The intentional stance
0
The intentional stance

Dan Dennett explained that it began as a survival mechanism. It’s important to predict how someone else is going to behave. That tiger might be a threat, that person from the next village might have something to offer.

If we simply wait and see, we might encounter an unwelcome or even fatal surprise. The shortcut that the intentional stance offers us is, “if I were them, I might have this in mind.” Assuming intent doesn’t always work, but it works often enough that all humans embrace it.

There’s the physical stance (a rock headed toward a window is probably going to break it) and the design stance (this ATM is supposed to dispense money, let’s look for the slot.) But the most useful and now problematic shortcut is imagining that others are imagining.

There used to be a chicken in an arcade in New York that played tic tac toe. The best way to engage with the chicken game was to imagine that the chicken had goals and strategies and that he was ‘hoping’ you would go there, not there.

Of course, chickens don’t do any hoping, any more than chess computers are trying to get you to fall into a trap when they set up an en passant. But we take the stance because it’s useful. It’s not an accurate portrayal of the state of the physical entity, but it might be a useful way to make predictions.

There’s a certain sort of empathy here, extending ourselves to another entity and imagining that it has intent. But there’s also a lack of empathy, because we assume that the entity is just like us… but also a chicken.

The challenge kicks in when our predictions of agency and intent don’t match up with what happens next.

AI certainly seems like it has earned both a design and an intentional stance from us. Even AI researchers treat their interactions with a working LLM as if they’re talking to a real person, perhaps a little unevenly balanced, but a person nonetheless.

The intentional stance brings rights and responsibilities, though. We don’t treat infants as though they want something the way we might, which makes it easier to live with their crying. Successful dog trainers don’t imagine that dogs are humans with four legs–they boil down behavior to inputs and outputs, and use operant conditioning, not reasoning, to change behavior.

Every day, millions of people are joining the early adopters who are giving AI systems the benefit of the doubt, a stance of intent and agency. But it’s an illusion, and the AI isn’t ready for rights and can’t take responsibility.

The collision between what we believe and what will happen is going to be significant, and we’re not even sure how to talk about it.

The intentional stance is often useful, but it’s not always accurate. When it stops being useful, we need to use a different model for how to understand and what to expect.

​ 

Spam 3.0
0
Spam 3.0

Any fully open system of digital communication will corrode over time. Bad messages will crowd out the good ones.

The new normal: Someone finds a database of every residential property, then another of cell phones. An AI is trained to call every homeowner, every day, asking if they’re thinking of selling their home. Millions of calls an hour. The leads (one out of 40,000 calls, perhaps) are sold to real estate brokers.

Multiply this by 500 different hustlers in a dozen industries, and now the open nature of the phone is gone forever.

And then texts.

And of course, email. An inbox with 100,000 unread messages in it is no longer a functional tool.

Open systems come with the requirement of self-restraint and humanity. When we replace those with automated stealers of attention with a profit margin, the system can no longer remain open.

Permission and trust keep going up in value, precisely as quickly as selfish forces work to succeed without them.

​ 

Better than Google
0
Better than Google

I haven’t done a Google search in months.

Perplexity is more powerful, more pleasant and more effective.

Instead of being corrupted by invasive ads, surveillance and sneaky dark patterns, it presents you with a simple, footnoted explanation of exactly what you’re looking for. Asked and answered.

And I like that there’s a pro version that we can pay for. This makes us the customer, not the product.

Most of all, the limited scope of the promise gives AI a chance to shine. ChatGPT often comes across as both arrogant and bumbling, because it promises that it can do everything, all at once. Perplexity is simply a smart search partner without the corrosion that racing for more ad dollars will cause. At least for now.

So far, I’d give it five stars. It’s worth checking out.

​ 

Dealing with Role Ambiguity at Work: 1 Tool You Need
0
Dealing with Role Ambiguity at Work: 1 Tool You Need

An increasingly ambiguous world impacts all of us. Effectively dealing with ambiguity is a life skill and a contemporary business imperative for employees and leaders at all levels and businesses of any size. Having a reliable way to clarify role ambiguity helps avoid costly mistakes and improve workplace performance. Unclear roles and responsibilities are one common stressor. Whether being asked to do more with less or reporting to a new leader, when employees feel unsure how to prioritize their work, it increases stress. Evidence from a global study by Gallup revealed that 49% of leaders and 42% of non-managers are struggling with anxiety at work. So, how can you reduce role ambiguity? Here is one simple yet powerful tool busy leaders can successfully apply to deal with role ambiguity and workplace stress.

