Beating the robot

Workspaces are increasingly being spearheaded by digitisation, with artificial intelligence transforming the working culture. As smart machines are predicted to usurp countless jobs, rendering employees redundant, the need for adapting and becoming ‘NewSmart’ in this new working age is greater than ever before.

To confront the challenge posed by smart machines, which can store and analyse greater amounts of data at a rapid speed, and carry no emotional or psychological baggage, being NewSmart would help employees excel at innovative and creative thinking and effective communication, something smart machines cannot really do.

“Humans need to do what machines can’t…creative work. The future will need everyone to unleash their creative potential to solve problems, make new connections and innovative ideas,” says Praveen Rawal, Managing Director for India and Southeast Asia at workplace solutions provider, Steelcase.

Experts say in this man versus machine world, as machines do the rote work, employees will have to sharpen their creative and critical thinking.

According to Professor Edward D Hess from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, NewSmart offers a new definition of how you determine what it means to “be smart”. “I will not define myself by what I know or how much I know but rather I will define myself by the quality of my thinking, listening, relating and collaborating – the behaviours that underlie higher-order thinking and emotionally engaging with others, which are the tasks that for the near future humans will do better than technology.”

To stay relevant in the smart machine age, the prime skill that employees need, according to experts, is to know how to iteratively learn. This requires an attitude that embraces learning and it requires learning behaviours. “NewSmart has 5 principles that enable iterative learning: (1) I will not define myself by what I know or how much I know but rather I will define myself by the quality of my thinking, listening, relating and collaborating; (2) My mental models are not reality; (3) I am not my ideas; (4) I must be open-minded and treat my beliefs (not my values) as hypotheses to be constantly tested and subject to modification by better data and (5) my mistakes are opportunities to learn,” says Hess.

So how can companies help in making employees ‘NewSmart’? Rawal feels creating a diverse workplace often leads to new ideas and opportunities. “Organisations can help employees better their performance by designing workplaces where every working style thrives- one that harnesses digital intelligence to improve experiences and enables the flexibility of mobility. Integration of technology and physical space creates a better work experience. Moreover, promotion of agile thinking leads to quicker decisions, increased productivity, collaboration and innovation,” says Rawal.

According to Hess, companies looking to increase the quality and speed of learning, or the speed and quality of innovation, adaptability or agility need to put in place a Human Excellence System – a culture, leadership model, measurements, rewards and processes that define and enable the behaviours they want. “Leaders have to role model the behaviours. The exemplary companies that I have studied all have cultures that are built around psychological safety, data-driven decision making, candour, permission to speak freely, an idea meritocracy, internal collaboration not a competition and the devaluation of elitism. And they put in place processes to be used company-wide that enable the key learning behaviours.”

...& ANALYSIS

• In this man versus machine world, as machines do the rote work, employees will have to sharpen their creative and critical thinking
   
• Companies looking to increase the quality of learning, adaptability or agility need to put in place Human Excellence System