Workforce leaders talk about the importance of human skills in the face of the AI gold rush, but what does that mean? Andy Nelesen, head of solutions and market insights at behavioral assessment company SHL, told HR Dive to think of the relation between tech skills (the AI element) and strategic judgment skills (the human element) like a tree.
The leaves, which are prone to falling off the tree and regenerating, are what Nelesen and SHL call “perishable skills.” These tend to be tied to tasks done in specific software, like Microsoft Office. “Those are a lot of the skills that might be replaced by AI,” Nelesen said.
Meanwhile, the trunk of the tree represents “semidurable skills,” such as cloud computing or marketing prowess. The roots are “durable skills” that will carry human workers far no matter what, like judgment, critical thinking and decision making, Nelesen said. In its research, SHL observed that people who leaned more into these durable skills were more effective than people who focused on perishable skills.
Put simply: "It really isn't your ability to write a great prompt in ChatGPT5," Nelesen said, but rather a person's AI literacy and analytical ability that differentiated those who were high performers from the rest of the pack.
Similarly, an August study by Multiverse shared the 13 human skills researchers determined would bode well for AI adoption. Chief among these skills were “creativity,” “analytical reasoning,” and “systems thinking.”
While researching the AI model, Nelesen and his team also found that certain generations tended to have different strengths. Part of successful AI adoption is “having a go-getter attitude” when it comes to new technology; another part is “knowing when to use it and when not to use it,” Nelesen said.
“More established” employees tend to have rules and regulations top of mind, Nelesen said. Meanwhile, younger employees, Nelesen said, are “very skilled and they're very willing to try new technologies, but they don't have some of those governance aspects.” In short, “neither cohort was fully AI-ready.”
As with many learning and development programs, personalization may be key. When it comes to AI integration by a workforce, Nelesen said, “You can't just paint with a broad brush.”