The costly effects of not dealing with workplace ambiguity

As the world changes, businesses and individuals must change too. Organizational changes increase the opportunity for role ambiguity and workplace stress.

Several studies have demonstrated that role ambiguity has significant negative personal and workplace results. One such study within the Big Four Public Accounting Firms showed that organizational role ambiguity led to:

decreased performance

increased work stress

increased employee turnover

In this study, role ambiguity significantly increased anxiety and physical and psychological stress at an individual level. Role ambiguity increases non-productive conflict and employee burnout even when a team has good working relationships.

How to deal with ambiguity

A RACI matrix is a simple and powerful tool for effectively dealing with role ambiguity. I have used this tool at the organization, team, and individual levels, enhancing role clarity, improved workload balance, and improved decision-making.

RACI is an acronym for responsible, accountable, consult with, and informed. Each letter represents the roles and degree of involvement for a given organizational role or task:

Responsible: Who is ultimately responsible for doing the task?

Accountable: Who is the decision-maker accountable for ensuring that the job is successfully completed?

Consult with: Who needs to know the details and requirements so they can provide meaningful input to the task

Informed: Who needs to be kept aware of task updates?

An essential part of organizational consulting is helping individuals and teams gain clarity during change and dealing with role ambiguity created by the changes. Applying a RACI template with a given change initiative is not intended to substitute for a robust change management plan. Instead, this tool creates additional awareness and understanding to support a change.

4 Steps to create a powerful RACI Matrix

Here are four steps to creating a RACI matrix for dealing with role ambiguity.

RACI Creation Step 1: Select a team

As with most initiatives, selecting the right team members to be involved is essential to creating the most value. A critical quality step is to engage those closest to the work in creating the RACI. Additionally, you will want to include the manager and potentially the executive sponsor for the role.

RACI Creation Step 2: Identify tasks associated with the target role

Start with a high-level outline. A job description can be a good starting point. Then, go back and break down the tasks into subtasks. For example, you could argue that an essential task for a knowledge worker is to turn on their computer. However, is it worthwhile to clarify who is responsible for this activity? This likely goes without saying. Getting too granular too early in creating the RACI can paralyze the team and overcomplicate the work.

RACI Creation Step 3: Align groups and individuals with RACI designations

Review each task and identify the individual or group associated with each RACI designation. At this step, there will likely be differences of opinion. It is crucial to surface these differences and pursue consensus. A common cause of the differences can come from differences of opinion on what is meant by definitions such as responsible vs. accountable. To help the team work through the differences, it is a good practice to write down the definitions and have them available to the team.

RACI Creation Step 4: Walk the matrix

After you create the RACI matrix, it is helpful to have those involved simulate a task and confirm with each responsible group that the level of their involvement is appropriate and that no groups or essential details that should be included were left out. It is easy to forget tasks when building these in a meeting. It’s like taking a familiar route to work daily and forgetting to recall the railroad tracks or stoplights you go through.

When conflict is associated with ambiguity, you should consider utilizing an external facilitator. Establishing trust and clarifying expectations is an essential starting point for creating a valuable outcome.

The following short video provides a good overview and example of using a RACI matrix.

RACI Matrix example

I am a fan of the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian. In the table below, I have used some key season one episode events to explain the RACI Matrix. “This is the way.”

When you have organizational or leadership development needs you cannot solve independently, we’re ready to partner with you to craft a solution specific to your organization’s context and challenges.

Getting started is as easy as visiting www.organizationaltalent.com or contacting us via email at info@organizationaltalent.com to schedule a meeting.

References:

Amiruddin, A. (2019). The mediating effect of work stress on the influence of time pressure, work-family conflict, and role ambiguity on audit quality reduction behavior. International Journal of Law and Management, 61(2), 434-454.

Doolittle, J. (2023). Life-changing leadership habits: 10 Proven principles that will elevate people, profit, and purpose. Organizational Talent Consulting.

McCormak, N. (2013). Managing burnout in the workplace: A guide for information professionals. Science Direct. Chandos Publishing.

Wigert, B., & Pendell, R. (2023). 6 Trends Leaders Need to Navigate This Year. Gallup Workplace.

​ 

Toxicity?
0
Toxicity?

Suddenly everyone is talking about “toxic workplaces.” They exist, I’ve seen a couple.

But just because the boss tells you that you’re not performing well and there are things you have to do to improve, doesn’t mean you’re in a toxic workplace. It just may mean you’re in an honest workplace and you don’t want to be accountable for your own performance shortfall. That exists, and I’ve seen that, too.

​