Digital Handshakes Don't Feel Warm
The workplace is certainly evolving. Now we've started a publication here called the Workplace Coaching Times. We have multiple contributors, experts, and subject matter experts all contributing content. The workplace is changing. The pandemic and following events prompted us to change. It got us to think differently.
How many of us thought people would be working at home 2-3 days a week and we actually now trust them to do that? The funny thing that happened, which parallels this time, is that when technology skyrocketed, when everybody was on Zoom and all these other tools like WebEx, what did people start saying? I want to get back in the office, I want to connect with people.
The same thing is starting right now with AI. Now, AI scares some people, it excites some people and everything in between, and I think about how this is going to affect the workplace.
I want to share with you a very quick story. I was talking to a young gentleman, 28 or 29, who had built out a new tool in tech, and he was selling it as a coaching platform where people could actually automate the end-of-the-year review process. So he showed me the tool and asked me my thoughts since that is my realm of expertise.
I said it was fantastic technology. He urged me to share my thoughts about he idea overall. I said it will never work. Here's why.
AI doesn't see facial expressions, at least not now. AI doesn't know the person or their history personally. AI hasn't had hundreds of conversations with that employee like a leader will. At the end of the year, if someone on a five-point scale is rated threes across the board and the person delivering is the leader who, by the way, hasn't been doing the coaching (the AI tool has been), what do you think the emotional reaction is going to be? From a human standpoint, they're going to be furious.
When I presented this to the young CEO, he looked at me awestruck. I asked him how many end of the year reviews he'd ever done and how many have people had walked out just thrilled? Sounds oxymoronic, doesn't it? Most people don't leave end-of-year reviews or mid-year reviews with a smile on their face. It doesn't mean they're always angry, yet it typically means I wish I could have gotten more. Someone gets a 5% raise. They usually say, "I wish it was 10%." Someone gets a 10% raise, and their thoughts are I can't believe it was only 10%. People have a way of being negative or condescending to the process. Granted, not all people react this way and I get that.
When we start throwing technology at human things, humans want human touch and real connection. Subscribe to the Workplace Coaching Times. These are the issues that we uncover in our publication weekly.
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