TED@BCG Toronto
Nadjia Yousif: Why you should treat the tech you use at work like a colleague
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Imagine your company hires a new employee and then everyone just ignores them, day in and day out, while they sit alone at their desk getting paid to do nothing. This situation actually happens all the time -- when companies invest millions of dollars in new tech tools only to have frustrated employees disregard them, says Nadjia Yousif. In this fun and practical talk, she offers advice on how to better collaborate with the technologies in your workplace -- by treating them like colleagues.
Nadjia Yousif - Technology mentor
BCG's Nadjia Yousif designs and implements programs for large financial services institutions to adapt and thrive in an era of technology disruption. Full bio
BCG's Nadjia Yousif designs and implements programs for large financial services institutions to adapt and thrive in an era of technology disruption. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
So, imagine a company hires
a new employee,
a new employee,
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best in the business,
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who's on a multimillion-dollar contract.
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Now imagine that whenever this employee
went to go meet with her team members,
went to go meet with her team members,
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the appointments
were ignored or dismissed,
were ignored or dismissed,
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and in the meetings that did happen,
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she was yelled at or kicked out
after a few minutes.
after a few minutes.
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So after a while, she just
went quietly back to her desk,
went quietly back to her desk,
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sat there with none of her skills
being put to use,
being put to use,
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of course, being ignored by most people,
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and of course, still getting paid
millions of dollars.
millions of dollars.
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This hotshot employee
who can't seem to catch a break
who can't seem to catch a break
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is that company's technology.
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This scenario is not an exaggeration.
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In my job as a technology advisor,
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I've seen so many companies
make the well-meaning decisions
make the well-meaning decisions
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to put huge investments into technology,
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only to have the benefits
fail to live up to the expectation.
fail to live up to the expectation.
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In fact, in one study I read,
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25 percent of technology projects
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are canceled or deliver things
that are never used.
that are never used.
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That's like billions of dollars
just being wasted each year.
just being wasted each year.
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So why is this?
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Well, from what I've seen,
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the expectation from the top management
is high but not unreasonable
is high but not unreasonable
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about the benefits from the technology.
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They expect people will use them,
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it will create time savings,
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and people will become
genuinely better at their jobs.
genuinely better at their jobs.
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But the reality is that
the people on the front line,
the people on the front line,
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who are supposed to be using
these softwares and tools,
these softwares and tools,
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they're skeptical or even afraid.
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We postpone the online trainings,
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we don't bother to learn the shortcuts,
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and we get frustrated
at the number of tools
at the number of tools
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we have to remember
how to log into and use.
how to log into and use.
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Right?
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And that frustration,
that guilt -- it's racking up,
that guilt -- it's racking up,
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the more that technology is inserting
itself into our daily working lives,
itself into our daily working lives,
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which is a lot.
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Brookings says that 70 percent
of jobs today in the US
of jobs today in the US
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require at least mid-level digital skills.
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So basically, to work these days,
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you need to be able
to work with technology.
to work with technology.
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But from what I've seen,
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we are not approaching this
with the right mindset.
with the right mindset.
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So here's the idea
that I've been toying with:
that I've been toying with:
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What if we treated technology
like a team member?
like a team member?
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I've been writing my own
personal experiment about this.
personal experiment about this.
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I've spoken to people
from all different industries
from all different industries
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about how they can treat
their core technologies like colleagues.
their core technologies like colleagues.
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I've met with people
from the restaurant industry,
from the restaurant industry,
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medical professionals, teachers, bankers,
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people from many other sectors,
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and the first step with anybody
that I would meet with
that I would meet with
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was to draw out
the structure of their teams
the structure of their teams
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in an organization chart.
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Now, I'm a total geek
when it comes to organization charts.
when it comes to organization charts.
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Org charts are really cool
because, if they are drawn well,
because, if they are drawn well,
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you can quickly get a sense
of what individual roles are
of what individual roles are
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and also how a team works well together.
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But if you look at a typical org chart,
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it only includes the boxes and lines
that represent people.
that represent people.
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None of the technology
team members are there.
team members are there.
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They're all invisible.
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So for each of the organizations
that I met with for my experiment,
that I met with for my experiment,
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I had to draw a new type of org chart,
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one that also included the technology.
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And when I did this, people I spoke to
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could actually visualize
their technologies as coworkers,
their technologies as coworkers,
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and they could ask things like:
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"Is this software reporting
to the right person?"
to the right person?"
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"Does this man and machine team
work well together?"
work well together?"
