Leading teams comes with a number of challenges, often shaped by a concoction of evolving workforce expectation, rapid technological advancements and meeting stakeholders’ expectations whilst simultaneously generating turnover and a positive bottom line in favour of the company’s shareholders.  

The question is; can leaders of today and tomorrow make use of AI to lead effectively? More importantly, the use of AI for the benefit of organisations isn’t just a trend that will fade away over time, but it is a rather essential shift that is reshaping the way organisations across the globe operate, especially in team settings, and is necessary for strategic decision-making.  

Using AI in the corporate world may become particularly useful for leadership positions for various goals and objectives. We all know that knowledge and information are power for decision-making. Using historical analyses and trends will allow for more accurate predictive data and analyses to be performed, which is key for effective decision-making. Having the right information at hand will allow decision makers to move beyond experiences, opinions and allows more rational, unbiased, accurate and lower-risk decisions. AI can assist in the process as specialised software can identify patterns, forecasting trends using the best models suited for the data at hand, and ultimately predict the likelihood of a number of potential outcomes. AI also has the power of gathering and processing competitor data, including industry reports and customer preferences that would allow companies to tailor their products and service offerings in line with the market needs.  

There are further uses of AI technologies by leaders; AI tools can allow managers to view real-time insights into their team’s performance, making it possible to identify bottlenecks, improvement areas and optimising workflows. This would bring in an element of added efficiency, eliminating process waste. In the meantime, streamlining processes also allows teams to eliminate repetitive tasks, as AI can also be configured to handle routine tasks such as administrative/logistical tasks, allow for more time by leaders to focus on matters that are essential to the business such as complex problem solving, strategic decisions, identifying new opportunities and other matters that are critical to thrive a business forward.  

AI and its role in the future should not be seen as a threat to our jobs, but rather leaders should embrace this profound transformation and augmentation of their leadership capabilities. Successful leaders should consider effectively integrating AI tools in their day-to-day management of the business; and view it as an indispensable partner to enhance the quantitative and analytical insights. From then on; leaders and managers may shift their time to enhance their teams, build connections and adopt a more human-centric approach to leading and motivating teams. It goes without saying that; the use of AI requires technical literacy and resource investment and does not come cheap. Weighing the benefits against the costs is perhaps an exercise to consider as time goes by and we learn to embrace the change whilst reinforcing the irreplaceable value of human connections, team dynamics and judgement.  

Miriam Sultana is an economist and business advisor, currently leading advisory services at PKF Malta. In her role she is involved in the provision of specialist consultancy services to organisations in order to improve profitability, performance and efficiency. PKF Malta is in the business of providing statutory audit services, accountancy, payroll and tax services, corporate services, internal audits and EU funds consultancy, amongst other professional services.