AI: What is Futurecasting, and Why Should I Do It? Part 2

AI Landscapes: Redefining Commerce, Careers, and Communities - Article 2 of 8

Begin with Diagnosis

The first step in the four-part approach introduced in Part 1 is to diagnose and futurecast. We begin by identifying roles that employ significant numbers of people or have an outsized effect on the organization. We recommend starting with a handful of high-impact roles to keep the process manageable while still producing meaningful insight.

Once these roles have been selected, we work with the organization to understand the work employees actually perform. There are many ways to do this, but we’ll share our approach. Our organizational effectiveness technology partner, REWORC , provides an excellent overview of crowdsourced data from your staff regarding where they spend their time, how collaborative and complex the activities are, and how much values those actvities add.

The below graphic provides all this data in two visualizations:
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With pilot roles selected and data on their work activity compiled, you’re ready for the fun part of the process: futurecasting.

Futurecasting

Once we understand how a role operates today, we work with employees to explore how AI could affect that role and how the work might evolve.

We begin by introducing participants to examples of how AI is already being used within their industry or function. These examples are not intended to provide a ready-made answer. Instead, they help employees better understand what the technology can do and imagine applications grounded in their own experience.

From there, we guide employees in examining their pain points and low-value activities, shown in brown in the image above. We explore the ideas that real-world AI use cases generate, the risks employees identify, and the higher-value work they could take on as other activities are automated, assisted, or accelerated.

These conversations help the organization develop a future view of each role: what work may change, what should remain distinctly human, and what employees may need to learn to succeed.

What Can Futurecasting Reveal?

The effects of AI will not be the same for every role. Different opportunities, constraints, and risks will emerge across an organization.

In one futurecasting example, our models examined three roles and projected five-year increases in work throughput ranging from 36% to 200%, depending on the role. As this example shows, the effects of AI solutions won’t be the same for each role – different impacts and opportunities will emerge through this process.

Futurecasting helps leaders develop a more grounded view of what is possible. Some companies will want to embrace AI solutions widely, and others less so. The only wrong answer at this stage is not to engage staff in a role-level conversation about what could be possible.

From Possibilities to Organizational Support

Diagnosis and futurecasting create more than a list of possible AI applications. Together, they produce the evidence and employee insight leaders need to evaluate opportunities, discuss risks, and make informed decisions.

The next challenge is turning those findings into a compelling case for action. In Part 3, we explore how to talk to your CEO or board about AI—and how futurecasting can help connect potential applications to the organization’s strategic and financial priorities.

Thanks for reading. Let’s talk AI implementation. Send me a note at wade@batonglobal.com.

About Wade Britt‍

Wade Hampton Britt, IV is a partner and the Managing Director at Bâton Global. He has lived and worked in a dozen countries in the global express and edtech sectors before joining Bâton Global in 2016. Wade is passionate about helping clients and their communities navigate the AI disruption better than previous technological changes.