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"Is that technology
actually the team member
actually the team member
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that everybody's awkwardly avoiding?"
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So I will walk you through an example
of a small catering company
of a small catering company
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to bring this experiment to life.
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This is the top layer of people
who work at Bovingdons Catering Company.
who work at Bovingdons Catering Company.
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There's a sales director, who manages
all of the customer interactions,
all of the customer interactions,
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and there's an operations director,
who manages all the internal activities.
who manages all the internal activities.
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And here's the people who report
to the sales and operations directors.
to the sales and operations directors.
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And finally, here's the view
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where we've overlaid
the software and the hardware
the software and the hardware
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that's used by the Bovingdons staff.
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Using this amazing org chart,
we can now explore
we can now explore
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how the human team members
and the technology team members
and the technology team members
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are interacting.
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So the first thing
that I'm going to look for
that I'm going to look for
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is where there's a human
and machine relationship
and machine relationship
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that's extra critical.
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Usually, it's somebody using a technology
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on a day-to-day basis
to do his or her job.
to do his or her job.
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At Bovingdons,
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the finance director with
the accounting platform would be one.
the accounting platform would be one.
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Next, I would check on the status
of their collaboration.
of their collaboration.
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Are they working well together?
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Getting along?
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In this case, it turned out to be
a tenuous relationship.
a tenuous relationship.
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So, what to do?
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Well, if the accounting platform
were actually a person,
were actually a person,
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the finance director would feel
responsible for managing it
responsible for managing it
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and taking care of it.
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Well, in the same way,
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my first suggestion was to think
about a team-building activity,
about a team-building activity,
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maybe getting together
on a specialist course.
on a specialist course.
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My second suggestion was to think about
scheduling regular performance reviews
scheduling regular performance reviews
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for the accounting platform,
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where the finance director
would literally give feedback
would literally give feedback
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to the company who sold it.
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Now, there will be several of these
really important human and machine teams
really important human and machine teams
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in every organization.
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So if you're in one,
it's worth taking the time
it's worth taking the time
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to think about ways to make
those relationships truly collaborative.
those relationships truly collaborative.
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Next, I'll look on the chart
for any human role
for any human role
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which might be overloaded by technology,
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let's say, interacting with four
or more types of applications.
or more types of applications.
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At Bovingdons, the operations director
was interacting with five technologies.
was interacting with five technologies.
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Now, he told me that he'd always felt
overwhelmed by his job,
overwhelmed by his job,
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but it wasn't until our conversation
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that he thought it might be because
of the technologies he was overseeing.
of the technologies he was overseeing.
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And we were talking that,
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if the operations director had actually
had a lot of people reporting to him,
had a lot of people reporting to him,
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he probably would have done
something about it,
something about it,
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because it was stretching him too thin,
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like, move some of them
to report to somebody else.
to report to somebody else.
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So in the same way, we talked about
moving some of the technologies
moving some of the technologies
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to report to someone else,
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like the food inventory to go to the chef.
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The last thing that I'll look for
is any technology
is any technology
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that seems to be on the org chart
without a real home.
without a real home.
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Sometimes they're floating around
without an owner.
without an owner.
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Sometimes they're reporting
to so many different areas
to so many different areas
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that you can't tell
who's actually using it.
who's actually using it.
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Now, at Bovingdons,
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nobody appeared to be looking after
the marketing software.
the marketing software.
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It was like someone had hired it
and then didn't give it a desk
and then didn't give it a desk
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or any instructions on what to do.
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So clearly, it needed a job description,
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maybe someone to manage it.
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But in other companies,
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you might find that a technology
has been sidelined for a reason,
has been sidelined for a reason,
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like it's time for it
to leave or be retired.
to leave or be retired.
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Now, retiring applications
is something that all companies do.
is something that all companies do.
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But maybe taking the mindset that those
applications are actually coworkers
applications are actually coworkers
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could help them to decide when and how
to retire those applications
to retire those applications
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in the way that would be least destructive
to the rest of the team.
to the rest of the team.
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I did this experiment
with 15 different professionals,
with 15 different professionals,
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and each time it sparked an idea.
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Sometimes, a bit more.
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You remember that hotshot employee
I was telling you about,
I was telling you about,
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that everybody was ignoring?
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That was a real story
told to me by Christopher,
told to me by Christopher,
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a very energetic human resources manager
at a big consumer goods company.
at a big consumer goods company.
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Technology was a new HR platform,
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and it had been installed
for 14 months at great expense,
for 14 months at great expense,
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but nobody was using it.
