Managing challenges caused by innovation
Winston Churchill once remarked: ‘Experts should be on tap, not on top’
What did the former prime minister (and renowned painter)mean by this? In short, he was not dismissing expertise but stating that technical expertise should not dominate decision making.
During the pandemic, many people were exasperated by politicians who justified the various lockdowns by saying “We are following the science”. By doing this, they were clearly stating that the experts were on top. Most people felt however that this was an obvious abdication of their roles as politicians in that they should take scientific factors into account whilst not deferring the whole national economy’s future to a group of medical scientists. One thing scientists would no doubt admit is their limited knowledge of global macroeconomic conditions.
CEOs and senior managers are not paid to defer to consultants or experts. Their role is to have a broad view of the situation whereby they take into account a whole range of factors such as non-financial issues and intangible influences such as company morale.
In our role as coaches, we at AIPS are regularly speaking to senior executives who are facing new and rapidly changing challenges such as the impact of AI and machine learning on their businesses and their decisions. Everyone feels, or perhaps believes, that they must become experts on these new systems and so are hurriedly signing up to a whole myriad of conferences and briefings on the topic. The reality is that, without trying to become an expert, many will end up feeling they are a “Jack of all trades and a master of none”. But is this really such a bad thing?
What is a senior manager meant to do? They could call in the so-called experts such as management consultants. Or, time-allowing, they could retrain themselves. If the experts recommend a course of action, how does a person manage it without having what they believe is the requisite expertise or knowledge?
This is where we step in. A qualified coach will quickly help a senior executive reframe their problems and challenges, putting a fresh perspective on how to approach and manage these new challenges. This is much more effective than say a senior executive sharing their concerns with their colleagues as this could make them look vulnerable and not up to the task.
Much is being discussed around the AI revolution creating fresh management challenges but also concerns as to the possible implications on headcount at various organisations. This has strong echoes of the Luddites 200 years ago who smashed weaving machines in the belief that this wanton act of violence would safeguard their future employment. However, as we now know, the new technologies (weaving machines) did lead to the creation of a whole new range of jobs. There’s a good chance that the economy quickly absords AI, so as was the case 200 years ago, new jobs will be again be created.
How does a manager meet the new challenges on a personal level? Can they lead their team or business unit through such changes whilst also effectively managing the fears of their employees? These are here and now problems.
The answer lies in more task-oriented teams and objective centred activities, rather than allocating a single continuous function to an employee. This requires flexibility, fresh thinking and new approaches.
Not only does the executive have to reframe their own understanding of the challenges, eg. what do I know or need to know about this? They also need to reframe how they are going to lead and manage their teams or groups.
An experienced coach will help work through these issues so that a manager will be able to get the best from the experts and make sure that the new approaches will best benefit their own businesses. Thus, the experts you need are on tap, but you as a manager remain on top.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/managing-challenges-caused-technical-innovation-giles-y4ylf/