This article comes from Jennifer Ryan’s insightful talk, ‘Beyond the bots: Balancing technology with human connection’, at the 2024 Austin Sales Enablement Summit, hosted by our sister community, Sales Enablement Collective.
Let’s start with the million-dollar question in sales today: How can we fully capitalize on the potential of artificial intelligence without losing the essential human elements that drive real connections and impact?
There’s no denying the awesome capabilities AI brings to the table – automating tasks and augmenting our productivity in powerful ways, but we can’t just hand over the keys to the machines entirely!
We have to be intentional about finding the right balance, using AI as a complementary partnership that expands what we can do as humans rather than replacing us altogether.
As someone obsessed with the world of tech and machine learning, I’ve witnessed firsthand the fears and resistance new technologies often breed. That knee-jerk “Rise of the Machines” mentality is natural, but misguided.
When leveraged correctly, AI can be an incredibly skilled copilot, not the one actually taking the controls, so let me share my journey and key insights for striking this all-important balance…
My journey with technology as an enabler
My journey actually began in the IT world, where I got hands-on experience with everything from machine learning and RPA to coding.
So I was primed and ready when AI started taking off. While everyone else was nervous, I was like a kid in a candy store – just super eager to explore the possibilities!
What I realized early on is that the key for getting people on board is to tap into their emotions with a clear, compelling “Why?” – the bigger vision and aspirations that these new capabilities can help achieve.
As the famous “Golden Circle” concept teaches us, people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
The 5 key components for transformation
Speaking of visions, I want to introduce a hugely valuable framework for making transformational changes happen when implementing new technologies and strategies.
There are five key components:
- A clear vision that paints the vivid picture of what you’re working towards
- The skills and knowledge required to execute on that vision
- Proper incentives to motivate people to make the change
- Having the necessary resources and tools in place
- A solid, communicated action plan with clear steps
No vision? You’ll cause confusion. Lack of skills? Anxiety kicks in.
Poor incentives mean resistance, limited resources lead to frustration, and no action plan creates widespread friction.
The beautiful thing about this framework is that by diagnosing the emotional undercurrent, you can pinpoint which specific component may be missing and directly address it.
Is there confusion on the team? Time to cement and communicate that overarching vision. Feelings of anxiety? Shore up the skills through training and enablement.
So from an enablement standpoint, we need to make sure we have all of those components solidly covered as part of any major change initiative.
With a clear roadmap that leaders communicate consistently from the top-down, you’re much more likely to achieve real transformation versus just surface-level change.
Using AI as a helpful partner, not a replacement
Now let’s dive into what this “balancing human and technology” mindset actually looks like when it comes to infusing AI into your organization. I love using the Roomba analogy.
Think about it – most of us would feel perfectly comfortable letting a robotic vacuum cleaner handle the basic, routine vacuuming tasks around the house, right?
But let’s say there’s a red wine stain on the living room carpet, you probably wouldn’t just let a Roomba have at it, would you?
That’s a job requiring some higher-level thinking, instructions on specific chemicals and techniques, and ideally human intervention to properly clean and treat the stain.
It’s the same with AI. There are certain tasks and processes that are prime candidates to hand off to AI systems – things like:
🤖 First-pass analyses of data to surface insights
🤖 Generating drafts of content like emails, outlines, and proposals
🤖 Handling routine customer service queries and answers
🤖 Streamlining and automating repetitive back-office tasks
For these types of activities, AI can be the modern-day “Goose” to our “Maverick” (bonus points if you get that Top Gun reference). A highly capable copilot that expands what we can do, but doesn’t actually take the controls.
At the same time, we can’t just abdicate all high-level strategy, critical thinking, and key decision-making to the machines.
Those are the situations demanding our full human faculties – skills like:
🧑 Applying contextual knowledge and reading between the lines
🧑 Conveying emotional intelligence, empath, and human connection
🧑 Exercising subjective creativity and personal judgment
🧑 Envisioning new imaginative ideas from a blank slate
The “business mullet” mindset
Even as we look to capitalize on AI’s potential, we have to be very mindful not to lose the essential human elements that customers and employees crave – the emotional connections and personal experiences that transcend any technology.
You’re probably thinking, “Well obviously we’re not going to be replacing people with robots on my team,” but it’s an easier trap to fall into than you may think.
I like to refer to this as having a “business mullet” mindset. (For those who missed this iconic 80s hairstyle, a mullet is business in the front, party in the back).
We often take that mindset when making assumptions about the personas of people in certain roles or professions. For example, they’re an accountant, so they must be perfectly analytical and process-oriented, or, they’re in sales, so they’re probably an extroverted “people person.”
But here’s the thing – that’s just the business persona on the surface, dig deeper and you’ll find dynamic, multi-dimensional personalities across all these roles.
I’ve met accountants who are raging rock stars on the weekend and sales reps who are introverted bookworms.
The point is, we’re all humans first, with endless layers of quirks, interests, emotions, and stories underneath those business roles and stereotypes. If we want to truly connect with people in an authentic and engaging way, we have to tap into that vibrant personal side.
That’s why I’m a big believer in the principles of emotional design. The research shows we’re much more prone to be motivated, retain information, and embrace changes when logic and factual reasoning is paired with emotional storytelling.
So I use AI tools to generate things like titles, outlines, visualizations, and so on, always making sure to anchor them in real personal contexts and narratives.
It’s all about bringing the “mullet” to the forefront, keeping that delightful party side well-integrated with the business we do.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, my core philosophy is this:
We should be strategically utilizing AI and other advanced technologies to become more efficient, more effective, and to expand our capabilities in exciting new ways.
But we also have to be extremely intentional about how we deploy and interact with them.
We can’t just flip a switch towards machine-driven automation at the expense of losing essential human elements like creativity, emotional intelligence, and personal connections.
Nor can we bury our heads in the sand, shunning the productivity benefits these tools provide.
It’s a balance, a partnership, where AI handles specific tasks to free us up for bigger-picture, higher-order work.
Where we focus our human strengths on the aspects that technology can’t easily replicate while leveraging AI as a complementary “co-pilot” to make us both stronger.
So, I urge you to take a hard look at your current AI strategy. Where are you using these technologies for pure tactical support? And where can you actually invest in elevating your uniquely human abilities that no AI can ever replicate?
Strike that balance consciously and purposefully, and you’ll be unstoppable.