Automation got you in a Trance? Wake up and Smell the Silicon!

As my car satnav system span out for some reason I had the sudden realisation that I had absolutely no idea if I was going in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction round the M25. I had been driving safely but having delegated all route-planning responsibility to the onboard computer, upon its failure I was now clueless about actually where I was.

Effective driving? Yes. Effective travelling? No.

I love my satnav.  The reduction in cognitive load has made for easier and pleasant driving and it was two cars ago that I last had a London A-Z map in my glove compartment. But now it had abandoned me it was like a trance had been broken. It really made me wake up to the reality of what I had let happen. Surely the whole purpose of me driving is to get me to an intended destination, and yet somewhere along the way I had let that slip.

Last weekend saw flights grind to a halt following the British Airways IT system failure on a busy Bank Holiday weekend at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Airports are inspirational examples of how technology has created safer, more efficient and easier experiences amid the pressures of increased demand. As the press has commented, much of the BA processes have been recently automated. Amid the chaos at the weekend, one of the reasons it was so difficult to resurrect passenger service was the lack of understanding about what these new machines actually now do. It is tricky to revert to manual operations if no-one knows what the specific blank screen in front of you actually does. Someone’s off sick? People flex and cover for that role. New shiny machine’s down? Erm….  Just like me on the M25, I hadn’t realised what cognitive grasp I had lost until it was unexpectedly tested.

Artificial Intelligence, automation and new emerging technology is already impacting the world of work.  I welcome the developments but the test for today’s worker is how to remain economically viable until retirement or that lottery win. Every day sees dizzyingly brilliant tech launching into our virtual and IRL (In Real Life) worlds and so before we get into an even deeper trance I have two wake-up calls for anyone who currently works and/or has kids in their life:

‘Robo’ the worlds most advanced mirroring robot (at London Science Museum Feb 2017). Robo copies facial expressions in an instant

Short term: Wake up and identify your job’s real purpose and value. The why. (Because the what and the how may not exist in a decade).  Why it was you that got the promotion back in 2009 might not be the deciding factor by 2019 (but was probably similar to 1999). That entrepreneurial kid who bounced around jobs whilst you stuck loyally in the same profession for years? Flexibility will be prized over stability. We wont need human cogs any more.

Longer term: Wake up to the level of responsibility about the world we are creating for our children with our every app download. Getting an Amazon Alexa has been a great addition to my home. Handy, helpful and thrillingly ever-present, I find Alexa less disruptive to conversation than looking at my phone. But to my shame I realised I hadn’t yet taught my 4 and a half year old to tell the time. We just ask Alexa to tell us: no need to read or look at a clock. Effective time-keeping? Yes. Effective parenting? Debatable. I am glad I realised this before the opportunity to teach her has slipped by. I don’t want to be the one who stops passing on this human skill used since 1500BC.

As adults in 2018, we are the last generation who get to make the first choices on what gets automated and what remains IRL. Once it’s gone its gone. Lets wake up and smell the silicon. Whether you are in charge of a room, home, team or organisation, identify NOW what IRL stuff you know you want to hold on to before it slips away. Happy for Alexa to tell me the weather forecast, but I need to look out the window too. I consider myself lucky that I still get the conscious choice. 

P.S. The robots are coming… And we are the last generation who gets first dibs on how it will work.

Laura Thomson-Staveley is founder and leadership coach at Phenomenal Training and co-host of Secrets from A Coach podcast. For more information visit: phenomenaltraining.com and secretsfromacoach.com