Generative AI for L&D

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:04] Speaker B: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform. [00:00:14] Speaker A: Good day everyone and welcome to another edition of let's Be Diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who have supported me through this journey. Generative Artificial Intelligence or or JAI isn't new technology, but it's suddenly becoming one of the hottest topics. Companies have started to incorporate AI into their technology. So what is the impact on generative AI? Well, today I'm going to discuss Generative AI for L and D or Learning Development with our special guest, Sarah Russell. Sara TV Russell will tell you firsthand foremost that she is a long practicing student of yoga which has informed her holistic business approach and sets her apart in the business world. She has been insanely successful and a total failure all along her path, both of which have taught her many lessons in consistency, perseverance and entrepreneurship. Sarah has consulted over 60 organizations, founded seven startups, five brands, two nonprofit and co founded five startups. In her professional career as a certified Change Management professional and an innovative learning and development leader, Sarah brings a wealth of experience and diverse background with a long and exceptional track record in the wellness, beauty and natural food sectors, tech startups and most recently government consulting. Sarah palpably excited about digital enablement and harnessing the quickly evolving landscape of generative AI and machine learning to create custom content to accelerate growth and scale businesses more effectively. When not working, Sarah can be found enjoying the Rocky Mountains she calls home or traveling with family and friends across the globe. She also sees busy as a volunteer, several animal rescue groups and tending to her high altitude garden. She is one of the most friendly, caring, thoughtful people that I have come across. Welcome to the show Sarah. I am extremely honored to have you on today. [00:02:25] Speaker B: Oh, thank you so much Andrea. [00:02:27] Speaker A: You're very, very welcome. It's we've been talking a while now and this day has come. I thought when we recently booked it, I thought okay, what is it going to show up? [00:02:38] Speaker B: And it's here, it's here. We've made it. [00:02:41] Speaker A: How are things with you Sarah? What's new in your world? [00:02:44] Speaker B: Things are good. It's lovely this time of year in the Rocky Mountains. I split my time between Denver, Colorado and a small town in Montana. So we've had so much rain. It's been such a green year. So it's just beautiful to look out at the landscape and still in the beginning of August seeing green fields and pastures. It's been phenomenal. So I've enjoyed being outside A lot. Even if it's a little rainy. [00:03:09] Speaker A: Yeah, no kidding. It's nice to get outside anyways. Rain doesn't hurt us anyways. So. Nothing? [00:03:15] Speaker B: No, no, for sure. [00:03:16] Speaker A: Well, I'm glad to hear that things are going well with you. Thanks for sharing. What's going on? Before we begin, I always have a fun question to ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours? [00:03:28] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I'm a little nervous. I don't know what this question is. [00:03:32] Speaker A: No need to be nervous. It's actually going to be fun. We'll get a little giggle out of it for sure. So your question is, if roses are red, why are violets blue? [00:03:43] Speaker B: If roses are red, why are violets blue? Oh, I, I feel like I needed a, like a creativity lesson before this. Why are violets blue? I mean, it makes the, it makes the whole poem work, right? I don't know. Is that, is that an answer? Because they needed the poem to, to, to rhyme. [00:04:12] Speaker A: That's exactly what I was kind of, I was kind of thinking about that when I kind of put the question together, that they're trying to make it rhyme. Sometimes they try to put these things in to try to have like a meaning or whatever. But I do think it was just kind of just rhyme. So I just thought it was fun when I saw it. I'm like, who could I use this on? And I thought I knew right away. [00:04:30] Speaker B: So, you know, if I had, if I had been more thoughtful in my response, I should have tied it into what, you know, I'm most excited about with AI and innovation. But I didn't even go there. [00:04:43] Speaker A: Well, you could still, you're still a chance. [00:04:47] Speaker B: We're gonna say innovative rhyming. That's, that's where I'm at right now. I haven't had my, my full cup of caffeine yet. [00:04:53] Speaker A: Innovative rhyming. Okay, that's a good answer. That's a good thought for sure. So thanks very much for having fun with me. I always have fun. Those questions, I think sometimes they're more fun for me than they are for the guests. Just because when I write them down, I like to see what they're gonna answer. So I'm thrilled that you were willing to have fun with me. Or a willing participant in my fun, thought provoking questions. [00:05:16] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:05:17] Speaker A: So, Sarah, why don't we start off today with you telling us a little bit about you and your story. [00:05:23] Speaker B: Yeah, me and my story. Well, I, I've had a very varied career. I, I started in tech and video production. And then somehow found my way into the wellness and beauty sector, working in natural foods as well and really focusing on building brands for expansion and helping small businesses grow into larger businesses. And had my own consulting firm and consulted with businesses as they were starting and growing. And then most recently, I have entered into government consulting and have found this whole new life to my career that I didn't know. I didn't really know what I was missing and seeing all the