Integrate, Elevate, Celebrate!

I had the opportunity and pleasure to be invited to present at various industry events during the first half of 2023. Therefore I felt like sharing a few points I captured during discussions with speakers, attendees and sponsors while focusing on the created or expected value for the business. Some topics were just emerging while some other topics were in the minds, hearts and hands of nearly everyone. All were somehow impacting people across functions and disciplines as well as business processes and technology solutions. To be continued…

Topic 2 - AI-driven supply chains need more than people-enabled workflows. Turn necessary enablement into value-creating engagement.

People are the most important asset of any business. No need to question this. Even in the age of AI augmentation and enrichment. Even less now actually. People make an impression, an impact and an imprint. What do they need to perform? A motivating human and technology environment to meet expectations and go above and beyond whenever they can.

This is where these precious people may get various experiences. If they are considered to deliver a business service they should be enabled accordingly. In the language services industry some people still feel plugged to the content supply chains intermittently. Some may even feel disconnected from the business they are in because they are not well connected to the other contributors to these supply chains. I have heard people share their concerns or their frustration coming from a lack of timely and holistic enablement. They were either on the buyer side - in internal language services teams - or on the supplier side - in language services suppliers. From my own experience I know enablement may not cut it. It is a baseline to keep operations running. I would rather talk about engagement in order to create or increase value.

While engagement means different things to different people I advise defining and implementing it from three angles.

1. Integration is the first step towards engagement. People should be embedded as much as possible in the content supply chains that create the experience(s) required by customers. It has to be considered upfront to be achieved timely. It has to lead to continued collaboration between teams and individuals involved in and therefore responsible for the successful final delivery
2. Elevation is a good way to solidify and sustain integration. More often than not it means giving opportunities to teams and individuals to go above and beyond. Not only by pushing them relentlessly to do more with less. By showing them options to work smarter while meeting requirements or raising the bar of personal development. In both cases they feel recognized for what they do, can do and want to do
3. Celebration allows recognizing the efforts and the attitude to be integrated and elevated. It is a reward for people who know how to do and to be. It is when people truly feel valued as profit drivers and business partners.  

Engagement has another name. It can be called value-driven enablement. It is even more crucial and challenging now as a number of people are wondering or worried about how they create value with more automation and interaction with machine intelligence, today and in the future. 

Engagement is an incentive to stand out. It may also be a painkiller for those who are stressed by their potential replacement with machines as it shows them a way to prove - to themselves too - they can cope with change and transform challenges into opportunities.

The difference between involvement and engagement is like the difference between a “normal” bike and an “electric” bike. The first one makes you move but the second one makes you move faster and further.

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