AI, Robotics, and Job Displacement

Prepare yourself -- robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are stealing your jobs.

According to the Kazanah Research Institute, more than half of all current jobs in Malaysia are at high risk of being affected by automation in the next one to two decades.  While this may appear to foreshadow a decrease in the number of foreign workers, four out of five of the jobs at risk are semi-skilled, and 90% of all semi-skilled jobs are held by Malaysians.

Meanwhile, more than 670,000 jobs have already been displaced by automation in the United States.  As the number of robots is expected to increase by a factor of four by 2025, an estimated 3.5 million more American jobs will be lost.

Recent research by the Mckinsey Global Institute estimates that by 2030, up to 800 million jobs will be displaced by automation globally and 30% of the workforce in economies like China, Japan and Germany may need to switch occupational categories and acquire new skills.

It’s highly likely that you or someone you know has already lost their job to automation.  Accountants, restaurant staff (been out for sushi lately?), travel agents, factory workers, taxi drivers, agricultural workers and retail cashiers have all been displaced, and the list of occupations at risk continues to grow longer.

What the science fiction writers have told us is true: Robots are taking over the world.

Or are they?  Maybe there is a reason why we call it science fiction.

Experts surveyed by the Pew Research Center in 2014 seem to be more optimistic about the future than science fiction.  While 48% of the respondents predict massive job Pdisplacement, income inequality, and even breakdowns in the social order, a slight majority (52%) predicts that new technologies will actually create new jobs, industries, and ways to make a living, just as it has been doing since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

In other words, new technologies will create new jobs.

Just as it has since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, new technology will adequately provide sufficient employment and undiscovered jobs for new generations of workers.

Next week we’ll take a look at new technologies through history.

Facilitating Group Development

The role of a team leader overseeing the development of a new work group is similar to the role of a drum circle facilitator guiding a group of new drummers to their greatest musical potential.  Like a capable team leader, a facilitator who is mindful of what the drum group needs at any given time knows exactly what intervention to provide that will bring them to their next performance level.

Master facilitator and percussionist, Arthur Hull, has defined the roles of the facilitator for each step of the drum circle’s musical development.  First, he says, when the group is forming, they need a Dictator.  The Dictator’s role is to set the norms of the group, to make introductions, and to teach the basic body language signals that the group needs to follow.  This is done through full group interventions so that the whole group responds the same way at the same time.  As they do this they develop group consciousness, and become synchronized.

To reinforce this, the Dictator becomes a Director.  The group benefits by knowing how its individual parts are contributing to the whole, and the Director’s job is to demonstrate this to them.  By sculpting out specific sections of the drum circle (e.g. the bass drums, the hand drums, the bells) and allowing them to perform alone, the Director provides insight into what the music is composed of, and the group progresses towards ensemble consciousness. 

When the music shows up, the Director becomes a Facilitator.  By creating moments of success and setting up rhythmical dialog between the drummers, the Facilitator develops the group’s musicality and provides them with opportunities to improvise.  The Facilitator’s ability to monitor and listen deeply to what the group is playing is tasked at this stage since each intervention presented is intended to move the group to full orchestrational consciousness.

Once this level is achieved, the facilitator’s job is complete, and like a successful team leader managing a high-functioning work group, s/he may now step back and fine-tune the drum circle’s performance and work with what they give.  The new group of drummers has become a performance-level percussion ensemble in full flow.  The Facilitator, now Orchestrator, can play with the group’s music and allow individuals to gradually take over leadership roles.

Whether it’s developing a new work group or maximizing a group’s musical potential, the process of facilitation is the same.  The team leader and the drum circle facilitator must both have their radar on at all times so they know exactly what to provide in order to move their respective groups to the next level of development.

And this is why your company’s team leaders would benefit from training in drum circle facilitation.

Rhythmic Teambuilding

Much of what happens at work follows rhythmic patterns that we can recognize and improvise to ensure continued productivity.  Back in 1965, Bruce Tuckman recognized that small-group development also follows a rhythmic pattern which he codified into a clever model that’s still relevant after more than 50 years.

When a group first engages, he wrote, they are forming.  During this stage, team members get to know each other, the tools they’re working with, and the task at hand.  Some may be highly excited about the new challenge at hand while others may be equally apprehensive.  Team leader roles at this stage are to provide instructions and to build group cohesiveness.

As the team begins working together, they begin storming.  Here, conflicts in personalities

and working styles may surface.  Competition and petty jealousy may arise as members compare abilities and challenge each other.  Team leaders may also be challenged as members question their authority or the value of the objective.

Differences are gradually resolved as the team begins norming.  The objective is clearer now and the methods to achieve it are more familiar.  Relationships are stronger so team members work together, appreciate each other’s strengths, and resolve conflicts quicker.  Team leaders monitor progress, stepping in when necessary to provide advice, correction or praise.

When the team reaches a state of flow, they are performing.  Everyone realizes their individual roles in contributing to the whole and disruptions of work flow are few.  A team “culture” emerges that new members can easily recognize and adapt to.  Team leaders can step back at this stage, and even delegate leadership roles to other team members.

Forming, storming, norming, performing. 

A rhythmic teambuilding metaphor that clearly illustrates and teaches this clever sequence is a one-hour community drum circle.  In a teambuilding drum circle, participants who usually know little about drumming get together with music-making as their objective.

Just like a new team, drum circle participants begin by forming.  They learn about each other, about drums, and about drumming.  The team leader, or facilitator, teaches group norms through body language, and quickly moves them on to storming.  In this stage, participants notice various levels of ability throughout the group and begin making comparisons.  Self-doubt may arise, so the facilitator must acknowledge progress and small successes.

As they continue, the group entrains, the music shows up, and they begin norming.  The facilitator may begin challenging the participants with more complex interventions now and help ease them finally into the performing stage.  The participants have reached their music-making potential and the facilitator may step aside, intervening only to orchestrate.

Are you developing a new team or trying to invigorate one that’s already working together?  A teambuilding drum circle is a hands-on (literally!) rhythmic process that brilliantly illustrates how successful teams form, develop, and create beautiful music.