possibilities and just the way that my work can continue to grow. My focus has been either through operations or hr. It has been primarily focused on, on building training programs and learning and development. So what I found is, is most companies, especially small mom and pop shops, that are trying to grow and expand or a brand that wants to go national is they don't really have anything in place for their employee development. And so they're, they are not realizing, or maybe they are recognizing a little bit that their employees are their greatest asset and to be their brand ambassadors and grow their company. But if, if you don't have the right tools in place, it's really hard for even the best employee to get excited about knowing what's coming next. So that's how I've kind of found my niche with learning and development. And it's, it's really where I love to love to sit and watch the light bulb come on for people. So that's my career in a nutshell. You know, additionally, I've been kind of a Rocky Mountain girl most of my adult life and we, you know, you know, we travel back and forth between Montana and Denver and it's kind of the best of both worlds. [00:07:20] Speaker A: That's awesome. What caught my attention when you said employee development. I've been having a lot of conversations with people lately and some of the things that people have been seeing is that one individual specifically said that when they're talking about employee development and leadership, that this person felt that they want to develop as many leaders as they can. And I said to them, I totally understand that. But what I wanted them to understand is that not everybody wants to be a leader. So they can. There are people who want to be a leader. There are some people who just want to go in, do their job, whether it's, you know, data entry or whatever, do their stuff. If it's an 8 to 5, start at 8 and then 5 o', clock, go home. Not that they don't want to learn, but they don't want to be developed into a leadership position because they feel that it's a lot for them, and they just want to be focused on work. And then when they get home, they want to have their mindset to be focused on fab. [00:08:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And I hear that a lot, especially in when I'm going in and consulting with companies where it's like, hey, we've got these worker bees that love what they do, but they also, you know, they're not committed to, you know, necessarily growing in this career. Maybe they're college students that are doing this career for four years to set them up for something in the future once they get their degree. So I think that it's a really valid point to make, but I think that one thing that my boss says all the time, which I love, is that nobody wants to be mediocre at their job. I mean, I don't think anybody wakes up in the morning to say, I'm gonna just barely get by. I mean, maybe there's days where people feel like that, but I think people do. When we do things, we want to excel at them, we want to enjoy them. And so, you know, I think even as individual contributors, you still want to build that growth mindset. You still want to become an, you know, an innovative individual, because we all believe in working smarter, not harder, hopefully. And I think that's, that's really where I look at L and D. You know, the development of an employee is really based on that. And you can grow in your career and have a very fulfilling, successful career without ever managing another human being being. And I've, I've managed a lot of people in my life and I'm at a really happy place as a consultant where I'm not. Where I get to just manage my projects rather than people. And I get to have really great relationships with the people that I'm surrounded by rather than having to manage them and, and do evaluation. So I'm kind of sitting in a really happy place with that right now. So I, I hear you on that. When people don't want to necessarily be developed into leaders, and it's not because [00:09:56] Speaker A: they don't care about their jobs, they care about what they're doing and they just. But you know, they see their counterparts who are a little bit higher up and are given a phone or given a laptop, what the expectation is is that when you get home, if there's a message or an email that, you know, it should be taken care of, like promptly, and they don't want that. And especially I find since the pandemic, I find that people have been, see, people were family orientated. Before, but I think they're very family orientated now because they had time to spend with their families and I think they forgot a little bit about what it meant to spend time with family. And so during the pandemic, they started to enjoy it. So then when everything was going back to normal, they're like, well, no, I don't. Normal. I enjoy taking my son or daughter to school. I enjoy picking them up and I enjoy being home with them, preparing supper and having them sit there and talk to them while they're doing their homework. Homework. I enjoy that. So I think their mindset is a little bit different. So I think they still want to learn, but I think they're just a little bit more compassionate to the family element. [00:11:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And I, I think that it's, it's really, you know, I think you pointed out something really valid with the pandemic is we got to see what life could be like. Right? And then I think people after the pandemic have just decided that it doesn't, it doesn't have to be a could have or should have, but it's like, hey, how do I, how do I tailor my life to do this? And, you know, I think that leaders and individual contributors can, can really benefit from, you know, developing their careers and at least building a, like a succession plan or a career path for themselves as far as what they want to accomplish. Like, what is it that they love? This. I really want one