Don't Let AI Replace Human Connection at Work
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Keep the human connections at work.
AI can do a lot of cool things, and companies are adopting it for all kinds of processes. That’s great, it’s helpful yay! A big caution that’s worth examining as you use AI for more and more things: don’t let AI replace the moments that give your people a chance to connect.
A quick example.
Say you have a meeting or event coming up and you want to brainstorm ideas for what to do during it. You could ask AI for a list of 10 or 20 options, pick one, and move on. That works, and it’s fast.
Another route is to get a group of people together on a call or in a room and brainstorm ideas. Someone throws out an idea, someone else builds on it, and the group lands on something together. That process is a real moment of connection and collaboration, and it’s valuable.
Or a hybrid of those two things. Have AI help come up with some ideas, then come together to riff on those ideas, tweak them and collaborate on ideas that everyone is excited about and gets to contribute to.
“When every point of interaction gets automated away, the chances for people to build relationships, collaborate, and have fun together shrink.”
For clarity, this isn’t an argument against using AI. It can be a handy way to generate a bunch of ideas or do a boatload of tasks. What to watch out for is what happens when AI becomes the exclusive way you do things like this.
The glue between teammates.
When every point of interaction gets automated away, the chances for people to build relationships, collaborate, and have fun together shrink. Over time, you lose some of the glue that holds a team together.
Yes, you can pretty much always find a scenario where the AI-only approach looks better on paper. That’s fair, and the point still stands. As you think about implementing AI inside your organization, be thoughtful and careful not to eliminate the opportunities for relationship building, collaboration, and human connection. They matter.
What AI can’t do.
AI can’t build real relationships. It can’t build culture. It can’t relate with you or form genuine friendships. It doesn’t grasp nuance and context the way people do, and there is something about humans doing things together that is real and valuable.
“When you evaluate where AI fits, also look for moments of human connection to guard and preserve.”
To function well, a team has to have a certain level of cohesion. If everyone becomes an individual working in a disconnected bubble, you lose an element that makes a team or organization as connected, collaborative, or unified. So when you evaluate where AI fits, also look for moments of human connection to guard and preserve.
Customers need humans too.
The same idea applies to customer interactions.
“If a customer can get through their entire experience with your company without ever interacting with another human, you may be making that experience far worse for that person.”
AI agents can maybe make the customer experience smoother, faster, and more streamlined. But if a customer can get through their entire experience with your company without ever interacting with another human, you may be making that experience far worse for that person, even if it is more efficient. Keep that in mind.
Use discretion.
Like any tool, AI needs discretion, nuance, and a logical approach to how it gets applied. That means evaluating it honestly. Is this helping us? Is it better than what we were doing? It may have real benefits, and it’s also worth asking what we might be losing in exchange.
The goal is to examine these choices carefully so we don’t squeeze out human connection along the way. It’s something we all need and crave. It’s the reason we have societies instead of a bunch of people living in separate caves on a hill. People need people.
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop
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