Human/Machine Dilemmas: Comply or Defy?

Robot-related thoughts w/c 16th Jan.

Human/Machine Dilemmas: Comply or Defy? (This will be the question). 

If you suspected that a traffic light was faulty, would you defy the red light and proceed? As more of our life becomes intelligently automated, the skill and confidence to decide when to comply or defy machine instruction will become key. At what point would you override what your car or phone advises you to do?  My new car doesn’t have a manual handbrake, the discomfort of which I only realised last week with the snow.  In sub-optimal conditions, I felt less in charge of my car and it was scary. So this week’s post focuses on 3 key tools for human decision-making as we see more artificial intelligence (AI) hitting our everyday lives.

This week’s post has been written by Adam Wilson, whose work focuses on the field of the human skills element in decision-making. Adam served in combat operations in Afghanistan and now helps organisations maximise their command and control decisions during high pressure situations.  It’s a chunky topic and Adam has packed his post with some thought-provoking examples. Over to Adam:

3 Core Human Elements in Decision-Making (Adam Wilson)

‘The smarter machines become, the greater the likelihood that the space remaining for uniquely human skills could shrink further.’

This quote attributed to Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, triggered some reflection on the uniquely human skills required in decision making – my current focus.  My thoughts come from a background in the military and now in the aviation sector.  Both environments I believe rightly place a premium on the human skills in decision making.  But as ever, context is king and part of the reason for writing this blog is that I have much to learn about how technology, particularly AI, may challenge this.  I need to engage in the conversation.  But playing to my experience, I would like to suggest the skills that will allow the human to remain pre-eminent in great operational decision making certainly for the foreseeable future (and why hopefully I will still have a job).  These skills or attributes are vision, intuition and doing the right thing.

1) ‘Begin with the end in mind’.  The ability of a leader to visualise and articulate the desired outcome can be the critical factor in success.  This vision bridges uncomfortable gaps in information or intelligence that often exist when a decision needs to be made - particularly relevant in a high tempo, time sensitive operational environment.  It provides unity of effort and assurance and motivates people to take ownership when unsure or nervous.  It is my experience that people follow people and their vision first, and then logic afterwards.  And it is how you and your team enact your decision that will have the greatest influence on whether there is a positive or negative outcome.  Leadership and decision making during something as traumatic as an armed attack is topical.  The purpose of a simple and clear desired outcome such as to minimise loss of life is that it enables rapid and decisive action when communication can be extremely difficult and people are afraid.  This simple outcome endures in a rapidly changing environment when any plan will be quickly invalid.

2) ‘Be on your toes not heels’.  Agility and tempo are critical to decision making – a great plan too late is useless.  Amongst many contributory factors, generating tempo depends on intuition and experience – again uniquely human attributes.  Intuition, gut feel, call it whatever you like, can connect you with times you have encountered similar situations, enabling an almost instantaneous solution.  It can also tell you why there is something different about what might appear familiar.  Trend analysis and predicted outcomes are important but in an environment where unpredictable beings (humans) do unpredictable things, decision makers must be prepared to ‘override the machine’ because in the end, a machine will not be held accountable for its decisions.  You will be, so you must own the decision.  In an emergency situation at an airport, intuition will help ensure the rapid deployment of Emergency Services but also additional technical support e.g. engineers, towing vehicles or additional command and control without having to know all the detail.  This is either because it is similar to other incidents you have experienced or there is something about this situation which just doesn’t feel right.   The medical profession has invested significant energy in considering the role of intuition in decision making.  In a discipline where diagnosis and clinical evidence are primary drivers, there are numerous examples where vital lifesaving decisions were taken by people who trusted their intuition.  In a GPs surgery where there are relatively few clinical diagnostic capabilities, how does a nurse practitioner decided if to treat at face value or refer? 

But our intuition also comes with challenges – our background and our experience creates cognitive bias which can limit our view and result in narrow choices.  They must be balanced with conscious reasoning and analysis which is where I sense that AI and technology can be critical enablers and make us better.  The trick is to get the balance right.  Intuitive decision making is also largely internalised which can prove difficult should the outcome be less than optimal and follow up or investigation required.  Balancing intuition in this way requires significant investment and training. 

3) Values based decision making.  Perhaps the most human element to decision making comes with making the ‘right’ decision – one that is coherent with your values and those of your organisation (as the two should hopefully be aligned).  You might call it moral courage.  I am a passionate advocate of this approach because even more so than a great vision, your values will guide you when all else is chaos and all eyes turn to you.  I have had moments in my career where I have agonised over what I must do – most acutely whilst on combat operations in Afghanistan.  My values have enabled me to avoid the paralysis which can come with intense pressure. 

A values based approach to decision making also protects your moral health – your ability to look at yourself in the mirror and say no matter what the outcome, I made the right decision with what I knew at the time.  For example, when we face a situation which challenges both safety and customer service – how do we ensure our teams make the right decision?  Whilst obviously we would wish a solution which would mitigate both, if we are true to our values and a choice has to be made, we will make the decision which keeps everyone safe despite financial, reputational or other immediate impact because it is the right and most important thing to do (and as well as everything else, a critical commercial factor).  Easy to say in isolation, but when under pressure, not always easy to do.

I hope this is food for thought – these three elements, vision, intuition and moral courage are at the centre of the efforts I am engaged with to support, develop and motivate people to make the best possible decision in time every time (Adam Wilson).

Big thanks for Adam for this week’s post. As more of our world becomes run by algorithms, we will need to hone our skills and confidence in taking decisions under pressure as we choose to comply or defy the machines in our life.

P.S. the robots are coming…who’s in charge?

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