As public debate continues to swirl around advances in both virtual work and generative AI, these topics are sharing media space with Taylor Swift’s concert tour that promotes live human interaction among the most digital- and virtual-savvy generations in history. Effective business leaders recognize and tap the need for human connection to make their workplaces more desirable and productive.
Taylor Swift’s “The Eras” tour comes at a time when the economy’s participants are craving live experiences against a digital-age backdrop highlighting – among other trends – a new equilibrium in remote, hybrid, and in-person work as leaders also consider the impact that generative AI will have on their business models and workforces. In the case of The Eras tour, demand crashed the ticketing website, set new price records, created unmeasured sales of friendship bracelets, jackets, sunglasses, and concert-going merchandise, and generated estimates of economic impact measuring near or past a record-setting billion-plus dollars.
Professors Chris White and Mariusz Kozak recently wrote about AI and creative content, “…the preservation of the human-to-human connection that lies at the heart of art and entertainment…just as Wonder Bread did not replace local bakeries and sound recordings did not eliminate live concerts, we believe the future cultural landscape will likely include a combination of large-scale AI generation alongside ‘artisanal’ human production – the local bakeries of art and entertainment.” Effective leaders know this analogy also applies to the workplace.
For example, WTW research shows that while a majority of employees prefer the availability of remote or hybrid work, they also are concerned about career development and are feeling disconnected. More than half feel detached from their teams, with those in the 18-40 year-old age category (aligned with the demographics of “Swifties”) feeling most disconnected. This may explain why many leaders find that a blend of work styles is most effective.
And while generative AI can be trained or prompted to provide output in a style that mimics human traits of empathy and compassion, it cannot, currently, provide authentic empathy and compassion.
In this fast-paced and blended world, effective leaders have learned the power of “and,” combining live, virtual, human, and digital interaction. Taylor Swift knows that while most of her fans cannot afford exorbitant ticket, merchandise, and travel prices (about half earn less than $50,000 a year), they can access her music and concert recordings virtually and digitally. Her live concerts fuel the virtual, digital machine and vice versa. Effective leaders know this dynamic also applies to an effective work strategy, where employees can make in-person, human connections where practical AND use virtual, digital connections where they create greater efficiency and access.
These leaders also know that generative AI may help countless jobs become more productive (examples include writing job descriptions, creating computer code, writing sales plans, and answering routine employee and customer questions), and that more advanced AI could soon fill long-hidden innovation gaps in organizations. However, they also know that quality output requires live users to add insights and oversight to shape results based on values, skills and human experience.
With thanks to WTW’s Tracey Malcolm, Andy Walker and Simon Castonguay, effective leaders create a meaningful blended employee experience and culture, increasing performance and reducing risk. These leaders:
1. Implement ongoing employee listening strategies. Effective leaders connect with employees live and virtually, listening and keeping pace with employees’ changing views and preferences in an increasingly digital world, including their sources of stress and needed resources.
2. Help employees navigate uncertainty. New work models and technologies take workers out of their comfort zones and may make certain skills and jobs obsolete. Effective leaders provide empathy, guidance, and support to help employees evolve, learn, and grow.
3. Understand how changes affect different employees. New models and tools impact different employees in different ways in terms of their jobs, rewards and benefits, as well as physical, emotional, social and financial wellbeing. Effective leaders consider and create fair and consistent policies for new programs.
4. Update compliance and information security guidelines. Effective leaders institutionalize rules and expectations of employees no matter where or how they work. New policies are required to make flexible work models and generative AI tools safe and effective for employees’ use and for the safeguarding of data, software, and intellectual property.
5. Communicate often and transparently. Effective leaders ensure managers and employees understand organization vision, purpose, goals, rationale, and actions in order to provide continuity in a changing world. They make sure managers have the right skills and understand that their roles include making meaningful connections with increasingly detached employees.
Effective leaders know that big changes already are impacting their businesses because of remote work and generative AI. They also know that a GPT bot will never get up on stage to sing with the raw, human emotion of Taylor Swift and that fans will never be able to trade friendship bracelets with strangers real-time over video. These leaders harness the benefits of new work arrangements, technology AND the power of human connection.
This article was human-generated.
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