#239: Building better business culture around AI

At our recent Advancing AI Melbourne event, Jonas Christensen, formerly Head of Data Science at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, hosted a lively and insightful panel discussion featuring three prominent leaders in data and AI:

·             Christine Smyth, Chief Strategy Officer, Defence Health

·             Dr Michelle-Joy Low, Head of Data & AI, Reece Group

·             Nonna Milmeister, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, RMIT University

The panellists emphasise the importance of building a culture that embraces AI and data-driven insights. Dr. Christine Smyth highlights the need for cooperation within the organisation, involving data students and building cross-functional teams with their technology counterparts. Christine also emphasises the significance of building trust in AI by being transparent about biases and addressing legitimate concerns. In order to combat fear and misunderstanding, increasing data literacy across the entire organisation is crucial.

In a data context, a significant amount of effort goes into developing communication structures and accountability frameworks. These structures enable all teams involved to effectively communicate their contributions towards delivering tangible business value. However, this process is an ongoing journey, especially as organisations evolve and grow. Dr. Michelle-Joy Low highlights the importance of establishing a common language and effective communication channels within data teams. By doing so, organisations can foster collaboration, enhance accountability, and ultimately deliver value through their data initiatives. Whilst this endeavour may require continuous effort and adaptation, it is a vital discipline that directly contributes to the success of data-driven organisations.

This episode also reveals insights from Nonna Milmeister who believes that to achieve success as data leaders, cooperation is key. Building strong collaboration with every part of the organisation is absolutely essential. Only by being transparent about biases and addressing them head-on, trust can be established. Trust leading to firm foundations that will foster successful data impact and outcomes.

People often have concerns about AI replacing their jobs entirely, but here's an interesting stat: according to the World Economic Forum, while 85 million jobs may be replaced by 2025, a staggering 97 million new jobs will be created. So, instead of fearing job displacement, our role as data leaders should focus on increasing data literacy within our organisations. As the role of the data leader evolves our mindsets and approaches need to also. 

This is an insightful and important podcast for anyone interested in learning how organisations can build effective, productive, and innovative teams around data.

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 “When you're building a team and leading people through careers in this industry, all the answers are not there and there is not a verified way to thrive in this environment.”

— Dr Michelle-Joy Low, Head of Data & AI, Reece Group

WHAT WE DISCUSSED

0:27: Jonas Christensen introduces the panel and panellists.

2:31: The first question to the panel is “How do data leaders foster a culture of being able to consume AI within the organisation?”

9:05: How do leaders foster collaboration across the value chain?

12:50: How can leaders develop and retain the skill sets within their organisations that allow teams to do their jobs well?

21:41: What are the personal traits that data leaders need, and how can they foster and develop those?

26:45: Q&A from the audience begins, starting with “How do you increase staff literacy across an organisation without risking people self-service the wrong answers?”

31:11: The final question to the panel: “How do you get executive buy-in when the outcomes aren’t guaranteed?”

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Milmeister: “The role of data leaders is to unlock the potential for AI to make a difference. If it's a commercial organisation, it's usually about cost and efficiency and being competitive. In the case of the university, what we're trying to do is to improve the lives of our students and staff through trusted insights.”

• Milmeister: “But for data leaders to succeed, we need to build really good cooperation with every part of our organisation. 

• Milmeister: “We need to be transparent about biases and how we address biases and be able to answer these questions if people ask. That builds trust.”

• Milmeister: “There are still people that think that AI will completely replace their jobs. And you know what? In some instances it probably will. But according to the World Economic Forum, by 2025, 85 million jobs will be replaced, but 97 million jobs will be created. And so where I see our role developing is increasing data literacy within our companies.”

• Milmeister: “At RMIT, we give people an opportunity for one day every fortnight to work on innovation, rather than their regular projects. And out of that one day, we are already seeing huge benefits for people because they experiment, they come up with new ideas, and we can implement these ideas into practice.”

• Low: “I recently became an aunt, and in the room where my little niece was born there were all sorts of professionals, the gynaecologists, nurses and midwives. They're all very looking after a very specific function but they’re there to do the same thing, which is to bring the child into the world. And when you think about what the common denominator is, one of the key elements is that they speak a common language. We can bring that back into a data context.”

• Low: “A lot of the work goes into developing communication structures and accountability structures that would allow all teams in that mix to be able to speak to their components of delivering value. That is still a work in progress as the business grows. I don't think that's ever going to be complete work, but it's a discipline that we've had to roll into everything from our executive communications to team-based working rhythms.”

• Smyth: “And the key to motivation is the pipeline or the work they're doing and the pipeline of work that they have coming in. Right. This talent pool really wants to know that what they're doing is interesting, that it's driving business outcomes, that it's relevant and that it's complex. If it's not hitting those topics, then quite frankly, your talent will leave.”

• Smyth: “Imagine if a Paul from Payroll is appointed to head up the AI team because he’s great with numbers. Well, you’re going to end up with a terrible roadmap of initiatives. Because Paul doesn't understand AI. He doesn't know when you can use it, and when you can't. He doesn't know what the risks are. He doesn't know how long it's going to take, he doesn't know how much it's going to cost. He's going to go to all these meetings and he's going to come back to his team with a roadmap of ideas that are completely unsuitable. Frankly, they're probably not even going to be AI and they're going to be unfunded. Paul's not the leader that you need in that team.”

• Smyth: “Whenever you get a chance, go back to your teams and ask if they're interested in what they're doing. Do they think it's driving business outcomes, and do they think it's complex? And if one of them says “no”, then probably mark that person as a flight risk. If all of them say it, then you've got a big problem.”

• Low: “When you're building a team and leading people through careers in this industry, all the answers are not there and there is not a verified way to thrive in this environment.”

• Milmeister: “I actually have one-to-ones with every single person in my team. It doesn't matter if they report to somebody who reports to me. I want to know what people think and what kind of issues they have. And because of these meetings, we could fix little things that were really annoying, but people were really thankful that they were dealt with.”

• Smyth: “Executive buy in comes with executive understanding. So, you need to really have advocates. You need to be able to explain to executives what you're trying to achieve, what the benefits will be. And you need to just keep chipping away at your elevator speeches so that when you do have 15 seconds with your ELT, you are able to articulate clearly what you're hoping to achieve.”

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