exercise that I do when I'm coaching clients is, is I want them to tell me all the things they don't want to do. What are the things that you don't like about your role or a role that, you know, that you absolutely don't want to do? Some people are detail oriented. Some people are, you know, more big picture, big idea. Some people really need to tinker and get into the software or write code and, you know, can go down that rabbit hole. So it really, you know, find your strengths and sometimes by finding the things that you aren't good at or the things that you, you don't want to do, is, is more important than, than actually cultivating those strengths in, you know, in certain times in your career. [00:12:20] Speaker A: Sir, I would love for you to tell our listeners what generative AI is. [00:12:26] Speaker B: Sure. Well, you know, there's a. Probably a thousand different answers in the way that we could, we could talk about generative AI, but really it's a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content. It can create anything from a script, you know, in text, to pictures and music. And it can do so without human input. That doesn't mean that they, there's, there's no human elements, but really it's, they have quote unquote learned. You know, they get this, this access to a database or a vast, you know, section of knowledge, and then, you know, they can be prompted, you know, the AI can be prompted by a question to go into that database. And you know, for instance, if they've got access to the World Wide Web, they can just pull up a wiki page like in a matter of, you know, micro moments, and it's advanced algorithms that they are learning from to gather that existing data and then they can generate new and unique content that resembles what a human would learn, for instance. And, you know, more and more we're seeing it create creative products, which is both a little bit, you know, we're navigating a new, a new space right when it comes to creativity. And, and what AI can generate, you know, is it, is it making artists obsolete, for instance, or, you know, if you look at it from the other side, is it making me more efficient at writing scripts in my job, you know, in my, in my day to day when I'm, when I'm trying to build a training? But yeah, that's the long and short of it. [00:13:51] Speaker A: Are you finding with it now that it is helping? So you just mentioned like writing, you know, developing a training or writing a script or whatever, or you finding that more and more people are using it now to maybe not necessarily word for word, but you know, sometimes I know I myself when I'm writing something, I get a little bit of a mind block. Like, I don't know, like where to start. I know once I start, I'm good, but you know, sometimes you get stuck of where to start. So you find it, it's a good starter or do you find that it's absolutely wording or. [00:14:25] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it helps with wordsmithing. It helps with, you know, like if you're just like, okay, I need to write about this topic, you can give it some topic prompts. And the way, you know, and we're, what we're talking about right now is, is primarily chatgpt, right, which is a type of generative AI and so you can give the program prompts and ask for a tone. You know, it's like, hey, explain to me about the way that butterfly, you know, that caterpillars turn into butterflies at a fifth grade level. You know, you can write something very specific like that so that you're not getting this Corporate jargon, for instance, when you're trying to talk to a fifth grader, for instance. So it's been great for prompts. I think you can always insert your human element. You can always insert your, you know, things that are very relevant or examples that you've created. I, I think it's really good to just kind of get the ball rolling. I'm seeing it being used more and more. You know, ChatGPT is only, you know, we're not even a year in, right. We're, we're really just in this last, these last few months that it's gotten so popular and so big. And so I think once that got rolled out, we're seeing a really early adoption with the younger generations. I am like, I guess what it's called a, deemed an elder millennial. So I think that we're kind of on that edge of like, do we adopt or do we not? Right. There's a lot of resistance with the people in my age group and generation, but we're seeing more and more of the young, younger generations just grab hold of it as if it already existed before. And you know, I work with some, some younger members on our team and they're just crushing it with, with how they're able to use this product and, and create even, even, you know, they're just more efficient at their job and what they're able to do. So I think we're going to see more and more. And I, I know that there's a lot of fear around, you know, as automation and robotics happens, you know, in the blue collar sector, you know, with, you know, things like production lines, you know, a lot of people lost jobs. But I think what we need to look at is, you know, those of us that are working in things like L and D, like where we're writing scripts or we're having to be a little bit creative in our job on a regular basis, that there's a fear of, well, if this, you know, generative AI, you know, chatbot can do my job, like, does it render me obsolete? And I think we have to kind of get ahead of it. Those of the, that us that are in, you know, any kind of technology driven, which is a lot of sectors, any kind of technology driven environment and, you know, if we can learn to harness the, these tools, it just, it makes you better at your job and then that's what makes you more of a resource because if you know how to utilize these generative AI tools, you're going to go a lot farther and then you really need to. We have to step forward and be on the cutting edge of this or we will get left behind. Whether you believe in. In