People-First Skills in the Age of AI
We need many more than just technical skills in the Age of AI. Here's an article that describes the skills we should grow to remain relevant with teamwork.
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Skills of the Future
We're building a world that's technology-forward. What does that mean for the role of human beings? Is human labor going to go away? We can train AI agents to take on roles and learn from actions just like we could train people.
Skills can be technical or interpersonal in nature. The adoption of AI in the workplace has evolved current job requirements and jobs will continue to evolve. They often require a lot of technical skills.
But great teams need more than technical skills. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report, in-demand skills are people-first:
- Leadership
- Analytical thinking
- Continuous learning
- Systems thinking
- Resilience
- Adaptability
- Empathy
- Self-awareness
Making Teams that Heal Themselves
If we're moving toward a future where teams (even teams of one) adapt and think in systems, it won't only take skills to make it. Skills have very little to do with teamwork success. Teammates have to share common beliefs, common values, and common habits together.
The Four Stages of Team Development tell us the process teams go through to mature:
- Forming Stage — First, teams get together and start getting to know each other.
- Storming Stage — Then, teams make conflict as they start defining their direction together.
- Norming Stage — After storming, which doesn't have a timeframe, teams align and resolve conflict in healthy ways.
- Performing Stage — After norming for a while, teams foster spaces to take risks, share outcomes together, and go further in the work.
It’s not easy for teams to get to the Performing stage. We can't just snap our fingers as leaders and make teams Perform. It requires time and energy. It requires willingness and ownership from the team.
When leaders want teams to focus on "getting the work done" over anything else, they act in fear or competition. More misunderstandings may happen resulting in more conflict. The team never stops Storming.
Trust and belonging is a root of team performance. Team Performance comes only after all of this. This is why the future must be "People-First". People first means that we're prioritizing the process of supporting others around us. Even AI agents.
People must be people with each other to succeed no matter what kinds of skills and experience they have. Even in a world where "we're all teams of one", making change alongside AI agents, you still work with people in some way. You'll generate buy-in, collaborate, adapt, communicate, and decide with others.
What Do You Mean, "People"?
"People" includes everyone. Bosses, managers, janitors, customers, peers, interns. Family members, loved ones, strangers. People we don't agree with. People who live different lives. People who tell us what to do. People who think they know better.
People-first approaches include the common language and shared understanding that's so important to taking action. Nothing can progress in the work if we aren't agreed in meaning. We need to stop choosing who to build empathy with and start building universal systems of shared understanding. If we're going to make change together we have to build trust with everyone around us.
Let's Be People Together
Now is probably the worst time in the world to argue and play sides, to degrade trust, to act virtuously in pursuit of our own perspective. Someone must start the model to become people-first, and serve everyone around them. When we do, and we show that we're trying to achieve the same outcomes with a language of change, we can actually work together in the process. We can achieve much more powerful results.
