What AI should replace on your team (and what it should not)

As we continue to figure out how AI fits into our workflow, we know that the role of the manager is going to be changing and evolving. That is undeniable. Over the next one to three to five years, we’re going to have to continue to adjust how we’re working as leaders, right? But the answer, when it comes to how we integrate AI and automation into our workflow, I’ve got to believe it’s not just full sail replacing people or saying, wait a second, this task can be done by a computer.

Our role as managers is about figuring out where the human piece is needed the most, how to delegate offset pieces of work, but not to just kind of like fully remove things. I’ve got to believe that because I think when we start reducing people to just individual tasks, that’s where we start to run into some problems. First of all, we’re not recognizing the full value of what someone brought to something. And we actually aren’t, I think, worse than that.

We’re not looking ahead at, well, what could go wrong without having human intervention? Now, there’s a lot of examples, especially in cases like medical technology, where utilizing AI for diagnosis or early detection, this is incredible, right? We’re able to find stuff so much earlier. This is enhancing and supplementing, making something better, right? We’re not saying though, that we don’t want to then have a doctor sit down with you and talk about the results and figure out what is your plan for dealing with treatment and care and whatever, if you find that there is something that you need to deal with, right?

So it’s about, it’s a yes and, and that’s what I want to talk about on today’s episode, really how to figure out what pieces to delegate and really look for that human element so that potentially we’re evolving and how are we helping our team members evolve into what their jobs are going to be, instead of just saying, see you later. All right, I’m Leah Garvin. This is the new Manager Playbook Podcast, where I’m on a mission to make managing your team the easiest part of your job.

And I’m also here to say, I don’t think managers are obsolete. I don’t think we’re going to be obsolete over the coming years, but the role is undoubtedly changing. It’s shifting, it’s evolving, and the role is going to keep requiring you to up-level your teams and help them make sense of and become prepared for whatever’s changing in whatever industry that you’re in, because it’s going to vary industry by industry, team by team, job by job. You’re, you know, some of us are going to be getting a lot of pressure from our higher-ups to be, you know, really figuring out a plan.

Some of us are tasked with the plan of ourselves. A lot of us business owners listening are trying to figure out, hey, costs are high for every single thing out there, whether it’s labor or supplies or rents or whatever it is. So we’re trying to figure out how to really utilize automation and AI and agents to be able to scale faster. You know, there’s a ton of new companies coming on line, right? AI companies or companies where there’s maybe three or four employees and you’re all really senior, so you’re utilizing automation to kind of create that, you know, the entry-level workforce or offset that entry-level workforce.

Totally makes sense. We still have humans in the equation and it’s by design, like we want it that way. So again, our job as leaders is to figure out how are we, you know, like delegating what are the things where we really need to have humans in the equation and what are the potential things we’re missing when we hand something off or offload it to have it automated. Now, as the role of the manager continues to evolve, this is going to keep evolving as well.

We’re going to have to keep rethinking this, okay? So this is a conversation we’re going to keep having on the show. But I wanted to share an example because I came across this this week and it hit me as where I think we’re not fully thinking through the pieces or not maybe asking all the questions around, well, where was the human adding value before we kind of get rid of the task? So I came across a story around years ago and it may or may not be true, but let’s just say there was an executive, a really kind of an infamous tech executive that we all know about, I won’t even mention who it is, where his executive assistant asked him for a raise and he said, you know what, why don’t you just take a vacation, take a couple weeks off, and then when you come back, we’ll talk about it.

And over those two weeks, he actually did the job himself. And then imagine, you know, maybe scheduling meetings, following up with people, he did the whole job, he didn’t get someone to fill in for her. And when she got back, he fired her because he felt like, well, I did the job myself, you weren’t really needed. Now, that’s the end of the story that I read. So I don’t know what happened after that. But what I do know is that the value of having an executive assistant is far greater than having someone just schedule your meetings and just be doing the follow-ups.

And I wonder in that situation if those questions had been considered. And I wonder if after losing this executive assistant, if there was some further ripple effects lost on the team. Now, an admin assistant, they have a pulse on kind of the culture and the vibe of the team. A lot of times, you know, they have their ear to the ground. They know what’s happening. They know when folks are frustrated or there’s grumblings around confusion around priorities or decisions.

