FUTURE TALENT November - January 2019/2020 | Page 57

TALKING HEADS
T
We all need to develop the art of craft
I
t has become a cliché even
to reference the pace of
c h a n g e , ex p o ne nt i a l
growth and irreversible
catastrophes as necessary catalysts
for adaptation. We all know that
tomorrow’s work will be very different.
With robots doing everything from
conducting funerals to evaluating rules
in legal cases, replacement feels
imminent for everyone. Yet it’s also
clear that technology has real
limitations – for the foreseeable future.
To tackle the ‘wicked’ problems of
our present and future, we need to
embrace a counterintuitive irony: as
organisations continue to create and
adopt technologies such as artificial
intelligence, employees must stay
relevant by focusing on the human
skills that machines just can’t replicate.
But, as the industrial structures
that supported organisations and
strengthened workforces break down,
and we rely more than ever on working
objectively through procedures,
policies and data, the skills people
need to stay relevant are becoming
ever-more elusive. In a world where
scale is a primary business strategy
and the systems that support us value
data and procedure over independent
decision making, it’s hard to think
outside the box, experiment, or do
the right thing.
My research on master craftsmen
and how they gain mastery helps
connect the dots on this new dilemma
and presents some solutions. The
trend in automation is to do things
more cheaply and efficiently. As
such, machines excel at processing
data and performing routine tasks.
They fall short on social intelligence,
communication, and leading
and inspiring others; they are not
particularly good at deep expertise,
artistry, or the capacity for individual
creativity that leads to innovation and
creative problem solving.
It turns out that master craftsmen
exhibit all of these traits as they strive
to raise their own ambitious standards.
When it comes to problem solving,
dealing with ambiguity and learning to
improvise, craftsmen have something
to teach us all. They are masters in
what I call “subjective intelligence”.
Subjectivity is about being
empowered to develop a personal
perspective, beliefs, desires or path
forward, versus those made from a
data-driven, objective point of view.
There’s a danger that societal bias
towards the quantitative comes
at the detriment of developing our
own subjective-interpretation and
judgement capabilities. We need to
develop more systematic processes
for independent learning.
Christine Haskell
“We need to see not just a
machine to be operated, but a
challenge to be mastered”
Taking the first step towards greater
subjectivity requires a mindset shift. In
the case of technology, for example,
we need to see not just a machine to
be operated, but a challenge to be
mastered. And it goes a step further:
the problem that machine is solving
needs to hold a deep fascination for
us, so that our compulsion and drive
to solve it, under any conditions,
helps us to tackle even the thorniest
issues. The technology that aids the
worker then becomes a means to
a much larger end: a medium for
individual expression – much like
master craftsmen working with the
idiosyncrasies of wood or stone.
Apprentices of Siemens USA
provide an example. Their goal is to
move beyond being simply a ‘machine
operator’ who ‘pushes a button’.
They learn to understand the bigger
picture, programme the machine,
fix problems, apply judgement
and comprehend, with precision,
how their programming impacts
production. This kind of end-to-end
perspective takes us back to traditional
craftsmanship and away from the kind
of line specialisation that has workers
competing with machines to do work
more cheaply. End-to-end thinking
requires openness, discernment, self-
management, and the ability to both
seek and find problems.
Learning to think like a craftsman
can be applied to leadership teams
and warehouse workers alike. As
technology advances and the nature
of work changes, both the apprentice
and the master craftsman will need to
evolve, take risks, re-learn and adapt.
But far too many will not, unless we
start making changes – now – to our
systems of education, workplace
training and employee support.
Christine Haskell is a leadership
consultant and adjunct faculty at
Washington State University. Her book,
Craft: What Craftsmen and Women Can
Teach Us about Leadership, Creativity
and Growth, is in production.
November – January 2019 // 57