it, you know, or not, it's still happening. It's, you know, I've had a lot of pushback of like, oh, I don't believe in it. It's like, well, there's nothing to really believe it exists. So the question is, are you going to use it and, you know, become an expert and be a better employee or do better work, or are you going to leave that to other. Other people? [00:17:30] Speaker A: So I am one of those people. Since I've been, well, I'm gonna date myself here. But since I was 16 years old as a hockey coach, I always adopted this rule of if I had something to say, I left it between 20 to 48 hours to process in my brain to figure out how I was going to say it or what I was going to say. And if I had people that, that wanted to have a discussion with me because they were upset, I would say, give it 24 to 48 hours and if you want to talk about it, then let's talk about it. Because you're upset, you're in a heated moment, so something's said that you don't want to say. So I could see it helping. For example, you're in a HR position and you need to send out an email that's a little bit structured or, or has, you know, a process, something that you. Some of the employee to work on, and you were a little bit upset with it. I could see maybe it helping because of your, of the wording, because I always believe that especially when you're talking, it's not the words, it's the tone. So when you're reading an email that could be like you're sending out to somebody, you want to get the message across, it's important, but you don't want to crush them in the individual. So I think it's that tone in the wording and one word could make a difference in the tone of the message that you're trying to get out of the message. [00:18:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that, you know, you don't, you don't write emails angry, but maybe, maybe you don't use chat GPT angry either. I think that, you know, it's great for wordsmithing. It's great for, like, getting out of that, that comfort zone with, you know, using the same kind of vocabulary. What I, what I find it really great for is, you know, it's been a resource and tool that I can push small business owners to, when it comes time to, you know, like, how. What does an outline of an employee handbook look like? What does the, you know, if you're working with a restaurant, like, what does a kitchen manual look like? Like, things that would really set back a small business startup that is trying to just get off the ground. A mom and pop shop, for instance, that is just trying to get back, you know, they, they would need to hire someone to either write that or they would need to, you know, consult with lawyers. They need to, you know, I'm not saying that these, that chat GPT is replacing any of that by any means, but it gives them a leg up to like, at least have a framework to put something together. So they then can go to the lawyer, for instance, and say, hey, I wrote this. Is it compliant? Is it legal? And I think that when we look at it for those types of tools, I think it's great. It definitely can help you craft emails. It can definitely help you, it can help you search for things on the Internet. You know, I was working on a project where I needed specific videos from a certain platform that could teach X, Y and Z. And so I was able to drop a little like, hey, are there any of these videos in this, you know, format about these topics? And boom, I had like 20 results right away. So then I could go in and look for those specific titles and then vet them myself. And out of those 20 returns, you know, maybe three of them were exactly what I needed. So I think that, you know, there's different ways to use it too. It's not just like, hey, can I craft an email? Or hey, can I craft a script? Right. [00:20:57] Speaker A: How do HR and generative AI go together? [00:21:00] Speaker B: Oh, that's a great question. So, I mean, I think just like any other department, but when we talk about what human resources looks like, it's. It kind of used to be the department that it's like, oh, HR is coming in to talk about sexual harassment. Or, you know, it's. It was kind of more of a. You only talk to HR if you were in trouble or if you were getting hired, right? And now there's a whole talent management component. And so, you know, starting at candidate recruitment, you know, generative AI can really assist in creating a more realistic and diverse candidate Persona for the job postings. It can help analyze existing data for employees and see what's missing and analyze specific skill sets. Where I exist is really in learning and development, and I can create personalized learning materials. I can use generative AI video to build video trainings where you know, normally I would need, you know, a SME, for instance and you know, I'd have to write a script and then we'd have to get to PowerPoint deck together and then we'd have to set a tie aside, time to shoot it. And it might take two or three people to do this and edit it and put it together. I can now type something up and have a, you know, an avatar read my script and be very lifelike. And I think that that's pretty impressive because I can now churn out content that is needed for just in time training when before I would need to pull a lot of people's time. You know, it can be used in onboarding, it can be used in employee feedback and surveys. Surveys and analyzing data. I think that's a really big one. And you know, so when we're looking at performance evaluation feedback, there's, there's also, you know, chatbots and virtual assistants that we can, that we can rely on to help us evaluate that data to find what we're looking for. You know, the list goes on and on. There's, there's a lot that we can look at through again those analytics, talent retention, how we can look at the way we do succession planning by analyzing historical employee performance data and, and looking at these potential candidates for leadership and