Dr Nick Waggett

In the age of the smart machine  How can we benefit from the opportunities of digitization and AI in ways that improve both the provision of services and the experience of those working in them? As a way of reflecting on the current imperative to benefit from the role-out of AI across business and public services, I have been re-reading Shoshana Zuboff’s seminal study ‘In the age of the smart machine’ . This book, published in 1988, traced the implementation of an earlier generation of computer technologies. Whilst AI has many different characteristics, opportunities and potential risks, I think Zuboff’s analysis continues to have relevance and can provide insight into what is happening today.  Automate or informate A key distinction Zuboff makes is between technology used to automate work processes or to informate them.   If technology is used only to automate work:  it can reduce skill levels, and dampen the urge towards more participatory and decentralized...

How can we support frontline staff to better manage the anxiety associated with difficult or complex tasks, and therefore provide effective and compassionate services? The concept of concentric circles of containment is one way of visualizing how this can be achieved. First introduced by Claudia McLoughlin, the model shows how anxieties and stressors originating from the nature of the work can be held and thought about at each level of the organization. All types of work can be the source of both satisfaction and frustration. Work can be stressful because of the inherent nature of the task or because it is badly organised. Or both! One of the functions of leaders is to help staff to manage the anxieties associated with their work, whether this is in high-pressure commercial settings or frontline public services. If the task itself involves working for customers or clients who have complex needs, or whose ways of relating to others are perhaps chaotic and disturbing, then there is ...

What is the one thing that your organisation (company, team, service) must do in order to survive and thrive? Is that what you are actually doing?   Most people working in an organisation, or leading it, will be familiar with the feeling of having to do too much with too little resources. Phrases such as ‘having to keep all the balls in the air’ and ‘I need to keep all the plates spinning’ suggest a person juggling multiple tasks, responsibilities, or commitments simultaneously. This is stressful for the individual or team and often not very effective as it is hard to determine which of the ‘plates’ is the priority and therefore deserves greater time or resources. Prioritization is crucial to effective planning and clarity on which tasks are likely to produce most gains is important for job satisfaction.   When we are in the middle of a whirl of competing demands, or facing deadlines and targets, it can feel impossible to determine what is most important. Most likely w...

Manchester United men’s team have been struggling this season including two successive 3-0 home defeats. Inevitably, there is talk of the manager Erik ten Hag’s position being under threat unless he oversees an upturn in results. In his first season in charge, United won the League (Carabao) Cup and finished third in the Premier League to earn a return to the Champions League. So what has gone wrong this season? Reading the reports in the papers, and thinking about it as someone who works with organizational dynamics, a few things jumped out. Fresh legs – Ten Hag has brought players over from his former club Ajax who are not performing well and this has led people to question his decision-making or ‘smarts’. It is understandable that he might want to have players he feels he can trust and who have performed for him before, but I wonder what this communicated to the existing United players. Trying to replicate a ‘formula’ or even re-create the same team in a new context is unlikely to ...