You did a lot...
Invested in new AI platforms. Rolled out the training modules. Told everyone this was the future.
So why isn’t it working?
Why are your managers trying to find people with “AI-critical skills” while, somewhere else in the company, entire teams are wondering if their jobs still have a purpose?
This is the new contradiction of AI adoption. World Economic Forum’s recent article confirms what many leaders I have chatted with are feeling: AI is creating a dual workforce challenge. It’s causing “overcapacity” (read “redundancy”) in some roles and “acute shortages” in others.
This is exhausting because it feels like you’re trying to solve two opposite problems at once.
Reframe: Not A Training Problem. A Work Design Problem
The most common advice you may hear is to “reskill at scale.” Yes – reskilling is important. But this advice is incomplete because it misses one of the real issues.
The focus cannot be just on training. The problem isn’t the tool or AI, or the employee. The problem is that you need a completely new approach.
The “overcapacity” you see is a sign of outdated role design. On the other hand, the “talent shortage” is a lack of clarity on what new value humans should be creating with AI.
We’re and have been treating AI as a tool to do old tasks faster instead of an opportunity to design entirely new ways of working. This offers a big opportunity for leadership to imagine new ways of working.
Redesign Work Around Human-AI Collaboration
Instead of getting caught in the tug-of-war between redundancy and recruiting, you can build a new, more resilient strategy.
- Start “Role-Designing.” Change your thought process from “What tasks can AI do?” to “What new outcomes are now possible?” and work backwards from there. Create new roles focused on arranging, verifying, and applying AI-driven insights. This is a great way to turn “overcapacity” into a new “capability.”
- Map Capabilities Instead of Just Job Titles. Use people analytics (I always have to add some data into the mix) to look deeper than a job description. The employee in your “at-risk” customer support role may have exceptional skills in empathy, complex problem-solving, and de-escalation. Learn and know how to use these to everyone’s advantage. Those are critical skills for a new role like “AI Collaboration Specialist” or “Client Strategy Verifier.”
- Make Workforce Planning a Core Part of AI Strategy. Don’t let your AI roadmap and your people strategy live separately. According to the WEF report, less than half of organizations do this. By integrating them, you can anticipate needs before they become a crisis. You can build bridges to move your talented people from existing roles to new, high-value ones.
Let's Build the Bridge
This dual challenge – overcapacity and talent scarcity – is one of the biggest hurdles leaders face in AI adoption. The good news? You can solve it!
It just requires a more human-centered approach – seeing your people as your most adaptable asset instead of a cost to be managed.
Sources: World Economic Forum