managerial or independent contributor tracks. So I think that it's just, it's kind of endless. And if, you know, AR is just AI is really going to be inserted into every aspect of business. And we look at it from a human resources perspective like, you know, we want to have that human element so we'll, we'll be able to use it in so many ways to get better at our jobs, to have better candidates, have better employee retention, better training development [00:23:40] Speaker A: so that we can develop the next leaders. [00:23:42] Speaker B: Because companies don't want to necessarily hire outside of their talent pool. They want to cultivate the employees they have. It's going to be way more cost effective. And then you have that legacy of knowledge about the company that it doesn't go away. If you're hiring all your, all your higher ups are external. You know, you lose this sense of culture and you lose, you lose that knowledge base of, of what the company is about. And I think if you can grow those, those people internally, you're going to be much more successful as you grow now there's always going to be outside candidates, but I think a good, healthy mix is really important. So those are just a few ways that the Two can, can go together and really, really help grow, grow companies. [00:24:28] Speaker A: So one of the things that was interesting that you had said job posting. So I like to, or I have been, I'd say in the last couple years studying job posting. So I'll go onto a site and I'll read the job postings that are put out there and I'll study them. And one thing I'm noticing the last five years is that job postings, although they're well written, I find that there's no excitement built out from the job posting. So there is no like oh, oh my God. Like I have a friend of mine who was looking for a marketing position and she found something. She messaged me and she's like, oh my God, Andrew, I saw this job and it is the job for me. I don't know what I gotta do, but I gotta do everything that I can to get this job. They have a great culture, they have a great mission, vision and values. They have great pro processes. And I was like, oh, I'm like, you read that they listed that all in their job description. She said no. She says, but by reading the job description you could just tell that that's what the things that they believed in. And I just feel like you mentioned you work a lot with mom and pops. So if you are a family orientated company, you don't need to say you're a family orientated company. But it's got to be in there somewhere as you're reading it. I need to get that feeling like wow, this company loves their employees, believe in wellbeing and they are family orientated. So they care about their employees. They make their employees feel like they are part of the organization and part of the family. So I'm wondering if chat GPT, if there's a way that you get worded so that that can come out and, and it could be conveyed in job posting so that you could be excited about that. So she told me this and this. I could say no word of a lie in five years. She's like the first one that I've spoken to that's looking for a job that said, oh my God, I gotta have this job. Usually it's okay, I've seen this job, I can do it, have the skill set. But she's the first one that was like I have the skill set to do this job and I need to work for this company. I need to do whatever I can to get a job here. [00:26:48] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, I think again though that's where that human element is going to always have a, have a role is you know, creating that you can definitely prompt things like chatgpt with tone, but to get that human element, you know, without it sounding robotic or you know, like it, like it's being prompted to have to say that it looks like a family oriented place. Yeah, I, I think that that's just where the human element always comes in. I, I don't know, I don't know what the. I, I know that it can help with posting job, you know, job postings when you're looking at the data of what this role is going to, to be and look like and you know, you can talk about the vision and values of the company for sure, but I don't know if it, it's going to take generative AI to do that. [00:27:35] Speaker A: That. [00:27:36] Speaker B: So okay. Yeah, it's that mix. [00:27:38] Speaker A: Right, right, right. It's just something that I've noticed the last five years and, and I was just curious to see if it could help with that or do that like I said, because I'm, there's jobs out there that you see, wow, they look great and then whatever. [00:27:54] Speaker B: But well, and I think that's also part of the culture of what's, what's shifting in the, the marketplace of, of job recruitment. Right. Because the, the pandemic as we talked about before, it made people realize that like there was more to their life than their job. And you know, so I think now people are very selective, much more selective than say 10 or 20 years ago about the companies that they work for because they want to align their values, you know, their own personal mission, vision and values is like what is it that they are looking for? You know, I for instance, took this leap into the government sector. I had never really considered it before just a year or two ago, but I was really looking for stability. I'd been working in tech startup, I'd been working as, you know, a private consultant on my own for a long time. I've been an entrepreneur for 20 years. I was ready for some stability where I could grow in and with a company that was growing. And so that was a huge, that was a huge piece for me. And you know, it just so happened I found an amazing, an amazing company that does government consulting that, you know, aligns with my own mission, vision, values. I knew a couple of people that were already working there and that was my foot in the door. So I, you know, I'm very lucky that they took a chance on