Automation and AI are rapidly reshaping entire industries and machines are becoming smarter and more efficient by the day. A quick glance and it may seem as if we’re close to rendering ourselves useless. However, if you bring down your defenses for a moment, you’ll realise that one thing — our emotional intelligence — is so wonderfully complex that we ourselves are only scratching the surface, let alone passing it on to our machines.
Soft skills, the ability to harmoniously interact with other people, will be a key component for success in the age of automation. Whether you’re a fast moving start-up or a global organisation, your ability to create psychological safety in teams will decide your employees aptitude for risk-taking; whether they’ll bury their heads in the sand or find the courage to try new and often uncertain ideas.
At Seventy (and many others, Google included), we think any team can be high functioning. We’ve put together a simple toolbox, ranging from feedback sessions to project reflection, to help each team create and sustain psychological safety — from the initial start-up meeting to final delivery. As long as our brains hardwiring for defensiveness is kept at bay, we can tap into that special place, where risk-taking leads to innovation — and innovation leads to progress. Because we believe that becoming better at how we do things is equally important as what we deliver.