Rewiring Your Organisation with Modern Governance for the AI Era

In an era of rapid technological advancement, artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to revolutionise the way organisations operate. As leaders of large organisations, transformation experts, and governance professionals, it's becoming necessary to understand how AI will interact with and influence the current operating models of business, and look to identify the  leverage opportunities  emerging across all dimensions of work. In our Amazon best selling book, Govern Agility, the five stanchions of Govern Agility have been designed as a guide to help make sense of how modern organisations  enable and support pace of digital innovation whilst keeping visibility and assurance of outcomes. In this article we explore the potential impacts of AI on those five stanchions - conductive leadership; sensible transparency; patterns of work; data-driven reasoning; and humanity as the cornerstone; while emphasising the continued importance of human involvement and robust governance structures. The key is how you view Governance - is it a checkbox compliance exercise managed by a functional unit, or is it an enabler to more successful customer and business outcomes? We believe the latter and that effective modern governance is democratised, distributed  and everyone's responsibility!

‍One - Conductive Leadership.

Modern agile ways of working require a style of Conductive Leadership that moves from the mechanistic approach where people are viewed as cogs in a machine, to humanistic approaches where creativity and individualism can flourish. We have used the metaphor of the Conductor on our Stanchions and you can read more about that here. AI is set to become a powerful tool in augmenting conductive leadership. By processing vast amounts of data and providing real-time insights, AI can help leaders make more informed decisions and anticipate challenges before they arise. However, the human element of leadership – empathy, intuition, and ethical judgment – remains irreplaceable. Leaders will need to develop new skills to effectively collaborate with AI systems, leveraging their strengths while maintaining the human touch that inspires and motivates teams. We already see emerging roles where leaders are being asked to manage socio technical teams - people augmented with Agents. We expect this will grow and change the leadership paradigm.

Two - Sensible Transparency

Organisations with a framework of Modern Governance have a system where information flows freely, accelerating decisions and deepening trust. The Power of purposeful transparency in building collaborative, responsive organizations is often underappreciated and lost in the 20th Century drive for Functional specialisation and cost optimisation.  The key to agility lies in the speed at which information flows around the organisation, followed by how this information is used in decision making. Transparency is an essential component of speed and also a key enabler for building trust between people and teams and we write about that here. AI has the potential to greatly enhance this drive for transparency within organisations by automating data collection, analysis, and reporting processes. This can lead to more comprehensive and accurate information being readily available to stakeholders. However, the challenge lies in maintaining "sensible" transparency – ensuring that the right information is shared with the right people at the right time. Human oversight will be crucial in interpreting AI-generated insights and determining how to communicate them effectively without overwhelming or misleading stakeholders. The role of the leader is to be able to consume this, validate what's useful and progress with timely decision making. 

Three - Patterns of Work

In the third of our Stanchions of Governing with Agility, we looked at how we are organised to do the actual work – a combination of teamwork and task-work with the ultimate goal of productivity. From a traditional governance perspective organisations tend to value  the completion of artefacts; compliance with process; holding delivery to long dated work breakdown structure (wbs) charts and plans created when we knew the least about the work; and generally looking for variance to time, cost and scope. Fixed plans and predictability become the standard.  As we know, and write about here, the key to high performing organisations that use agile methods is the enablement of the teams to describe their own local “way of working” and create a safe space for ideas to flourish - we call this the Patterns of Work. Others refer to it now as  the System of work, and it's essentially  the same idea. We then use data surfaced via  modern Workflow Management Systems such as  Planview as the information source. We talk about this more in the Data Stanchion, and suffice to say you cannot move to product based, agile type teams if you don't adopt common workflow management and taxonomy. The old system continues to slowly take away from the new. But that conversation is for another time!

As AI becomes more integrated into organisational processes, we can expect significant changes in patterns of work. Routine tasks will increasingly be automated, freeing up human workers to focus on more complex, creative, and strategic activities. We already see this now across the whole SDLC if you take a Tech centric lens, and across a variety of workflows you take a Business Process lens. This shift will require organisations to rethink job roles, team structures, and workflows. Integrated and holistic system wide workflow management systems will become even more critical in coordinating human-AI collaboration and ensuring seamless integration of AI into existing processes.

