Leading with AI for Project Managers

You are a leader

As Project Managers, we lead. Whether formally or informally, you’ve proven yourself as a capable leader, and you enjoy the challenge. But with the constant buzz about AI—every headline, every conversation—you can’t help but wonder: What will AI mean for your role as a Project Manager? What will it mean for your team? The World Economic Forum predicts AI will disrupt 85 million jobs worldwide, while IBM’s research suggests 40% of workers will need to reskill to stay relevant. And with companies increasingly viewing AI as a labor-replacing tool, the wave of layoffs is hard to ignore.

So, you’re left questioning: Will AI complicate project management, or make it easier? Which parts of my role might become obsolete? And how can I harness AI to become the most effective project leader possible?

To start answering these questions, think of leadership as a four-way model that spans side-to-side, upwards, and downwards. We begin by placing ourselves at the center—leading ourselves before we can lead others. Once we have order in our own house, we focus on leading “up” and “down,” addressing the needs of those above us and guiding the teams below. We also find time for leading sideways by engaging and building relationships with our peers.

Now, let’s place this model in today’s context, where AI is standing on the doorstep of our workplaces. Will leading become more complicated, or easier? What will you need to change? And how can you use AI to your advantage?

Join Klaus for this hands-on, 2-day experiential class where you’ll learn the vital skills of leading with and alongside AI in today’s workplace. As IBM’s 2023 report states, “AI will not completely replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who do not.”

Leading Yourself

We start with self-leadership—becoming the best leader possible. This begins with growing your emotional intelligence, giving you the superpower to respond intelligently to the myriads of emotions you encounter throughout the day and stay even-keeled no matter what comes your way. You also strengthen your resilience, allowing you to withstand and manage the stresses of modern work. Making it possible for you to bounce back quicker and stronger after setbacks. These self-leadership skills are grounded in positive psychology and brain science, and we’ll show you how to leverage AI to build and enhance them.

Leading Others

With a solid foundation in place, we’ll shift focus to leading your team. Just like you, your team members are asking: Will AI complicate things, or make them easier? How can we use AI to be more effective? And will it eventually take over our jobs? We’ll explore how to put guardrails in place to help your team get the most out of AI. This includes navigating the ethical dilemmas of using AI and creating a simple framework that guides your team on how to engage with AI effectively. Plus, we’ll cover how to create a custom bot using generative AI, trained on your team’s standard operating procedures and your leadership style. This bot can handle repetitive questions and requests, freeing you up to focus on higher-value work.

Leading Up and Leading Sideways

Next, we’ll turn our attention to those above you and how to use AI to your advantage in that relationship. Leading up as a Project Manager involves reporting progress on your team’s work and translating senior leadership’s strategy into actionable tasks. AI can assist in writing status reports, crafting presentations, and even preparing for tough conversations by role-playing scenarios with you. We’ll also explore how AI can help in stakeholder management and breaking down strategic initiatives into executable tasks for your team.

As Project Managers, we must also lead sideways by building strong relationships with our peers. These peer relationships are crucial to establishing a structure that supports AI implementation and transformation across the organization. Project managers are uniquely positioned to lead this effort, ensuring that AI adoption is addressed not only as a technical challenge but also as an adaptive one. By applying adaptive leadership, we can effectively navigate the complexities of AI, involving those directly impacted by the transformation in the problem-solving process. This approach ensures that both the technical and human aspects of AI integration are managed successfully, leading to a smoother transition and better outcomes for everyone involved.