someone with absolutely no background in government consulting. But what they were really interested in was my, you know, working in digital innovation, working in tech startups, like having that tech startup mindset, you know, being able to work, you know, do project management in an agile way. Those, those are the tools that companies are looking for. Now. They're not necessarily, I think, seeking that person that has, you know, of course there's always gonna be roles that needs a certain amount of experience with a certain program or whatever it is. But I think people are recognizing that they're looking for talent and gender AI can help with this. They're looking for talent with maybe a skill set or a mindset that shows up through their resume. And, and that's where you're gonna see things like, you know, AI helping filter through those like HRIS systems that, you know, they're, they're looking for word prompts. Right. And then you can pull up those resumes and say, yep, this is the kind of per, the kind of person we're looking for. Maybe they don't have all the, they don't check all the boxes, but they're trainable. [00:30:07] Speaker A: So you just mentioned training. How do we train people in the workplace to be innovative? [00:30:13] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, more and more companies are looking for innovative solutions and I think the number one thing that, that you have to remember is that innovation is not a, it's not a hard skill that you can learn like learning how to put together a proper PowerPoint presentation. But I think, you know, cultivating a growth mindset is probably key. It's, it's the number one thing that I, that I train for that I, you know, talk to people about developing their employees. And that's really encouraging people to believe that their abilities can be develop through their own effort and learning and so, and also letting them be empowered to go and, and you know, maybe they're, they want to take a course. There's a, you know, there's these LEGO courses now to teach like leadership facilitation. And, and I think it's like if you can teach someone how to, to play, to be better at their job, I think that, that, that's so outside of the box thinking. I think it's fantastic. So, so building in that growth mindset into the culture right away, encouraging curiosity, also building a culture where it's okay to fail. And failure was such a bad word at work for such a long time and I've seen in the last decade it becoming, we have to learn how to fail fast. [00:31:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say those are great for sure. Mindset, curiosity. You mentioned failure. I mean, I think I always say to people if I hate the word failure as well, but, you know, if we don't try, then we can't fail. I mean, we don't know what worked and what didn't, so I think we can't be afraid to try. You mentioned also growth mindset. I think it's important for companies. I mean, there's a lot of people out there. I talk to a lot of people and they say, oh, well, yeah, you know, I'm looking to change companies because I just don't see any areas of growth for me because there's just nowhere for them to go within the company, so they move on. So I think creating a space where an employee can move to another level or. You mentioned succession planning earlier in our discussion here. You know, finding ways for people to see, okay, well, there is a future here. There is opportunity for me. There's not just one level, and then I have to find something else. I think that's important too. And I think it's important for leadership to encourage people that they have as far as their employees to look into that and say, hey, there is a future here. You know, why don't you look at this or check this position out or what have you? So encourage them to grow and be there for them if they, you know, I need some help mentoring on this area or I need to help me to write better emails or communicate better. [00:32:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:59] Speaker A: Or to work with my teammates better and understanding how important it is to work with my teammates, how important it is to finish off a project, you know, finishing it off on time. I think all these things are important. [00:33:14] Speaker B: Well, and you mentioned when you were reading my bio at the beginning of the top of the program, you had, you know, one thing that I, that I'm always very transparent about is, you know, I've been incredibly successful at what I do, and I've also failed miserably. And, you know, it's. It's learning how to fail and like being graceful with it. And there's been times where I've been less graceful than others. And, you know, I grow. I grow wiser as the years go on in my, in my career as well. And so I think that, that learning what you aren't good at at or learning where, where you failed and where you can come up stronger or I think that that is so important. You know, I mentioned also earlier that, you know, when I'm, when I'm working with, with clients and, you know, it's. It's what don't you want to do what? What don't you want to be known for? What don't you want to be? What, what are you not great at that you're okay with not being great at? Because that's what gets you to the good stuff. That's what gets you to knowing what you're, you know, you excel at. That's what you know. That's where you find your potential, is knowing, you know, knowing both sides, the boundaries and the, the limitations, and then also where you can just, you know, fly high. And I think that that's, you know, that's, that's part of also being innovative is, is knowing that. So. [00:34:30] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned too, like, knowing what you're good at. I was talking about this on a past episode, you know, understanding. You just mentioned knowing what you're good at. So, I mean, I think it's important for leaders to understand that, you