Gen AI has invaded the workplace, but its impact remains elusive. While two-thirds of global companies use gen AI, these deployments are proving to be nothing like past enterprise software projects. CEOs increasingly understand gen AI's potential yet remain unclear on how to create meaningful value from the technology.
Gen AI has the potential to completely change how employees work. Its natural language interface makes it easy to use, while its burgeoning reasoning and agentic capabilities allow it to perform increasingly complex tasks such as interpreting large volumes of information, coding and answering queries. The most advanced agents are even starting to perform tasks such as creating spreadsheets and navigating web pages. And employees are clearly eager to use it; they are already doing so three times more than their leaders realize.
But simply putting new technology into people's hands does not ensure they will use it effectively, nor does it profoundly change the way a company works. Instead, CEOs need to deploy a novel change management approach that mobilizes their people, turning them from gen AI experimenters into gen AI accelerators. This is not a linear process. Change management in the gen AI age asks employees to become active participants rather than just users. It asks employees to experiment, cocreate products and commit to continual skill development. It also recognizes that not everyone will make the transition smoothly, and that some employees will need additional support. In this article, we outline five steps that CEOs can use to lead their companies through these uncharted waters.
Please select this link to read the complete article from McKinsey & Company.