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So we were talking about how,
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if this had really been such a hotshot
employee with amazing credentials,
employee with amazing credentials,
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you would go out of your way
to get to know it,
to get to know it,
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maybe invite them for coffee,
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get to know their background.
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So in the spirit of experimentation,
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Christopher set up one-hour appointments,
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coffee optional,
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for his team members to have no agenda
but to get to know their HR system.
but to get to know their HR system.
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Some people, they clicked around
menu item by menu item.
menu item by menu item.
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Other people, they searched online
for things that they weren't clear about.
for things that they weren't clear about.
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A couple of them got together,
gossiped about the new software in town.
gossiped about the new software in town.
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And a few weeks later,
Christopher called to tell me
Christopher called to tell me
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that people were using
the system in new ways,
the system in new ways,
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and he thought it was going to save them
weeks of effort in the future.
weeks of effort in the future.
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And they also reported feeling
less intimidated by the software.
less intimidated by the software.
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I found that pretty amazing,
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that taking this mindset
helped Christopher's team
helped Christopher's team
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and others that I spoke to
these past few months
these past few months
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actually feel happier
about working with technology.
about working with technology.
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And I later found out
this is backed up by research.
this is backed up by research.
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Studies have shown that people
who work in organizations
who work in organizations
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that encourage them to talk about
and learn about the technologies
and learn about the technologies
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in the workplace
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have 20 percent lower stress levels
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than those in organizations that don't.
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I also found it really cool
that when I started to do this experiment,
that when I started to do this experiment,
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I started with what was happening
between a person
between a person
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and an individual technology,
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but then it ultimately led to ideas
about how to manage tech
about how to manage tech
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across entire companies.
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Like, when I did this
for my own job and extended it,
for my own job and extended it,
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I thought about how
our data analysis tools
our data analysis tools
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should go on the equivalent
of a job rotation program,
of a job rotation program,
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where different parts of the company
could get to know it.
could get to know it.
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And I also thought about suggesting
to our recruiting team
to our recruiting team
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that some of the technologies
we work with every day
we work with every day
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should come with us
on our big recruiting events.
on our big recruiting events.
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If you were a university student,
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how cool would it be to not
only get to know the people
only get to know the people
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you might be working with,
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but also the technologies?
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Now, all of this begs the question:
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What have we been missing
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by keeping the technologies
that we work with day to day invisible,
that we work with day to day invisible,
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and what, beyond those
billions of dollars in value,
billions of dollars in value,
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might we be leaving on the table?
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The good news is,
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you don't need to be
an org chart geek like me
an org chart geek like me
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to take this experiment forward.
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It will take a matter
of minutes for most people
of minutes for most people
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to draw out a structure
of who they work with,
of who they work with,
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a little bit longer
to add in the technologies
to add in the technologies
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to get a view of the entire team,
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and then you can have fun
asking questions like,
asking questions like,
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"Which are the technologies
that I'll be taking out for coffee?"
that I'll be taking out for coffee?"
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Now, I didn't do this experiment for kicks
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or for the coffee.
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I did it because the critical skill
in the 21st-century workplace
in the 21st-century workplace
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is going to be to collaborate
with the technologies
with the technologies
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that are becoming such a big and costly
part of our daily working lives.
part of our daily working lives.
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And from what I was seeing,
we are struggling to cope with that.
we are struggling to cope with that.
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So it might sound counterintuitive,
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but by embracing the idea that these
machines are actually valuable colleagues,
machines are actually valuable colleagues,
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we as people will perform better
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and be happier.
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So let's all share a bit of humanity
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towards the technologies
and the softwares and the algorithms
and the softwares and the algorithms
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and the robots who we work with,
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because we will all be the better for it.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nadjia Yousif - Technology mentorBCG's Nadjia Yousif designs and implements programs for large financial services institutions to adapt and thrive in an era of technology disruption.
Why you should listen
As a partner at BCG, Nadjia Yousif helps banks, central banks, payments providers and insurers fundamentally change their technology systems, organizational structures and digital customer experiences. A passionate advocate for empowering individuals -- and technology -- in the workplace, Yousif also leads Diversity & Inclusion for BCG in the UK, where she is based, and has published several articles on topics related to diversity and technology. These include interviews with industry leaders, white papers on topics such as the digital "value trap" for banks and the opportunity around "digitally driven gender diversity." Learn more about Yousif and read her publications here.
Nadjia Yousif | Speaker | TED.com