know, in order to grow the company, you have to know what you're good at. And if you need help, you know, you can't do everything. I know a lot of people out there feel like they can, but there are certain things that you're good at. There's some things that I know that I'm very good at, and there's some things that I know that I'm not very good at. And the things that I know that I'm not very good at, I try to seek the help of that. [00:35:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:04] Speaker A: From somebody because I'd rather do that than not do it properly. So I'd rather ask for help, seek advice, see what people think, get their feedback instead of just going absolutely on it, you know? [00:35:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:35:20] Speaker A: So how do you ensure that employees are prepared for the integration of AI into their roles and responsibilities? [00:35:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, from a change management perspective, it's really having a clear change plan in place because this change is inevitable and you're going to need to, you're going to need to prepare your employees. So whether you're a small or a large company, no matter what sector you're in, having some sort of change management in place is going to be helpful. And I think that first and foremost, that change management process is going to go in and look at what the culture's been and, and how it needs to shift and then, you know, really getting that buy in from who are my leaders that are going to support this, this shift and then from there, you know, who are, who are going to be my early adopters or, you know, ambassadors for something that I, we need to do. It's, it's probably going to be your new employees, your new hires are not going to know what your culture was before. So I'm a big proponent of like really get them trained up to think that this is been the culture all along. And then, you know, your younger employees, your early career professionals that are like really dying to grow and learn something and maybe they're looking at future leadership and, and okay, what does future leadership look like? It means embracing this technology. So I'm going to give you some tools to do that. So again, that brings it to, you know, training and development, learning and development. That's my expertise, that's my area that I love. Because when you can create something that is in the flow of someone's workday process just in time, training is huge. You know, you're, you're working on a project and it's a perishable skill because you don't work on this kind of a project all the time. For instance, you should be able to like open something up and have a quick start guide or a tutorial or something right there in that moment. So you're not taking an hour or five out of your day to watch a whole lesson and you know, learn X, Y and Z, you know, all the steps to get there. It's, hey, I need to know how to just do this piece of this part right now. And so I think building out those, those micro learnings, we're finding more and more that people are, are they're retaining information by doing it and learning how to process, you know, the information. And if we can give them the information as they're needing it, it's much more, it's going to be much more reliable information for them to like retain it. So these smaller trainings are big. So, so getting a really great training development system and strategy set up that clear communication about what the change is, who is saying it matters just as much as what the message is. So communicating, being transparent with your employees as far as what's needed in their role, what does it look like to, to someone who is in this position versus that position and how they're going to use, use technologies differently and implementing a new system and why it's important. I think the other thing is letting people know like, you know, what's in it for you? What's in it for you. You're going to learn this technology that's going to be driving the future and you know, empowering them rather than making them feel less than because they don't know it. That Employee involvement, engagement is really, really, really important. And then also, I think, like, piloting projects is a really good way because you can roll things out in phases. It's not this huge, sweeping change that can be overwhelming to, you know, maybe a workforce that you've had for a long time. You know, you want to, you want to limit attrition whenever you do any kind of change. And so making sure that they feel like they're collaborating and things are rolling out in phases. There's a good communications plan in place, and then just, you know, continue to provide resources and, and feedback. So, you know, do you have a survey system to hear how employees are handling the change and utilizing these new systems and processes that are created by. However you have AI involved in your workplace, you know, what kind of resources do you provide? Do you have mentorships? Like, you know, you mentioned mentorships before. Do you have mentorships for those that are a little bit more tech savvy, that can work with people that are, you know, maybe not as tech savvy, that might want an extra lesson or two? And why do I have to do this? [00:39:28] Speaker A: Why is this important? How do I do this? [00:39:31] Speaker B: How can I make this relevant? So having all these different systems in place can help in any kind of change, anything that you're adding to, if you're adding a new software or whatever it is. But generative AI is being embraced and, you know, we really do need to recognize that it's not going to go away. And how do we empower our employees to, you know, this, this is how we empower employees to really embrace it and learn about it. And, and it's just like when the iPhone came out, it's like everybody was just so scared of the iPhone, and now it's like I feel like I drop mine at