How AI Can Enhance Human Collaboration, Not Replace It

Key Takeaways

Dhawan defines “Connectional Intelligence” as the capability to unlock new and unrealized value by fully maximizing the power of technology, networks and relationships.
Large organizations have successfully leveraged company-wide AI by starting with measurable pilots and prioritizing diversity in the teams working with it.
Failure is natural when it comes to innovation, so don’t let it discourage your teams from pursuing AI solutions.

Today’s workplace is becoming increasingly virtual and technologically driven, yet we still struggle with endless meetings, siloed teams, duplicative work and a lack of real, meaningful inclusion. What’s a talent leader to do? The solution lies in “Connectional Intelligence” — a term that 21st-century teamwork expert Erica Dhawan is so passionate about, she's trademarked it.

“It’s this mix of how we as talent leaders combine our human networks, people and modern-day AI technologies that will help us evolve to the next level of our organization,” Dhawan told the audience of talent leaders at Indeed’s Leadership Connect Global Summit, held shortly before Indeed FutureWorks 2024 in Dallas, Texas.

Dhawan, a best-selling author and Ivy League research fellow, drew on her experience working with well-known companies to share her three rules for connectivity in the age of AI:

AI will not destroy most jobs — it will change them.
There is no remote work, just work. (“Because it's not actually about physical proximity; it's about developing trust and shared values,” she said, receiving applause.)
Most organizations’ AI failures are due to a lack of three things: vision, inspirational prompts or use cases.

Dhawan offered three powerful use cases of how notable enterprises have translated these rules into success by combining indispensable human skills with AI.

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Gain New Perspectives Through Connectional Intelligence

A team of chemists at toothpaste company Colgate was having issues developing a fluoride product, costing the company time and money, so they reached out to an online community of scientists. The community recognized it was a physics-related issue, leading to a solution within two days. Only afterward did the chemists realize they could have just asked a Colgate physicist right down the hall for a quicker resolution — if they had only known where to start.

“In an AI-powered world, there are tools for that,” Dhawan said. She described a product that McKinsey uses to consolidate its company’s knowledge sources. Within the tool, each employee is tagged with their expertise, allowing someone to find out who might know the answer to a question, or it could even tell them what the expert might say without ever sending an email.

Make Decisions That Combine the Best of AI and Human Critical Thinking

Crisis Text Line is a nationwide tool that helps young people easily connect with a crisis counselor over text. The company’s research team uses an AI-powered tool to anonymously analyze the messages, unlock new data about mental health across the U.S. and inform the work of policymakers, journalists and other researchers.

“It's almost like an AI-driven chatbot, but it has the human judgment of a mental health professional,” said Dhawan. “And it's reducing the stigma for teens who don't want to go to a mental health professional or don't have access to one.”

Find New Solutions to Challenges by Engaging With Diverse Communities

At food company Frito-Lay, the Doritos guacamole chip is a $100 million product, but the idea actually came from the company’s Latino employee resource group (ERG). “When combined as a community, they realized they were asking different questions. And one of those questions was, ‘How do we make a better company with the Latino customer segment?’” Dhawan said.

Not only was the product successful, but it inspired the company’s Asian ERG to create the curry chip flavor, which is now a best-seller in Asia. Now, Frito-Lay brings all of its employees together every year to brainstorm product ideas.

On a stage in front of the audience, Erica Dhawan, in a baby blue blazer and matching dress, dances and laughs with Indeed Senior Director of Corporate Marketing Daniel Wahlen, who wears gray jeans and a black collared shirt.

“There's one thing I've learned throughout my years: human connection doesn't start by talking about one more tool or technology. It starts by doing something fun,” Dhawan said before kicking off her keynote by leading the room in a Bollywood dance break with Daniel Wahlen, Indeed Senior Director of Corporate Marketing.

Getting AI in Business to Work

“So what are the foundational principles we should focus on to create a collaborative environment around AI?” one audience member asked Dhawan. Here’s her advice:

Start any big initiative with a business problem. She recommended identifying a common problem that many can rally around, regardless of job title.

Clarify the rules and goals of the collaboration. Teams may resist if they fear new tools or process changes will threaten their team’s identity, legitimacy or autonomy. “Your job as a leader driving this initiative is to make sure, when launching this, you are reinforcing those three things first,” Dhawan said.

Break down silos by involving diverse teams. Include teams like legal and risk management from the beginning, as well as any AI enthusiasts at your company. “Who are your organizations’ AI ambassadors at all levels — across geography, titles, silos — and how are you bringing them along in your journey of launching these initiatives?” Dhawan said.

Use measurable, meaningful pilots to prove the use case to your C-suite. “What often happens is there are a lot of siloed AI pilots in different divisions where C-suite has no idea who is using AI and how,” Dhawan said. She gave an example of a financial services company that incorporated AI into fraud detection. First, the team conducted a pilot with the AI-enhanced process, then measured whether it made fraud detection faster, calculated its cost savings and brought the case to the board. “And it was through that alignment with C-suite that they were then able to create an effective, company-wide initiative,” Dhawan explained.

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Top leaders in human resources (HR) and talent attraction (TA) share insights and strategize solutions for helping all workers thrive.

How to Avoid Failure (Hint: You Can’t)

One audience member brought up the “dark side of AI,” like hallucinations and ingrained bias. “What have other companies done that failed, and what should we avoid?” they asked Dhawan.

She explained that we must make space for potential failure and growth to avoid becoming cynical. “There's a lot of cases where it doesn’t work, but that's experimentation and innovation,” she said. “There's going to be mistakes here, and that's why we need human diversity and critical thinking to ask the right questions and think in smart ways.”

Dhawan pointed out that AI’s current moment is like other transformative times in history, from the explosion of the internet to the rise of social media. “We have to remember that, whether we like it or not, this is another unstoppable force,” she said. “The more we work with it to be the sparks of this revolution, the better.”

Check out Erica Dhawan’s AI Toolkit to bring some of the most-used AI tools to your employees, plus best practices on how to launch AI pilots.

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