Indestructible Human Factor

HERE is a popular saying that when the tide goes down, you will see the rocks. Digitalization and AI came with lots of promises. By definition, they would do what people do, and even do it smarter, more efficiently, and more logically. Their deliverables would elevate lives. As regards disruption, labour aspects of human capital would be replaced with technology.

Organisations would extract large pools of consumer signals from big data. The expectations on the supply side were very positive and encouraging.

Big success requires completing (and even perfecting) many tasks successfully. However, the weak-link model was not given serious consideration. Price decline, as we all know, dominates quantity increase. The productivity gains from historical patterns of automation that we have seen, are often limited by weak links.

Today, we are gradually coming to terms with the fact that, for meaningful progress to take place, things must run well. The human factor, with the right skill sets, would need to empower the technology.

The human factor has therefore proved ineffaceable, invincible, and by and large, indestructible.

For instance, beautiful and functional designs will fail if they do not carefully consider the needs and limitations of users. In other words, for the designs to be smart and safe, they must be human-centred. They must meet the final needs of users and be impacted by culture.

They must be a blend of design, psychology, and behavioural systems. Otherwise, they will not resonate with people.

The power of the consumer requires that expectations are brought to reality. The goals of products and services must ultimately “self-actualise.” That is, they must satisfy the pyramid-shaped theory of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. People say the real benchmark of digitalization and AI is whether it is growing the economy. The question they ask is: Is there GDP growth?

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Advocates of the zero-sum argument or “fallacy” of doing business, believe that it is their time to make fortunes by “eating the entire pie” and grinding the majority under their heels. They believe in only one-side-wins competition and not the win-win formula. They want to get ahead of the majority and also push them behind.

Business organisations should lift people up and make things better for them. Meaningful progress should be our watch word.

Human factors engineering, or ergonomics, is making its way to the front. It is playing a crucial role in the workplace to guarantee outcome-oriented productivity. To satisfactorily meet the final needs of users, organisations are factoring in human psychology, cognition, and performance. They are operationalising leadership to improve task management and performance.

Leaders are becoming teachers. They appreciate their people more, and are regularly removing cognitive speed bumps to checkmate mistakes. They listen more. They hear the things they need to hear and encourage diversity of opinion. They ask great questions and make ideas as well as perspectives succeed. They do not suffocate communication and totally avoid expressions that alienate colleagues. They encourage feedback and happily get into the shoes of team members.

Leaders are encouraging positive individual employee dynamics and avoiding conflictual communication. The new and progressive framework is: “ask, acknowledge, appreciate it, action it, and amplify it.”

Marketing, the soul of thriving businesses, is taking on new orientation. Search engine optimization, service-based websites, and conversion optimization are now giving way to neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioural economics.

New insights on the role of the brain in buying decisions are being encouraged. Value-adding strategic partnerships and outcome-based interactions are being used to guide customers make informed decisions.

Sales and marketing people are very well aware of buying realities. Buying decisions are not only consciously based on facts, reason, and logic. Most times, they are unconsciously based on emotions, feelings, and intuition.

They are also driven by strong emotional connections: good thoughts, feelings, and memories.

We must run with the economy of customer service. Satisfied customers are pivotal to profitability. They buy more. They bring more business. They are reliable ambassadors of positive word-of-mouth and are regularly generating and following through the word-of-mouth loop.

I have always been an advocate of ROR (Return on Relationship) for “secured” patronage and sales revenue planning, but I am also adding today: Return on Human Capital (RHC).

Profound transformation of business organisations based on human centrism. Economic governance, and production must move forward on the platforms of skills, educational attainment, informal education, and useful experience.

There are also additional dimensions of human capital and endowments. These include creativity, innovative capacity of employees, their risk abilities as well as risk attitudes, and entrepreneurship in everyday work and responsibilities.

Individualised value-adding initiatives by employees include social and emotional skills, ability to achieve and lead sales networks, collaboration, and empathy-led cohesion. These must be revved up.

The human factor will effectively achieve that bridge between consumers and demand.

Effective “tools” include uniqueness and customised goods and services; granular (cognisance of unique details) understanding of consumer preferences, feelings, and desires.

Let me conclude with my “shouting out” for employees’ shift from “stepping back to stepping up.” The needed ingredients are courage, resilience, honesty, humility, optimism, and deliberately developing expansiveness, personal commitment, power, and readiness to speak up.