least 400 times a day. And, you know, it's like it's made of glass, but somehow it will stay together, right? And, you know, we didn't know that we could check email until the BlackBerry came out. And, you know, there's now these, all these things. Like, this is a better camera than I had when I had a camera, you know, 10, 15 years ago on my iPhone. And it's like, you know, you have to just use it and use it and use it to feel comfortable with it. You know, my husband is on, I'm on an iPhone and he's on an Android. I can't even turn the screen on on his phone because I don't use it every day. I have no, no idea how to even, like if a call comes in, like I don't even know if I can answer it. And it's just because I'm not used to that phone. So just getting, getting it in everyone's periphery and getting them using it, that's key. That's, that's going to get things going for sure. [00:40:58] Speaker A: So two things with everything you were saying are two things that I want to dial back on. You mentioned new hires. So I'm a firm believer during the onboarding process of the discussing expectations. So I really feel that you can discuss the expectations of the employee, what you're looking for from them, what you need from them. So I think introducing the AI into their role and letting them know that they will be using AI and this is how they'd be using it so that the employee is prepared for it. And I am a huge believer in communication. I believe that you can never over communicate. So I believe that if you're going to integrate a program or integrate AI that you are communicating this with your employees numerous times and letting them know that if there is any issues with it or if they need any training or mentoring on it, that they can come and go see their direct supervisors or managers to get the training that they need. [00:41:59] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Yep. Those are, you know, the key. I think communication is always key in, in every aspect of life. Right? [00:42:08] Speaker A: For sure. I think like I said, you can never over communicate. That's my thought process. So if you could choose one word to describe yourself, Sarah, what word would that be? [00:42:17] Speaker B: You know, I think I told you like this. These kinds of questions are the ones that make me the most nervous. But I'm going to go with inspired today because I really am inspired. Inspired by, you know, my past experiences. My, you know, you mentioned at the very beginning of the show that, you know, I'm a yoga practitioner and I like to be inspired by what's around me and what's in front of me. And I'm, I'm really excited about what's coming with, you know, with work and just life in general. Like we, we have this. I'm inspired by it all. Like the nature and beauty around me and you know, all this really cool technology that's. That kind of seems at odds with some of it. But I think it's a beautiful dance and I'm inspired by it. [00:42:59] Speaker A: Sarah, is such a good word for you. I really feel in our conversation, I do think that that is a perfect fit word for you. I feel that you are a very inspired person and I Feel can be inspirational to others. So I definitely think that is a great word for you. Before we started our podcast today, I did say that I. I don't normally do that, but I did mention to you that I do have a word that I thought of for you. [00:43:25] Speaker B: Right. [00:43:25] Speaker A: And the word that I thought of for you was comforting. The reason why I say comforting is because you always make people feel important. And I also feel your comforting because from the first day, I felt like you saw me, you heard me, you valued me, and you understood me. So that is why I would say comforting in my mind for you. [00:43:46] Speaker B: Oh, thank you, Andrew. That is so kind. I appreciate it. That's going to be my word today. [00:43:52] Speaker A: There you go. Well, you can have it. No problem. Thank you. Any final thoughts today? [00:43:59] Speaker B: Oh, man, I think my brain is tired. It's been a very long work week and still I haven't finished all my caffeine yet. I didn't want to slurp on the podcast. So I'm really excited that you're doing this. I hope that people can get a little taste of what generative AI is and how we can be innovative with it in the workplace and how you can help your employees if you're working in hr. I think that if anybody has extra questions, find me on LinkedIn. I'm pretty easy to find on LinkedIn. Sarah. [00:44:32] Speaker A: TV. [00:44:33] Speaker B: Russell and I would love to connect. I love being a connector and connecting with people, Andrew. That's how we met. We just. Just, you know, you reached out and we just started chatting and it was great. And I think that, you know, the more we can have these organic conversations, the better. [00:44:47] Speaker A: I totally agree. I wanted to take the time to thank you for joining me. I think this conversation was fantastic. I think you have this extraordinary way of making people feel special, Sarah, and I think that you have a huge heart and have an inspirational mindset. I appreciate the fact that in a very short amount of time showed me how compassionate you can be and how willing you are to step in and help. Thank you for agreeing to be my guest today and for all the joy to work with you. Thank you for showing us today how to let personality shine through. I think you are truly one of the good ones. [00:45:25] Speaker B: Thank you so much. I really enjoyed being here. [00:45:27] Speaker A: You're very welcome. It was a pleasure to have Elon here. And so, on behalf of myself and my guest, Sarah, I would like to thank you all for joining and listening today. And until next time, be safe. And remember, if we all work together, we can accomplish anything. [00:45:48] Speaker B: You have been listening to let's Be Diverse with Andrew Stout. To stay up to date with future content, hit Subscribe.