Je Suis Désolé But I’m Not a Robot
Making mistakes is a vital part of how we learn and grow. But in a future shaped by AI, could this essential human trait become a relic of the past and perhaps even unthinkable?
An agency's life cycle is shaped by two key events: the loss of a major client, which often leads to harsh and swift layoffs, and the success of securing a new client after a competitive pitch, typically resulting from intense team efforts and long nights spent chatting with colleagues.
For those who are addicted to emotional rollercoasters, I can’t recommend anything else.
As soon as “well-done, everyone” and the digital pat on the back sound fades away, the client and their newly appointed agency realise one thing: it is time to plan for onboarding!
And even if this word doesn’t rhyme with drama, although it should, it certainly involves a lot of room for trial and error. Having worked on the agency and client side, I can say this exercise is never easy, despite everyone’s best intentions.
On reflection, maybe it’s time to be creative and come up with a new word: Dramboarding.
So, let me tell you the story of a rather unsavoury onboarding that happened nearly a decade ago.
So, turn on the kettle because things are about to pop!
It was in March 2015, and the agency I worked for at the time won a massive client that would help us hit our yearly target within a month. And the memo from the leadership team was crystal clear - don’t fuck up!
Every process had to be reviewed, improved and approved. Also, we had to go through a wave of recruitment as the workload would be unbearable pretty soon.
This is when Miss V (nickname) entered the picture.
She was friendly and very classy with a laidback hand-in-the-pocket style, which is a very odd combination - but I loved it.
We got on straight away; we had so many things in common, such as our love for Moroccan food, champagne, and we were straight to the point.
However, my drama detector remained in the amber-red zone as if something was about to surface from the deep sea. And if there is one thing I have learned through my career in UK media agencies is to trust my masculine intuition.
As time went by, Miss V and I developed a great professional relationship, and to be fair, it was fun to work with her. However, her attention to detail was not her forte, and I knew that sooner or later it would become the topic du jour during or after a client call.
Unfortunately, Miss V started to morph from an easy-going colleague to “lady attitude not in charge” and drinking Irish Coffee during working hours. Lord have mercy!
The day before the big launch of our campaign, I wanted to run through the set-up and asked Miss V to double-check her part.
But it appeared that flipping her trashy gossip magazine ranked higher on her priority list for the day.
And when asked more firmly to QA the set up of our campaign, she frivolously answered with a thick French accent: “Aiem verry tea-red”, took a sip of her coffee, flipped another page and concluded by saying “Heuu listen to me, Ayem nut a reuh-bo”
Me: “What do you mean?”. I didn’t get what was said, literally.
Miss Amoretti: “Ayem nut a reuh-bo”, translation: “I am not a robot”
Me: “Well, obviously you’re not! But you do not want to be in trouble either, do you?”
She looked at me, took the last sip of Irish coffee and walked out.
At this very moment in time, I had 3 options
A) Running after her and asking her to finish her work
B) Logging off and hoping for the best
C) Staying late and checking everything
I chose C and reached home late and wet. Of course, it had to rain that night!
A few weeks later, we received a nice note from a really happy client, and my manager could not be happier and congratulated us, too.
Unfortunately, Miss V’s bad habits were never addressed properly by our manager, and more issues started to pop up, which led to confrontational and uncomfortable situations.
But one day, she did not show up for work. I understood she left.
I knew, however, that she was like a cat, always capable of landing on her feet elegantly and moving forward.
It was only a couple of years later, I received a call from her. She had moved to the UAE and had time to reflect on her past work experience.
It felt nice to reconnect, we laughed so much, especially about her magisterial Reuh-bo (Robot) comeback. I started noticing how much she had grown from this whole experience and wondered what would have happened if our dynamic had been different, what would have happened if I didn’t want to play the unconditional rescuer and her the irresponsible ingenue from Paris?
The first image that popped into my mind was my boss yelling at me to ask how I could let this happen, which could have then led me to become a micromanager.
But by saving the day, I couldn't help thinking if I also prevented her from learning from her errors and most importantly, did I deprive her of her right to make mistakes?
One question every Manager (well, the good ones) asks themselves is how I can support my team to develop themselves, and by extension, be more productive.
The first aid tool generally gravitates around training, processes, regular 121’s and yearly appraisals. But let’s face it, this is just as basic as brushing your teeth or washing your hands after your passage in the restroom.
So what else should be done?
In 2012, Google launched the ambitious “Project Aristotle” research, which was aimed at uncovering the secrets behind effective teamwork, whilst referring to the Greek philosopher’s famous quote “, The whole is greater than the sum of its parts".
The study involved analysing approximately 180 teams and scrutinising over 250 team-level variables. Contrary to the prevailing belief that individual talent or technical expertise were the main drivers of success, the findings revealed a striking insight: the level of psychological safety within a team emerged as the most critical factor influencing team effectiveness.
The concept of psychological safety can be defined as a shared belief among team members that their work environment is secure enough to empower them to take risks and grow further.
Therefore, employees who feel they can share ideas, ask questions, and raise concerns without fear of being judged or punished, while openly acknowledging their errors and lack of knowledge in specific areas.
A work environment with high psychological safety allows employees to have the right to disagree with their peers and leaders’ opinions and offer alternative solutions, which is massive if you are looking to have meaningful feedback, and by extension, stepping away from comfortable conformism.
