History & New Technology

New technology kicked off the first Industrial Revolution.  Historians may debate its actual starting point, but there is no doubt that the perfection of James Watt’s steam engine in 1782 played a key role in its expansion.  Before this, work in Olde England was mostly performed in agrarian cottage industries.  People made their living as weavers, seamstresses, candle makers and blacksmiths.  The introduction of Watt’s steam engine displaced thousands of these manual jobs.

Consequently, labor moved into factories.  The resulting growth in productivity gave rise to industrial centers.  The potential for exporting surplus goods called for rail and sea transport, which in turn created transportation hubs and financial centers.  Where a comparative handful of manual jobs were lost in this transition to new technologies, millions of new and diverse jobs were created.

Industrialization in America began around the same time, but by the 1870s half of the American population was still involved in farming.  Continued mechanization of agriculture after the Civil War, however, freed people to go off and do other jobs.  Today just 2% of the American population is involved in farming and the agricultural output far surpasses what it did 150 years ago.

In addition to agriculture, another American industry decimated by new technology was whaling.  At its height in 1846, whaling was the fifth largest sector of the American economy.  The industry boasted 742 vessels – more than the rest of world combined times three.  It employed tens of thousands of people and was worth hundreds of millions of dollars in ships, outfits and cargos.  To serve the fleet globally, scores of American outposts were established throughout the world in Atlantic and Pacific harbors.  Just 50 years later, however, the industry was dead.

The reason?  Electricity. 

In addition to bone, meat, and ambergris for perfume, one of the key by-products of whaling was oil.  Many American cities and most American homes at the time used whale oil to light their streets and their lamps.  In 1879, however, the city of Cleveland became the first in America to light its streets with electric arc lamps invented by Charles Brush.  In just a decade, his invention transformed street lighting throughout the world.

In the same year, the California Electric Company in San Francisco became the first to sell electricity to home-consumers, which eventually put an end to the need for whale oil.  However, despite the huge number of jobs displaced, the world is certainly a better place without the whaling industry, and the number of new jobs created through the launch and distribution of electricity is immeasurable.

The fear of computers displacing jobs took hold 100 years later.  When the earliest computers and robots appeared in offices and on factory floors, President John F. Kennedy prophesied that one major challenge of the 1960s would be to “maintain full employment at a time when automation…is replacing men”.  The later appearance of desktop computers in the 1980s, thanks in large part to people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, amplified these worries. 

Among the earliest casualties of computerization were jobs in the banking industry.  Front-line tellers, long-accustomed to taking deposits and cashing checks, were easily displaced by ATMs.  By 1988, the number of bank tellers was reduced by almost 50% in most American branches. 

However, the reduced cost of running a branch allowed banks to open more branches.  Rather than being displaced, bank teller roles were remixed by ATMs.  As a result, their work focused less on routine tasks, and more on sales and customer service – things that the new machines were unable to do.

At no point in history has there ever been mass unemployment resulting from the introduction of new technologies.  In fact, it has actually been the opposite.  New technologies have created new jobs that had previously been unimaginable.

The same lessons hold true for our current transition to automation.  According to Manpower Group’s 2017 report on upskilling for the future, 65% of the jobs that will be performed by Generation Z (those born after 1996) have not yet been invented.  Companies today are already hiring for positions that did not exist just five years ago.  Who could have previously dreamed that their children would be getting jobs as Social Media Marketing Specialists or Geo-Immersive Data Producers (read: Google Maps Drivers)?

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2018 also presents a positive outlook for future employment.  By 2022, while 75 million jobs may be displaced by automation, another 133 million new roles may be created as labor adapts to the new interface between people and machines.

Many jobs performed by humans today can and should be displaced just as new technology displaced whaling jobs in the 19^th century.  Jobs that are methodical (accounting), routine (electronics assembly), dangerous (mining) and degrading (trash & hazmat removal) could be performed more efficiently and safely by robots and computerization. 

When this happens, the workplace becomes a more socially active, relationship-based environment.

And this is why communication skills will be among the most critical for the future workplace.

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.