh, like in terms of an application that surprised me, even amused me, I’m gonna throw one out that actually has amused me a little bit more.

[00:17:56] Simon Glass: I’m not sure if you’ve read this, but the government of Albania recently [00:18:00] appointed an AI agent as minister for Procure for procurement. No, I haven’t heard that. It’s not awesome. Yeah. But like they had really, really awesome marketing around the new job description. And it was basically along the lines of, this is one way to stop government corruption.

[00:18:15] Simon Glass: So, and it sounded a little bit gimmicky, but, but you know, it might not be too far off in the months and years ahead as we figure out the specific tasks and even in some cases the full job descriptions that AI can do better than humans. 

[00:18:30] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:18:31] Simon Glass: Yeah. I thought that was, it was pretty interesting. 

[00:18:34] Z Johnson: That is, that is, it kind of speaks to.

[00:18:39] Z Johnson: To more of the, you know, what roles are we going to see? Where you talked about the role ex expanding and stretching, right? Yeah. Versus the roles that we end up seeing where, you know, maybe we do need to face the fact that AI can start taking those roles. [00:19:00] That’s right. And that’s right. It’s gonna be, it is gonna be interesting.

[00:19:04] Simon Glass: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:19:05] Z Johnson: Um. For those executives that are listening that want to integrate AI into their organizations at scale, what would you say is the single most important thing that they should focus on in order to make it successful? 

[00:19:19] Simon Glass: Yeah, I would say, see, they really need to start by laying out the AI framework for their people.

[00:19:24] Simon Glass: Mm. And by this, it’s, it’s what I mentioned a little earlier, but this, it’s setting the AI policy and procedures within your org, so all of your people. Know what’s acceptable use and what’s not. Mm-hmm. And then it’s like it’s, I mean, my answer’s a little longer than just the one point, but it’s like, what I would say next is you need to give your people the tools.

[00:19:41] Simon Glass: It’s, it’s a, it’s that three step process actually. You need to give your people the tools, the need to be successful. And as I mentioned it was chat GPT for an account for everyone in their company. But then you, like, it’s, that’s, but those two things are not enough. But then you, you have to give them, you have to create the environment for learning and sharing and a culture that supports learning.[00:20:00] 

[00:20:00] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:20:00] Simon Glass: And then obviously don’t forget to celebrate wins across the team, but. Maybe most of all come at this from a perspective of the future is a, is this hybrid that we’re talking about between AI and humans. And as leaders we need to help our orgs figure out how to do that dance together. 

[00:20:16] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:20:17] Simon Glass: It’s kinda what it is, like how, how to do that dance together with this new technology.

[00:20:22] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:20:23] Simon Glass: Yeah. That’s what I would say to them. 

[00:20:26] Z Johnson: Along those same lines. What advice do you have for our listeners who are not at the leadership level quite yet? Yeah. What should they be thinking about and doing in terms of AI to help make sure that they are part of the future? 

[00:20:41] Simon Glass: Yeah. That you have 

[00:20:42] Z Johnson: described. 

[00:20:43] Simon Glass: I, I think if I only had two words that I would say to those folks, it would be be curious.

[00:20:48] Simon Glass: All in opera case, be curious, like don’t wait for a training program to land in your inbox. ’cause not everyone’s gonna give you one. 

[00:20:56] Z Johnson: Yeah, 

[00:20:57] Simon Glass: like try one thing in your role each day and, and, and [00:21:00] share what you learned. Like take a test and learned mindset. Build the muscle. That’s what’s gonna keep you relevant and like, un like, understand how AI works.

[00:21:10] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:21:11] Simon Glass: And like, and, and that’s what I mean by that is not just how chat GBT or Anthropic or Gemini or whatever the model is, works, but understand like the landscape and the architecture and what’s going on behind the scenes, 

[00:21:24] Z Johnson: right? 

[00:21:24] Simon Glass: Um, so get, get current, but also get current and stay current as to what’s going on in the space.

[00:21:29] Simon Glass: But, but here’s like, here’s my this’s. My last point probably. It’s like, but don’t lose your voice to AI and don’t be lazy. Don’t let it do too much for you. 

[00:21:41] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:21:42] Simon Glass: You know? And finally, ask yourself what it means to become for you personally, that critical thinker. Challenge yourself. 

[00:21:50] Z Johnson: Yeah. 

[00:21:51] Simon Glass: Lean into it. 

[00:21:52] Z Johnson: Yeah.

[00:21:54] Z Johnson: I love that, Simon, thank you for sharing your thoughts on how AI [00:22:00] is reshaping the way that we’re all working and what it takes to lead through that transformation. It’s definitely been fascinating to look at the opportunities and, uh, absolutely the responsibilities that we have as we’re working through this transformation with ai.

[00:22:16] Z Johnson: Thanks to our listeners for joining us on Insights and Innovators. Until next time, I’m z Johnson and we’ll see you soon. 

 

[00:22:25] MRII Announcer: Thanks for joining the Insights and Innovators podcast For Market Research Institute International, click subscribe to never miss an episode and visit us@mmri.org for more market research insights.