Creative Tension: Exploring Workplace Conflict In The Age Of AI

Psychotherapist and Mediator // CHRIS WAKE

Coworkers sometimes get tired, fed up, and fall out with each other. Does AI offer a remedy to all of this? And is a workplace without human disagreement really what we want? Psychotherapist and Mediator CHRIS WAKE explores.

Amongst purpose-led organisations, AI is already having a profound impact on how we work. 76% of UK charities are now routinely using AI (up from 61% last year), across business areas from fundraising to communications to project management.

In the world of coaching and therapy, millions of people are turning to AI. A recent study from Australia found that 28% of respondents use AI for quick support and as a personal therapist. Another study found that 34% of Americans would be comfortable sharing their mental health concerns with an AI chatbot rather than a human therapist. This figure jumped to 55% for 18-29 year olds.

Changes to how we work are only going to accelerate as AI advances. The International Monetary Fund says that 40% of global employment is exposed to AI (60% in advanced economies and 26% in low income countries), with roughly half of jobs potentially benefitting from AI integration and half at risk from it. Ford CEO Jim Farley put it starkly earlier this year: “AI is gonna replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.”

The role of AI in supporting people’s mental health may change profoundly too. In an interview in May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made headlines when he envisaged AI friends and therapists as a cure for today’s loneliness epidemic. The desirability of this is hotly debated – but the offer from AI to augment human connection is only going to get louder.

What AI can’t do – but people can

For an organisation like ours, this raises some profound, existential questions. Does a workplace really need people to thrive? Twenty years from now, what role will people play alongside AI in a healthy organisation?

In the corporate sector, some envisage that people could become superfluous to requirements. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently predicted that, “We’re going to see 10-person companies with billion-dollar valuations pretty soon… a one-person billion-dollar company… would’ve been unimaginable without AI. And now [it] will happen.”

Whilst purpose-led organisations are not driven by a profit motive in the same way, it’s easy to understand the attractiveness of outsourcing a range of roles to AI. After all, AI has unsurpassable knowledge, is much cheaper than hiring people, doesn’t get stressed or tired, doesn’t fall out with colleagues or have an ego, and will never need to take a holiday or retire.

But before we get too apocalyptic, it’s also worth remembering all the things that people do that AI can’t. As the author Pierre du Plessis said in his talk AI&I, people feel. We have lived experiences and carry the imprint and meaning of our memories, both joyful, painful and traumatic. We know what it means to have needs, to have faith or identify with a culture, to live in families and communities, to experience loss and live in a human body.

This means that there are many vital roles that people play in organisations that AI can’t. Only people can empathise with clients and end users. Only people can create ideas from their experiences and memories. And despite the debate in this area, we believe that there is something uniquely precious about human relationships. Kim Samuel from the University of Oxford is an expert in this area. She says: “Connection is what makes us human, and despite Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm, there’s clear evidence that real human interaction can’t be replaced by machines.”

Collaboration and conflict

Why do human relationships matter in good organisations? In our experience at Thrive, they can foster a sense of belonging at work, and they help each person to grow. They are integral to good collaboration, where different people bring rich and diverse talents to attain a shared vision.

But where there is collaboration, conflict often follows. Conflict can be an important part of collaboration and something which sets us apart from AI. Whilst AI can debate and disagree, only humans have emotions and personal experiences linked to our ideas – skin in the game. When harnessed in healthy ways, conflict between people with diverse experiences can maximise problem solving and creativity.

Of course, the flip side of our capacity as humans to have constructive relationships – is our propensity for them to also go wrong. Where relationships in organisations become damaged then it creates real problems – both for individuals and the organisation as a whole. In 2018-19, one UK study found that nearly a quarter of respondents experienced an ongoing difficult relationship at work. Of those, 40% reported lower motivation levels and 56% reported stress, anxiety and/or depression. Unsurprisingly, the benefits of collaborative relationships in these kinds of situations can be lost, and toxic relationships can impede creativity and productivity.

Our new mediation service

Whatever AI brings, healthy human relationships will remain integral to what makes an organisation thrive. We also recognise that in high pressure contexts, relationships are more under strain and damaging conflicts are more likely.

That’s why Thrive recently launched a workplace mediation service. It aims to help organisations address damaging conflict between team members and restore working relationships. Evidence shows that mediation is effective. In the study mentioned above, nearly three-quarters of those who participated in mediation reported that their conflict had been fully or largely resolved.

Our experience points to four key lessons when considering mediation:

• Intervene early. Mediation tends to be more effective earlier on in the conflict cycle. It can be more difficult to achieve results once the conflict becomes entrenched or is taken over by other HR procedures.

• Consider an external mediator. Sometimes, conflicts can be effectively mediated in-house. But when emotions run high, when participants struggle to be vulnerable, or when the mediator has a perceived stake in the conflict – using an external, neutral mediator can help.

• When mediation isn’t viable – consider conflict navigation support. Sometimes one or both parties aren’t willing to proceed with mediation. In these cases another option is Thrive’s conflict navigation support, where a trained conflict navigator works with an individual to help them to gain insight into the conflict and develop strategies to respond constructively.

• Finally, don’t lose hope! Work conflicts often seem unresolvable. But in our experience, people often go into mediation with low expectations and then end up being surprised at the transformation that is possible.

Want to explore mediation with Chris and our expert accredited team? Learn more and get in touch here.