Imagine being a manager and having to introduce a new colleague to your team. This colleague does not take holidays, does not ask for raises, processes the data in milliseconds, and never has a bad day. But it is not able to understand sarcasm, to comfort a disappointed customer or have a brilliant idea outside the box. His name is Agent of AI, and the company is no longer a futuristic scene, but a present reality that is redefining the concept of “team”. The real challenge for companies is not to assume these artificial intelligences, but learn how to manage them together with the employees of flesh and bones, creating teams hybrid, where humans and machines work together in a synergistic way. This is not of replacement, but of integration. And as with any cultural change, success depends more on the people than the technology.
What Are the Team Hybrid and Why they Are Inevitable
Team hybrid is a working group in which coexist and cooperate with employees and human agents in artificial intelligence. The latter are not simple software tool, but autonomous systems able to perform specific tasks, from customer service to the analysis of complex data, from logistics management to the creation of content to the base.
The birth of these teams is not a fashion, but a response to specific needs of the market. On one hand, the need for efficiency and scalability leads to the automation of repetitive processes. On the other, the demand for creativity, critical thinking and empathy – skill exquisitely human – remains as high as ever. The team hybrids seek to capture the best of both worlds: the precision and speed of AI, combined with the emotional intelligence and adaptability of the man. The natural evolution of the work 4.0where man is not replaced by the machine, but enhanced by it.
The Challenges of Managing Hybrid: Beyond Technology
Integrate an agent AI in a team human is not how to install a new software. Means to face a series of organizational and cultural challenges that managers must be able to manage.
The Redefinition of the Roles
The first thing is to understand who is doing what. The arrival of AI should not be perceived as a threat, but as an opportunity to free up your human talents by tedious and repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on more value-added activities. An agent AI can generate a report in two minutes, but it will be a dependent human to interpret the data, to gain insight in the policy and to take final decisions. The clarity on these new boundaries is essential to avoid anxiety automation and resistance to change, the fear of being replaced that often accompanies the automation of work.
Communication and Trust
As you “communicates” with a colleague algorithm? The communication must be designed in an intuitive way, through interfaces that allow humans to interact with the AI in natural language. But the biggest challenge is to build trust. The team must be able to count on the reliability of the agent AI, understanding even the limits. Human error is understandable, an error of an algorithm can undermine confidence in the whole system. The transparency on the performance and the operational limits of the IA is non-negotiable.
As we analyzed in our article on the dependence AIthe risk is to delegate to machines without maintain control of critical processes.
Corporate Culture and Leadership
The manager of a team hybrid is not only a leader, but a true “architect of the partnership.” Must have a dual responsibility: to understand the technical potential of AI and knowing how to manage the psychology and the dynamics of a group of people. Must promote a culture where the AI is seen as a multiplier of human potential, not as a substitute. Leaders that do not invest in this corporate training continues threatened with team dysfunctional and technologies are under-utilized.
Real cases and Best Practices
Several pioneer companies are already sailing with success in these waters.
Unilever: The colossus of consumer goods using the IA for the initial screening of CVS, but the final process of selection and the interview are firmly in the hands of the recruiter human. This is a classic example of a division of tasks: the AI filters, the man decides. As discussed in our article on AI and human resourcesthis integration improves the efficiency without losing the human touch.
Klarna: The fintech Swedish has implemented an assistant TO customer service that handles up to two-thirds of the conversations with the customers. This has led to layoffs, but has allowed the human agents to focus on more complex requests and delicate, improving both efficiency and customer satisfaction.
IBM Watson: IBM the same is using its Watson to assist employees in areas such as human resources, by providing predictive analysis on performance data, but always leaving the final judgment and the management of the report to the manager.
The best practice that emerges from these cases is clear: the IA as a fellow junior and super-specialized. A colleague and to delegate the tasks to heavy-duty and routine, but that he is always in need of supervision, the context, and the human touch to make it all work.
The Psychological Aspect: to Manage the Emotional Impact
The introduction of agents AI in a team has profound psychological implications that managers must be able to manage. As highlighted in our study about the AI and psychologythe interaction with intelligent systems can generate:
- Performance anxiety: Employees can feel in competition with machines infallible
- A sense of inadequacy: The speed of the AI can be perceived as the human capacity as insufficient
- Loss of professional identity:Some traditional roles are redefined to radically
It is crucial to invest in programs of psychological support and coaching to help the team to adapt to this new reality.
Skills of the Future: What they Need to Learn the Manager
The management team hybrid requires new managerial skills:
1. Literacy AI
Managers need to understand the basics of the functioning of IA, its limits and its potential. Do not need to be programmers, but must be able to assess when the automation is appropriate.
2. Management of Technological Change
The ability to drive transitions organizational becomes crucial. As discussed in our article on the working remotely assisted by the IAthe technology amplifies both the benefits and the risks.
3. Emotional Intelligence Enhanced
Paradoxically, the more the AI spreads become, the more valuable human skills like empathy, creativity and critical thinking.
The Dark Side: Risks and issues
The team hybrids are not without risks. Microsoft and other big tech companies have documented a number of problems:
- Bias amplified: The AI can perpetuate biases unconscious
- Technological dependency:The risk of losing human skills critical
- Cyber vulnerabilities: More automation means more surface area
- Decisions opaque: When the AI takes decisions that humans do not understand
The Future is a Symbiotic Partnership
The management of team hybrid is not a discipline in the manual. It is a field in the making, which requires experimentation, flexibility and continuous learning. The companies that will succeed will be those that invest not only in technology, but in the redevelopment of the people (the so-called upskilling and reskilling), in the creation of new organizational models and in a leadership illuminated that can drive both the humans and the machines.
The ultimate goal is not to have a company of only human or the sun, IA, but an organization where the collective intelligence of the team hybrid is greater than the sum of its parts. Where an employee human, freed from the drudgery of repetitive tasks, can finally do what is most precious: to think, to create, to empathize and to innovate.
As pointed out in our article on digital skillsthe key is to acquire the necessary skills to not get left behind in this change.
For those who wish to learn the practical aspects of implementation, we recommend that you read our article on manage a small business with AI that offers practical advice to get started today.