All this talk about technology that can make things better and faster sometimes leaves me wondering if all this innovation is good or not. Is it just innovation for innovation’s sake? Or is it truly adding value and making the world a better place? While it’s hard to measure this, as I look around, I can see both the benefits and pitfalls of too much technological innovation.
When you need something like a replacement birth certificate or to get money quickly across the globe, technology adds a lot of benefits. Additionally, technology helps with things like car registration databases and managing your appointments. Human resources departments now leverage technology for everything from hiring to training. And while these innovations can make things easier to implement, it doesn’t necessarily make them better.
When it comes to hiring new employees, for instance, too much technology takes the human element out of the picture. While someone might have all the credentials on paper, they may not be a good fit for a role and because technology is too involved, you might end up choosing the wrong candidate. Additionally, an employer might miss out on an incredible employee, but because they were missing one year of college or two years out of ten for experience, they don’t even make it to the HR representative’s desk. Technology can certainly help filter and sort based on parameters you set, but it misses out on exceptions that humans could easily detect. Human intuition is not quantifiable like data and technology. Businesses want something easy, but sometimes the easiest route isn’t the best one.
One of the risks of using too much technology is that it reduces our life experiences down to a data set that can qualify or disqualify us from anything. Computers will make choices based on numbers, while people can see beyond the data into the individual. A person with a couple of certifications and a fantastic portfolio could be far more qualified than a person with a degree, but if your company is insistent on people having that piece of paper, you’ll never see that person come across your desk.
This is a dangerous precedent, especially in leadership roles. While you’ll eventually get the most qualified individuals in front of you to interview, all of them might be wrong for the role. But because you are under pressure to choose someone, you’ll pick the least bad from the group. This is unfortunate because a leader is so much more than what you can see on paper. A wise leader is someone who can look beyond the paper into other important leadership qualities. Choosing a new manager solely based on management experience won’t tell you that they were a tyrant in previous roles, and they lost half their department because of their harsh leadership style. These are things that humans might be able to detect with a little sleuthing, but with technology as the middleman, they won’t be able to discern.
Business leaders are in the position to make difficult decisions daily. They need to balance the needs of the business with the needs of the people who work for them and their constituent base. It’s hard to manage all of that. They leverage technology like apps for their expenses and digital calendars to ensure they have enough time in the day to get things done. They use analytical tools to make quick business decisions. And they leverage the simplicity of systems that manage employee training and even annual reviews.
While all these things can improve productivity in a business, it doesn’t always mean it’s better. Having to prove you’ve done a good job once a year to a computer system is flawed. It can’t measure the times the employee was told “great job” or “thanks for all the work you do”. The system can measure how other people feel around that employee and if their behaviors are improving or making the workplace difficult to go to.
From a leadership perspective, there needs to be a better balance between using technology and going with your gut. Observing with your own eyes can go a long way to creating a better workplace, including when it comes to hiring. You don’t want to lose your best employees because you hire a bad leader. So be careful how much you rely on technology to fill those roles.