We recently watched a TV show titled “Humans.” Set in a dystopian future, it portrays a scarily realistic time when we own incredibly life-like human robots that take care of our everyday chores. Based on the leaps and bounds of artificial intelligence, I can see these days ahead of us.
I was explaining the show to a younger friend by the name of Christian, highlighting how the only way to tell the difference between real humans and the ‘synths’ (short for synthetics) was their emotionless, disengaged facial expressions.
I laughed out loud when Christian, many years my junior, said, “Oh, they sound just like NPCs.” He went on to explain to me — an uninitiated non-gamer — that an “NPC” is a “non-playable character” in a video game. He expounded by telling me that such characters look human but aren’t; they’re simply hollow characters who add little value other than serving as scenery.
The concept of NPCs and Synths rattled around my brain for a few days, and it got me thinking about how there are people in the workplace who are just like them. Employees who are there, but not really there. Workers who turn up, but don’t really show up.
If I’ve learned anything about human performance, especially in the workplace, it’s that all organizations are actually volunteer organizations — because people choose how much of themselves to give. Human beings (unlike NPCs and Synths) are four-dimensional: body, heart, mind and soul.
The physical body will turn up for work — even the most laid-back work cultures will eventually let go of those who don’t turn up. And yet, even if someone does turn up for work, I’ve observed that the other three dimensions of the human being are strictly voluntary: the heart, the mind and the soul.
We’ve all suffered from a lack of service from those who show no heart — no passion for their work. Their name badge may ask, “How Can I Help?” but their face certainly doesn’t. We’ve all been frustrated by a co-worker who does the bare minimum and leaves everything to the last minute, seemingly forgetting that their indifferent attitude can cause negative ramifications for the other interdependent parts of the workflow chain.
The dimension of the human mind is the contribution of ideas — to ask: “How could this product, process, or service be improved for my customer or co-worker?” NPCs and Synths don’t think about such things, and my observation has been that most employees don’t think much about thinking about work.
The soul shows up in the workplace by addressing the cerebral question: “What legacy shall I leave, and how can I make a difference here?” Whereas an NPC or a Synth is powered up by plugging in, a human being firing on all four cylinders (body, heart, mind and soul) gets regenerated and re-enthused by considering how their work matters and how they will be remembered when they choose to move on.
I do foresee a future where robots will do so much of what we currently do for ourselves. But what I don’t see the NPCs or the Synths ever being able to replace is the human part of being, well, human — whether at home or in the workplace.
Technology will continue to change how we work, but what I believe will remain is our willingness to be led by those who love what they do. I still believe in our innate desire to put the proverbial shoulder to the plow (the body) alongside teams that show passion (the heart), contribute innovative ideas (the mind), and want to look back on our work well done (the soul).
One of the wonderful aspects of humanity, regardless of the number of years we’ve lived, is our ability to affect our future by changing our present — we haven’t been programmed in the past to just keep operating soullessly in a perpetual present. We can change the program. So, let’s all turn up and show up to our work as if we mean it — whether we’re W2s, business owners, or retired volunteers. Let’s really mean it, and show those NPCs and Synths who’s boss.
Paul Butler is a Santa Clarita resident and a client partner with Newleaf Training and Development of Valencia (newleaftd.com). For questions or comments, email Butler at [email protected].