But most significantly, it does not reduce employees to what they know and what they don’t know, what they can or cannot do. Here, the focus is on empowering employees to get outside of their comfort zones while encouraging them to reflect on where their gaps are.
Project Aristotle found that teams which scored high in psychological safety outperformed those that did not, regardless of the individual talent present.
Another research from the Niagara Institute suggests that organisations fostering psychological safety can see up to a 27% reduction in turnover, a 76% increase in employee engagement, and a 50% boost in productivity.
As I reflect on my management style at that time, I realise that shying away from addressing issues not only left Miss V unsupported, but it also didn't help her to learn how she could have improved.
Managers and Leaders focus on the ability (or inability) of an employee to deliver a task or a project without questioning if the environment and the group dynamic are elevating or deflating someone's potential.
We are all guilty of wanting to tick the “lack of training” box, but with a WFH set-up, a mental health crisis and loss of meaning in our office job, managing teams is far more complex. From a lack of confidence to being unaware of one's ignorance of how things need to be done, the road to reach Mistake Boulevard is getting shorter.
In a tight and uncertain economy, it is easy for Leaders to create a rather constipated work environment where initiatives are ignored or devalued, unnecessary processes are created, and errors are punished as opposed to being analysed.
And just to be clear, I am advocating for the “safe space culture” at all costs, often used by HR fanatics, which prevents employees from having tough and needed conversations. And unsurprisingly, when companies are intoxicated by the fear of conflicts, innovation is frozen, and motivation dwindles, whilst keeping the company in an eternal loop of sameness and unassumed mediocrity.
This is why I’m a fervent supporter of the term “brave space”, where people feel empowered and have the courage to challenge the status quo and inefficient decisions made by their leadership team.
Despite the obnoxiousness with which Miss V delivered her punchline, another thought was triggered.
As AI becomes more prevalent in delivering our day-to-day reports, forecasts, and strategic business decisions, we are de facto in direct competition with it.
However, the second most important question Managers and Leaders need to ask themselves, after figuring out how to adapt to a work environment dominated by AI, is whether or not our right to be imperfect will still be allowed.
In other words, will we still have the right to make mistakes at work?
To answer this question, I would use Gunther Anders’ concept of “The Promethean Shame”, which refers to the psychological discomfort humans feel when comparing ourselves to machines, systems, or algorithms that appear to be faster, more efficient, precise, or "perfect" than we, flawed human beings.
As AI advances, it increasingly sets the standard for what is considered competent or valuable, leading us to feel inadequate or ashamed of our limitations.
The myth of Prometheus, the one who gave fire (symbolic of technology) to humanity, is reinterpreted here: instead of empowering us, our creations cast us into existential doubt, will we ever be good enough to work?
Within this philosophical framework, the question that haunts my mind is whether our right to make mistakes at work becomes one of the most pressing things. Will our bosses have any tolerance for human errors when a precise algorithmic and fast automated workflow is at the core of any new business model? I seriously doubt it.
Putting human employees in this unfair competition is likely to have dire consequences, ignored or unknown by the so-called AI Gurus, who have just learned how to set up an AI agent.
Mistakes, once understood as part of the learning and creative process of any professional during their probation and throughout their career, could be seen as costly aberrations in systems where perfection is expected here and now.
So, unless we become “Neo” in the Matrix or accept being hacked by Elon, it becomes clear that the average 925 employee will never have enough time to learn, absorb and apply what AI can do.
Also, with AI Agents unlikely to err and never call sick, I can stop wondering if “Work” will be considered to be a right or a privilege in the near future. This might sound strange or even a relief for those who experienced burnout, but this hypothesis cannot be discarded.
For Millennials like me, pivoting from Human Doing to Human Doing Nothing can be scary, as society has not conditioned us to view ourselves beyond our professional status and how profitable (sorry I meant competent) we should be in the job market!
But the shopping list doesn’t stop here.
When we abdicate our right to learn, do, create or build what we are meant to, we might progressively and inevitably give up our right to think, and by this I mean our capacity to project ourselves, but also to reflect on what, how and why we do things.
Yes, ChatGPT can execute all boring and menial tasks. Long live Automation!
But the story does not stop here.
When humans are set to operate like machines, they lose their sense of pride that comes along with the ownership of what they accomplish. And when everything is delegated to AI, their window of opportunity to take a critical distance and reflect on the meaning and finality of what they do, they start dissociating themselves from what they do, turning them lazy and disengaged at the very best or resentful at worst.
This free pass for never-thinking-land is for me the worst mistake we can allow to happen, and not only because it will devalue our very own human condition, but because it will trap us into seeing our human imitations as intrinsically inferior.
But guess what, it is our limitations that make us great and force us to try, to spend time, learn, develop enough discipline to become who we are meant to be.
Preserving our right to screw up (from time to time) might not be in danger today but we need to remind ourselves that those flaws we have are part of our we are, and the purest form of our a vital expression that have helped those before us to adapt to toughest enviribement, be creative and find unexpected solutions.
As for me, I will sense check if what I have written makes sense and if there are not too many typpos (oups) because until proven otherwise, I am not perfect and that's what makes me more human.
SOURCES
Google - Project Aristotle
Psychsafety - Psychological Safety In The Workplace
The Niagara Institute research - Psychology safety at work
University of Minesota Presss - Gunther Anders - The Obsolescence of Human
Fordham University Gunther Anders - The promethean shame
The Verdickt Therapy - The Obscolence of Bullshit Jobs