They serve as a buffer between your team and you. So they actually understand, you know, what things are priorities and what things do you need to get involved in. They understand your preferences around, you know, travel and timings and different things like that. They get to know you on a deeper level and your team, and they can be a really great both buffer and translator between you and the rest of the team. I worked working in chief of staff functions.

The executive assistant was often my right-hand partner, and we would figure things out together. You know, how do we make sure that the team is both informed and we also are making sure our executive partner, you know, is informed? Like there’s a huge, huge value add for that role. Early in my career, I was an executive assistant myself. And actually the thing I did least was just booking meetings and booking travel. Most of the time, I was actually kind of strategizing with the VP on, you know, hey, I’m hearing this from the team.

What do we want to do about it? Are we talking to people in the right way? I was, you know, with his executive team, I was kind of a confidant, someone to be talking through and wrestling with ideas and saying, hey, do you think that this is going to be, you know, palatable if I share this with the leader? And he’d say, oh, I don’t know, you know, and we would talk through it. None of that was the admin, kind of like the tactical tasks of scheduling meetings and booking things.

Now, I share this example because yes, there are going to be parts of jobs that we can automate and should automate. Notetaking, like that is like the worst task. It’s often like just handed off to, you know, a junior employee or whoever. No one wants to be doing it. The AI notetakers, fantastic, right? We all get the notes. No one forgets to send them. They’re way more comprehensive than we would have written down, right? Like, that’s a great example of a task to automate.

Scheduling of meetings, using Calendly, giving a self-service option, right? That’s a great example of something to automate. But like the kind of shadow side of that is with a calendar, if you have an open booking system, you may, as an executive or leader of any kind, anybody, get a bunch of meetings on your calendar that aren’t the same priority. And you wish there was someone that was actually running point for saying, well, you know, this has to move for this reason.

And you don’t just show up and look at your calendar and have either a Swiss cheese thing where you have a hole every 30 minutes, or you have a bunch of things that actually aren’t a priority for that day. So just getting the task done isn’t the point. And I want us to remember that when we think, oh God, this could be automated. I don’t need any entry-level employees. I don’t need an admin. I don’t need this.

I don’t need a project coordinator. I don’t need a marketing team. I don’t need anything. It’s like, what are you losing? And how are you making up for that? I’m not saying not to automate things. I automate a lot of stuff that I do. I’m saying we still want to be thinking about that. And so some of the questions, again, we want to be thinking about are, okay, what are some of the ripple effects of utilizing this tool?

So let’s say it is a calendar system. I just gave that example, where there isn’t really a prioritization system then. And you might have a bunch of stuff that actually you would want someone sorting through. So that’s an example of just things to be thinking through with the admin. I shared the really critical thing of, if you don’t have that person that knows you really well, who does have an ear to the ground? Is that a chief of staff?

Is that other employees? Who’s giving you candid insights and feedback on what’s going on the team? We want to make sure that’s still happening, right? Even if your meetings are scheduled automatically, who is doing that piece? So before you automate a full role, I encourage you to write down not just the kind of tasks and what are the bare bones, things they have to get done, and write down some of the social or team culture related intangibles where they’re adding value and where they’re showing up.

And those are the things. That’s where we still want to have our humans plugged in. That’s where we still have so much value to be giving and bringing. And then that’s where, as we move some of the tasks to be automated and we free up time for folks. So let’s say this tech executive, instead of firing the assistant, he said, hey, I’m realizing calendar management, travel, that could all be automated. You know, maybe our Amex Platinum or whatever, we can use a travel agent there.

I don’t really need you doing that, whatever. And he recognized the value this person was still bringing, he might offload a set of tasks and say, hey, here’s why I’d like to evolve your role. Let’s talk about that. Here’s what it could look like. Or you tell me, come to me with a plan. We can talk about where there’s like development opportunities or you need some skill building or coaching. We may be changing our team members roles, but unless you really think someone is adding no value beyond the bare bones kind of data entry computational tasks that could be automated, which I find it hard to believe that that’s where you’re going to net out, then there is stuff left that we do not want to be losing.

There’s a lot of folks that are offloading, you know, a lot of marketing type things to AI and agents. And yeah, for idea, kind of doing like big sort of like mass idea generation and getting a lot of different thoughts out there and iteration, that could be great. Who is going through those ideas? Who’s making sure stuff makes sense? Who’s actually combining things and really refining it and figuring out like what’s super connected to the brand voice and what’s the intangible about why people love our brand and why people use our product.

