Workflow optimisation with AI: Why choose a partner, not software?
A workflow optimisation AI means using artificial intelligence (AI) we use from repetitive, monotonous and error-prone low-value work to free up human tasks. So that instead of soul-destroying „robotic work”, workers can perform more important and less monotonous, and thus more strategically relevant, tasks. Of course, it's no secret that this is also about increasing the efficiency of companies, because they can do more and such monotonous and repetitive tasks the company, thus serving more customers and generating more revenue and profitability. In practice this will increase the efficiency of the company by leaps and bounds, yet generally due to a lack of AI knowledge and routine and a lack of success, for most businesses today it is not a success, but frustration and money wasted.
Gábor, a manager of a medium-sized company, recently called me and said he was „lost”. He was standing in front of his team, presenting the latest AI marvel, but in his eyes he saw not enthusiasm but fear. „They say this is the future. But honestly? I just see another task we don't have time for.”
Are you familiar with this „hunched posture” in meetings, the insecurity that Amy Cuddy (social psychologist, author of „Presence”) talks about? The pressure is enormous. A workflow optimisation with AI tools is the biggest challenge today. Everybody talks about it, but almost no one knows, how do well.
Most people subscribe or buy expensive software and wait for a miracle. Then comes the disappointment.
Why is the AI tool not the point?
Most companies make the mistake of AI services, the AI automation immediately on hearing the „With” was looking for. „Which software to buy or which to subscribe to and who knows which, if any...?”
Simon Sinek, author of „Start with Why”, would say: you're starting in the wrong place. The question is not, with you do, but why.
- Why do we want AI? To make reporting faster?
- Or why do we want faster reporting? So colleagues don't hate the last Friday of the month?
- And why important not to be hated? That with the energy and time finally deal with the customers, and not with numbers?
When leaders look for solutions to AI for automation, they are not actually looking for software. They are looking for peace of mind. Efficiency. Less frustration.
If your company is in chaos now, AI won't solve it. It will only automate the chaos. You'll have a faster, more expensive mess. And your people will leave because they think you're trying to replace them. Meanwhile, that's not your goal, just to give them better, more valuable tasks so they stay with you and, by doing so, prevent your competitors from hunting them down, so they can make the best use of real human knowledge, experience, creativity, empathy...
The hidden cost: the human factor
This is where the AI advice real meaning. That's what software developers and IT companies won't tell you. A workflow optimisation AI is not a technological challenge, but a human and psychological one.
Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton Business School, writes extensively on the about psychological safety. Your team will not resist the new tool because they are lazy or stupid. They will, because they are afraid.
They fear that AI will take their jobs. They are afraid of being taken for fools because they don't understand the new „miracle”. They fear that what they have been good at will suddenly become worthless.
This is (also) why we are. We help to bring this as a value and an extra knowledge into the organisation. All this without expecting anyone to have in-depth knowledge in this field or even to experiment (usually unsuccessfully). In fact, the knowledge that employees gain from our AI services is an extra value even in their civilian life.
Research by McKinsey (Source: „Why do most transformations fail?”) has shown that large corporate transformations (and the AI automation ) nearly 70%-a fails. And the primary cause of failure is almost always the human factor: resistance from employees and poor communication from management.
Real case (anonymised): Zsolt, the head of a logistics company, confessed to us that the new multi-million dollar, largely AI-based inventory management system was simply „outsmarted” by warehouse staff. They were manually entering data into the old system because the new one took 2 minutes longer in a process that the IT people „didn't notice”. The implementation failed. Why? Because they were not involved in the Why stage.
See, why don't we write here, for example, „5 steps to AI”? Because your company is not the same as the one next door.
Our solution: We don't give software, we give knowledge and strategy
And that's where the CoachLab. A our AI advice our service does not start with the software. It starts with you and your team.
When a customer AI automation or workflow optimisation AI you're looking for us, we're not sending an IT expert. For example, we send you one or more coaches and trainers with decades of leadership experience who understand your people and your company, business, operational pain, and even your customers' pain. Although the latter, like the client part, will be less of a focus in this situation, you will see it in the results and get positive feedback from them and it will show.
Our AI-related work, listed above, is often the organisational development part of our service, because the implementation of AI always has an impact on structure, culture and performance. De seeing a pressing need in the market, we have now made it available as a standalone AI consultancy and AI Automation service this knowledge.
Our process is as follows:
- Diagnosis (Audit): First we understand the Why-et. Where is the real pain? Where is the bottleneck? What are the three tasks that drain the most energy from the team? What is not working well or could be working better? What is driving people away from the company because it is inefficient and too robotic and monotonous for their skills and experience...
- Strategy (People-focus): Who should design the new processes? Not IT, but the team who will use it. We help you build on human strengths (creativity, empathy, strategic thinking) and let AI do the „robot work”.
- Implementation (Change Management): This is our area of expertise. How do we communicate change so that the team is not seen as a threat, but as a for release live it? How do we deal with resistance?
- We are experts in AI and we know the best options for companies and their needs and use this knowledge to select the best/best for the company, or help you select and train, tailored to the needs of the company.
This kind of agile, people-centred approach is what, for example, the agiliscoach.hu often writes, and we believe it.
The „Bike for the Mind” (As Steve Jobs would see it)
Steve Jobs often said, and almost everyone knows it by now, that the computer is like a „bicycle for the mind”. A tool that amplifies our innate abilities.
This is exactly what AI is.
A workflow optimisation AI is not about working with fewer people. The aim is to more work! So that next time Gábor, the leader mentioned at the beginning of this article, will see excitement in his team's eyes, not fear. So that people can do what we hired them to do: think.
Before you buy or subscribe to the next fancy AI software, or want to automate with AI, let's talk! Maybe you don't need that, but a partner to help you raise, among other things, the Why question also.
Check out our services, and request a consultation for AI audit and strategic advice!
Sources and Inspirations
This article was inspired by the following thinkers and research that emphasise the human side of AI advice:
- Simon Sinek: „Start With Why” - The organisational purpose and the importance of motivation.
- Amy Cuddy: „Presence” - The effect of body language and psychological state (e.g. insecurity vs. confidence) on performance.
- Adam Grant: „Think Again” & „Originals” - Psychological safety, the organisational culture and research into resistance to change.
- Steve Jobs: (Based on several biographies and interviews) - Focus on simplicity, user experience and the empowering role of devices.
- McKinsey & Company: „Why do most transformations fail?” (May 2018) - Research on the reasons why organisational transformations fail, with a focus on the human factor.
