Four Ways AI Can Simplify Your Role as a Manager
How ChatGPT and AI Can Help Managers Be More Productive, Communicate Better, and Overcome Challenges.
Over the past few months, there's been a lot of buzz about AI (Artificial Intelligence). This has largely been fostered by OpenAI releasing their ChatGPT model to the public, and now Google launching their own version called Bard. These developments have led to an increase in discussions around AI, and it's clear that AI is becoming more important in our daily lives.
Regardless of whether you're a first-time manager or have years of experience under your belt, you can't ignore the impact of AI. It's changing the way we work and has the potential to help us make better decisions and manage our teams more effectively.
Although there's a lot of hype around AI and models like ChatGPT, I wanted to understand it better before jumping on the bandwagon. I've explored many different generative AI models and tools, but I've chosen to focus on ChatGPT in this essay, because in my opinion (and for obvious reasons since it was the first) is the more mature.
There are a lot of articles out there that talk about how ChatGPT can help with everyday tasks like generating, proofreading, and translating texts. But there's not as much information on how it can be used in a managerial context. It's not just about automating tasks or analyzing data. AI can also help us understand complex situations, improve communication and make better decisions, which can have a big impact on how we lead our teams.
In this essay, I'm going to give you four practical examples of how you can use ChatGPT to enhance your role as a manager. The goal here is not just to show how AI can make our work more efficient, but also how it can make our work more strategic and insightful.
🤔 Is Using AI as a Manager Ethically Acceptable?
Before we delve into how you can harness the power of AI, it's crucial to address a question that has been on my mind for the past few months: is it ethically acceptable to use AI as a manager? This is a question I've thought about many times, and I'm not alone. People all around the world are trying to understand how AI will affect our society. This includes tech experts, philosophers (I recommend you check out this talk that really made me think), ethics experts, and everyday folks.
When we adopt powerful tools like AI, we also inherit a responsibility to use these tools ethically. This is especially true when it comes to AI, which can have far-reaching impacts on individuals and society.
So to consider this question more deeply, let's look at it through the lens of two well-known theories of ethics which I'm going to simplify:
📚 Deontological Ethics: this theory argues that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules, rather than based on the consequences of the action. In simple words, it's the idea that the ends do not justify the means.
📈 Consequentialist Ethics: this theory, on the other hand, holds that the outcomes of an action are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that action. This means that if a good outcome results from an action, then that action was ethical.
Applying these theories to the use of AI as a leader or manager offers us some interesting insights.
From a deontological standpoint, if AI is used to augment our capabilities and improving efficiency and decision-making, that would mean using this for ethical goals. So the act of using AI in itself wouldn't be morally wrong, provided it adheres to established rules and guidelines. And this is the most important point, rules and guidelines.
Personally I adhere to the following rules:
Transparency: I let my team know when I use AI.
Respect for autonomy: I use AI to help me with my work and to gather information (which I then double check). I would never let AI make decisions for me.
Privacy: I never share sensitive information with AI like ChatGPT, especially if it's about my team.
Let’s say that following these rules gives me a sense of satisfaction from a deontological point of view.
From a consequentialist point of view, it's even simpler. If using AI leads to better results, like more work getting done, better decisions, and happier employees, then it's okay to use AI. The important thing is to make sure that these results are in line with what's best for society and the organization.
🎯 Four Practical Ways AI Can Assist Managers
Now that we've touched on some of the ethical issues with using AI for management, let's look at how it can actually be helpful. Think of Artificial Intelligence as a helper for managers. It can make things run smoother, help with tough decisions, and make the whole team work better and happier. Let's talk about four specific ways AI can help managers do their job better.
📝 Creating Job Descriptions
One of the significant challenges for managers during the hiring process is defining the right job profile and crafting effective interview questions. While there are many websites where you can find inspiration and hiring materials, ChatGPT simplifies the process of starting a new hiring campaign.
Look how simple could be to generate a new position profile for a DevOps Engineer.
🤖 Example Prompt