Four - Data-Driven Reasoning

Data, data everywhere and not a drop to drink! That's a take on “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink”  from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". It describes the sailors' desperate situation: they are surrounded by water, but it's salt water they cannot drink. The irony is that they are thirsty despite being in the middle of the sea. We see that today. We are drowning in data - yet often struggle to make the next directionally right decision. In our Fourth Stanchion, Data Driven Reasoning which you can read here, we believe that Modern Governance requires replacing opinions with facts and leveraging real-time data to gain critical insights. This accelerates informed decisions that can drive continuous improvement across the organisation value chain. 

AI excels at processing and analysing large datasets, making it an invaluable asset for data-driven reasoning. Organisations will be able to make decisions based on more comprehensive and nuanced analyses than ever before. However, it's important to remember that data alone doesn't tell the whole story. Human judgment will remain essential in interpreting AI-generated insights, considering contextual factors, and making ethical decisions that align with organizational values and societal norms. Some of this you just can't automate away and the role of Modern Governance is to work out how to manage this safely and effectively. 

Five - Humanity as the Cornerstone

The final stanchion to consider is humanity,  and we deem this the cornerstone of agile governance. Too often the methods of governing the system are mechanistic focussed rather than humanistic or if you like another way to state that is “ processes and tools over Individuals and interactions”. Agile values are in reverse. You can read about why we believe this matters here.  As AI becomes more prevalent, the importance of humanity as the cornerstone of organisational success will only increase. While AI can augment human capabilities, it cannot replace the uniquely human qualities that drive innovation, build relationships, and create organisational culture. The challenge of the Conductive Leader is to create the space to allow people to develop human skills such as emotional intelligence, creativity, and adaptability and  to ensure their workforce remains relevant and valuable in an AI-augmented environment. This is no small task and will have vast societal impacts. 

Over human history the main industrial revolutions, at least in the last several centuries, often referred to as "waves" of technological and societal change, include the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Industrial Revolutions. These revolutions are characterised by distinct technological advancements and their impact on society and the economies and ultimately  people and families. You could even go back to 3500 BCE to 1000 BCE when Bronze was gradually replaced by Iron. This is a pattern that generally repeats, and using that we can somewhat determine the magnitude of the impacts coming with AI adoption. The challenge for Government, Societies and people is to retain that human element. 

The Role of Governance in an AI-Augmented Future

As we move towards a future where AI and human agents work together more closely, the need for effective governance structures becomes even more critical. Organisations will need to develop new policies and procedures to address the ethical implications of AI use, ensure data privacy and security, and maintain accountability in decision-making processes.

Moreover, the increased reliance on data-driven insights will require more robust data governance frameworks. Organisations will need to ensure the quality, integrity, and appropriate use of data that feeds into AI systems. This includes addressing potential biases in AI algorithms and ensuring that AI-generated recommendations align with organisational values and regulatory requirements.

Workflow management and Enterprise Resource Planning systems  will play a crucial role in implementing and maintaining these governance structures. The way we use these systems will evolve. For instance, we will see more emphasis on real-time monitoring and adjustment of workflows, as well as increased integration of AI-powered analytics to identify potential governance risks and opportunities for improvement. These systems are already there and only growing in use and adoption. 

Where to from here

As AI continues to reshape the organisational landscape, leaders have the opportunity to now proactively adapt their approach to governance and agility and lead from the front, not trail the change. By understanding how AI will impact the five stanchions of Govern Agility, organisations can harness the power of the technology while maintaining the human-centric approach that drives long-term success. The future of organisational leadership lies not in replacing humans with AI, but in creating effective human-AI teams that leverage the strengths of both where people are the Orchestrators. By embracing this vision and implementing robust governance structures, we see a world where organisations can navigate the challenges and opportunities of the AI era.

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