And what’s the thing that folks aren’t saying? How do we get that human piece back in there? That’s a role of a team member. Maybe some of that research they used to spend days and days on, that’s moved off their plate. But now the discernment and the kind of editorial piece and figuring out really how all of it makes sense and how to really elevate a campaign, that’s where they’re going to be fitting in. So it’s an evolution and adaptation instead of replacement.

And again, you know, I think we are moving really, really fast to be automating entire roles because there is so much pressure to be saving money, to be cutting costs, to be spending less. Again, I mentioned business owners, everything’s expensive and you may not be able to hire for something, right? So you may not be downsizing. You may be saying, well, I need to scale myself and all I actually can afford right now is an agent or an automated system.

Okay. And it’s still important to think about, well, what are some of the things that just aren’t getting done still so that I’m aware of that? And there may be a moment when the part that you’ve automated actually results in some more revenue and hopefully it does, that’s the whole point, so that you can bring someone on to do a little bit of like the human layer. When people talk about not needing employees or teams or managers, you know, I’ve mentioned on the show, Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, says managers are obsolete.

He’s been saying it for like 20 years. And it’s like, because he’s thinking of it as a person assigning a queue of work to someone. That’s how he describes it. But everybody listening to this show, we all know that’s not the value of a manager. We all know that’s like the smallest slice of the work. And a lot of times, yeah, like the work’s already known about it. You’re not actually doing like assignments of work in a queue.

That’s like the smallest sliver of it. And so if we said that’s all, if there’s this belief, that’s all managers do. And we assign, you know, we’re like, okay, we’re just going to automate that. And so there’s no more managers. The 99% of the rest of the work is not going to be getting done. The feedback, the career conversations, the helping someone navigate, challenging co-workers or stakeholders, you know, helping someone that’s, you know, figuring out, well, where are they best suited and developing them, mentoring, coaching, all of the freaking things that a manager is supposed to be doing are gone.

Yeah. You got that work queue assigned. Good for you. This is not the point. We have to think about the entire 360 view of what work looks like. Figure out, well, do we still value that? Do we still want that? Are we going to say, nope, we don’t need that piece of it because this is really the most important thing. Okay. Then automate it. Go ahead. But please first think about the other examples, the other pieces of the puzzle.

And again, that’s why I started with that example of the admin because yeah, a lot of administrative work, tactical, it can be automated. And I’m telling you, there is a whole set, a ton of it where the human discernment, the human understanding, the empathy, the relationship someone has on the team is so invaluable that it’s not a one or the other that it’s a, Hey, let’s offset the things that are slowing you down. And let’s ramp up the things that you’re really good at and are really still valuable because we are going to need to understand our people even more.

We are going to need to understand how to help people like, you know, bring the best out in them and feel the most understood and supported and, and, and aligned to the right set of work. Everybody’s under pressure. Everybody needs to be directed to the right thing. So as leaders, we’ve really got to be understanding our teams and when they are confused about something or there is a slowdown or there is a bottleneck, right? We need to, we need to have insight into that.

And sometimes when we over automate, we have these disconnects. We don’t have any way to understand that. And so we’re not able to look at the root cause. So again, this is my, you know, manifesto on, on how to really start to think about where are we delegating, where are we offloading and thinking about the full 360 of a job before we decide, yeah, I don’t need this anymore. Okay. This is going to be something we need to be doing over and over and over.

We’re going to be, you know, as more tools and more opportunities and more things are coming out, there’s going to be a ton to figure out. So it’s going to be an ongoing conversation. It might be a little bit overwhelming. I know it’s overwhelming to me, like every single day there’s a new thing to figure out, but we’ve got this, right? We have to be taking this in and thinking about these things, right? Thinking about your AI strategy is a requirement of, of most leaders out there.

And it’s going to be a requirement every single leader out there someday. So, so let’s do it. Let’s do it together. And there’s going to be, again, I’m going to talk about it more on the show. I have a toolkit I put together on, you know, how to like supplement your own things by utilizing AI. So to sort of get the wheels turning around this conversation, it’s at leahgarvin.com slash AI toolkit. I think there’s, that’s a good place to start of thinking, okay, well, how am I bringing this into delegating and feedback and without believing I need to just remove myself from the conversation.

Check out the toolkit, leahgarvin.com slash AI toolkit. And we’re just going to keep talking about this. You’re not alone. I’ve got you. We’re going to make it easier. See you next time.