CliftonStrengths
Could you be replaced by a robot?
Is the rise of the machines inevitable? The ‘Terminator’ and ‘Matrix’ franchises, ‘Tron’, ‘Eagle Eye’, ‘I, Robot’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, even the children’s film, ‘WALL-E’: most of us will have seen at least one movie in our lifetime that predicts the dire consequences of an over-reliance on artificial intelligence (AI). Are these films just fun or do they scare us too much? What difference is it really going to make in our workplace? Search engines that predict our preferences, smart phones and email filters all incorporate some degree of AI. We may not be thinking about artificial intelligence all of the time, but we do encounter it every day. Search engines that predict our preferences, smart phones and email filters all incorporate some degree of AI. And it is constantly developing: the battle for driverless cars, seems to be …
Two tools for raising team effectiveness
I was talking with someone from a small (two-person) team recently. Working for a small charity, their responsibility was for fundraising a challenging amount of money for the year. Dividing the work and opportunities evenly between them didn’t seem to be working and both were feeling stress levels rising. And then they were offered some psychometric profiling. It clearly identified one person as being relatively introverted, focussed and with good attention to detail. Her colleague could hardly have been more different. Outgoing, bubby and extroverted, she drew her energy from meeting with people and found paperwork draining. What a revelation this understanding of each other brought! Instead of dividing the work evenly, they split it by temperament. Our introvert spends more time researching, applying to trusts, completing the paperwork (yes, even her colleague’s paperwork!) She feels a new freedom and no …
