How do you manage the dynamic between younger and older team members to build stronger and more productive collaboration?
It’s a challenge that leaders like you have always faced – but now the task becomes trickier. With AI advancing rapidly, many of the roles once filled by junior staff are being automated. And that shift comes with a hidden cost.
If those early-career roles disappear, so does a vital learning channel—the transfer of experience and know-how from senior professionals to the next generation. Without it, you risk losing not just technical continuity, but the very culture and identity that make your organization unique.
“Having that range of ages helps you pass on institutional knowledge – if you don’t maintain this flow, there are clear downsides,” says IESE Prof. Sebastian Reiche. “The only way to survive and develop as an organization is to have new junior staff learning the culture and adapting it – that’s how you keep the culture alive and dynamic.”
The transformations wrought by AI mean companies face challenges that can’t be solved with software alone. As firms confront the urgent need to redefine skills for a new era, they face a challenge that goes beyond adopting new technologies, according to a new study by IESE’s María Luisa Blázquez, Mireia Las Heras, and Jordi Canals.
Here are some of the steps you and your company can take to make sure teams work effectively as you tackle the disruptions, and grasp the opportunities brought by AI:
1. Rethinking the role of teams
If firms have teams fully staffed by juniors doing technical work, it’s time to rethink that model, says Reiche. Managers should look at opportunities to ensure teams include junior and more experienced staff to ensure that the learning and mentoring process works in both directions.
2. Reverse mentoring
Pairing tech-savvy novices with expert staff who may have less knowledge of how to apply AI is a way to make sure that new ideas get circulated and experience is shared, says IESE Prof. Evgeny Kaganer. Firms may want to look at pairing up younger and more seasoned staff in a formal “buddy system” so that knowledge can circulate, says Reiche.
3. Reimagining work design
The traditional model in many firms has been for junior staff to carry out simpler, more technical roles of the kind that can be done by AI, but it doesn’t have to be that way, says Reiche. One solution could be to encourage more opportunities for juniors to carry out more project-based work that enables them to broaden their contacts and develop a broader set of skills more quickly.
4. More flexible career paths
Companies and employees need to be more flexible as they consider future career paths, says Reiche. Those in the early stage of their careers can try to build up their skills with project-based work in different companies that they can later transfer to larger organizations. Under this more patchwork model, younger workers can build up a portfolio of skills to take with them into new corporate roles.
5. A sense of adventure
More experienced staff members should ask themselves how they can explore the potential of technologies like AI by thinking of new ways of doing their job with the powerful new tools at their disposal, says Reiche. This means encouraging a more experimental mindset where older workers are encouraged to see AI not as a threat but as an opportunity to be exploited in a creative and fruitful way.
Here are some tips for people at different stages of their careers trying to navigate the evolving landscape of work:
- Leverage your AI and digital skills
Become fluent in AI and think hard about how you can use it in a work setting. “Try to bridge the gap between how things are currently done and your knowledge of the way they could be done if they could be infused with the new ways,” says IESE Prof. Sebastian Hafenbrädl. - Take a hard look at your skill set
The question everyone needs to ask themselves is are they going be a complement to AI or will they get substituted by it, says Kaganer. One aspect to consider is that AI is effective at comprehending knowledge and applying it to solve problems and even carrying out creative tasks – but is less competent when it comes to using judgement to evaluate challenges and solutions. - Develop your soft skills
Amid the focus on AI, develop your capacity for critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, adaptability and teamwork – soft skills such as these will always be valued by employers, says Reiche. - Think creatively
Younger staff can deploy their AI skills to deploy business-linked projects while they scout for a formal position. “Potential entry-level employees have huge resources they can use to showcase themselves to organizations,” says Hafenbrädl.
