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The HR Balancing Act: Tech Insights Versus Human Intuition

Forbes Human Resources Council
POST WRITTEN BY
Michelle McMahon

How’s your relationship with Siri and Alexa? Have you ever had a misunderstanding followed by wanting to break up? I have.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to integrate into everyday life and business, there needs to be a serious conversation around the human factor, fundamentals and a real-time understanding of how your workforce is doing. HR has become increasingly data-driven over the past decade and it’s important we ask where the tipping point is. Human resources as a function must still pay attention to, well, humans.

The Issue: Feeding The Machine While The Workforce Starves

We all enjoy the advantages of data-driven insight and how numbers are clear and concise, able to provide a well-defined metric to work toward, often giving us the feeling of being more effective, modern and sleek. However, real people and business are not usually that cut and dried. Consequently, depending too heavily on these insights to track your workforce often results in employees working to game the system to appear productive, versus addressing underlying issues or making real, substantive advances. Being overwhelmed by the constant flow of information can cause a break in the chain; it’s important to remember it’s still humans pushing the buttons.

We All Experience This Phenomenon

Have you ever used GPS and been so focused on the screen and the device's instructions that you’ve forgotten to look up and see that the location you're looking for is right in front of you? It’s that "slap your forehead" moment when you realize how blinding data overload can be. HR tools are no different — we’re all prone to the same ill-fated, hyper-focused moments. It’s easy to become so preoccupied by consuming technology that we forget to look up from the screen and connect with the individuals we’re looking to influence. This is such a common phenomenon that there’s an acronym you’ll see used throughout social media: “IRL” standing for “in real life.” Think for a moment about what it means that we actually need that acronym.

Finding Balance

Although AI, data and analytics provide invaluable information, humans require more than savvy programs and user-friendly platforms to be understood. We use data to tell us about the human instead of talking to the human directly. How do we as human resource professionals and other leaders utilize our growing tech resources with interpersonal skills and common sense?

• Emphasize and reward true substantive improvement, not just strong metrics.

• Utilize and track your workforce using all available insights, while keeping an eye on the common-sense factor and the complexity of the situation.

• Keep your finger on the pulse of the workforce through strong interpersonal relationships, one-on-one meetings, encouraging peer-to-peer learning and mentorship.

As the Big Data Gold Rush hurls on, we need to put equal priority and attention into our human competencies and instincts.

The Ultimate Goal

We can, as businesses and as leaders, achieve the best of both worlds, benefiting from AI, data and analytics while still recognizing that fundamental human behavior hasn’t changed. The workforce still relies heavily on instinct and ability to recognize the human side of business. The relationships you foster matter more than ever. We all need our co-pilot or colleague to remind us to look up from the screen — what we’re looking for is very often right in front of us, IRL.

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