Overcoming Resistance to Change in the Workplace: Debating AI's Role in Professional Development

Ever wonder why some professionals embrace growth while others balk at the mere suggestion of change? This episode peels back the layers of resistance in the workplace, especially prevalent in the banking sector, where the reluctance to up-sell or cross-sell and aversion to feedback and coaching often impede progress. We dissect the underlying attitudes and motivations—or lack thereof—that can thwart personal development, and debate whether artificial intelligence is the panacea for such deep-seated behavioral challenges.

We confront the reality that the success of any training hinges less on the content delivered and more on the continuous reinforcement and willingness of both the learner and the leader to engage in the process. Our conversation takes a critical turn as we contemplate the future of leadership and coaching in an AI-driven world, raising alarms about the potential abdication of vital talent development responsibilities. Tune in for an eye-opening discussion that could alter how you perceive the intersection of technology, self-awareness, and professional growth.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

Now, last week we covered our first installment this month, during the month of May, talking about artificial intelligence. You know, one of the things that we also have to think about with AI is we also have to think about something called self-awareness. You know, if you have somebody who has a negative attitude and I'll give you insight to what we deal with you know, when I go to organizations and I will say things like you know, what are you coaching to? You know somebody like we have a lot of bank and credit union clients they don't sit there and say I'm really working on upselling and cross-selling skills and perfecting that ability on the front lines. What they usually bring up is the resistance to doing so. Attitude, motivation, resistance to feedback those are common things we hear in our business. Now, somebody who's not upselling or cross-selling, or somebody who's resistant to feedback, or somebody who's lacking motivation here's my contention Is AI really the solution? Here's why. Because if somebody truly wants to get better at something, I mean, how often have we said the last 10 years of our life Well, google it, go, find out how. Yet people don't do that. You know.

Speaker 1: 1:51

For decades I've been saying in Training Magazine and the people who attend my webinars, you know, always give me great applause for this. Training's not the problem, it's the reinforcement of training. Two things are at play with training reinforcement the willingness of the learner and the willingness of the leader to coach the learner. That's it. If you go to a class on handling conflict and it's two days, you're not going to leave that class handling conflict the next 363 days, flawlessly, without hesitation, with absolute, supreme confidence, unless it's reinforced, unless it's practiced, unless it's nurtured, unless it's coached to.

Speaker 1: 2:30

Now I could put you on our practice app and practice that, because that's one of our modules. Yet the fact of the matter is what's the willingness of the learner? How is the leader going to reinforce the utilization of artificial intelligence? Now, I'm going to talk in our next segment next week about the risk to leadership using AI, because I believe that this is going to happen. The reason I believe it's going to happen is I think leaders are going to absolve themselves of some development talent I should say talent development responsibilities that might be germane to mentoring or coaching, because they've done the same thing with training. So next week, tune in.