How to get your team to embrace automation

Recently, Chipotle introduced Chippy, an artificial intelligence-powered tortilla chip maker.?Pretty cool!

Now, a lot of executives understand the benefits of it, but what about the front-line employees?

I saw quotes such as

“This partnership will allow us to move into new territory to help improve back-of-house functions and assist team members with their day-to-day responsibilities.”

“Our goal is to drive efficiencies through collaborative robotics that will enable Chipotle’s crew members to focus on other tasks in the restaurant.”

Reduce human error, increase efficiency, improve the quality of work, blah blah blah

Let’s flip this to the tech world.

Has anyone taken a moment to think about your engineers when you introduce automation to them?

When there is a change, especially a cultural change, there is going to be backlash.?You are asking people to change their day.?Their habits and routine.?Change is uncomfortable for most people.

But in order to protect their future and yours, the culture has to change…

So, what do we do?

• In short, do it over time and ease into it.?
• Communicate with everyone both in a group as well as one on one.
• It is a little bit of a carrot and a stick.

The conversation can go something like this

Hey super awesome engineer.?You remember that really hard, super elite certification you were working so hard on??Remember all of the high-level engineering value and knowledge you gained while studying and preparing for it??What if you could learn more of that instead of focusing most of your day on the command line interface??What if you could get away from doing everything the manual way??As time goes on there will be less room for it almost to the point where it becomes obsolete.?What if you were compensated differently and more for learning and applying automation? Yes, it is a bit of a shock, I get it, but what if we just started with Python and Ansible??I know you may be feeling upset and resistance, but what if I told you that with these skills you will be even more valuable to the organization and we will continue to invest in you both with compensation and training.?Worth a shot?

The ugly truth

The truth is that each of your engineers should interview outside of your company for a role they currently have or a role they would like to promote into.?Only then will they understand the ugly truth about what skills are in demand, where they are falling behind and what employers are looking for.?It’s tough to find the unique skill set that combines domain knowledge with automation.?

And engineers, if your employer is not offering training, figure it out on your own, on your own time and look for a better opportunity.

I always told this to my team, the skills and certifications you earn are yours.?They will follow you wherever you go in the future, why not invest in yourselves.?Adding these to your resume and LinkedIn will have others seeking you out! What a great feeling ??

What’s in it for the business?

Let’s be real.?With remote work people can work anywhere across the world.?That means offers and opportunities are coming from every corner of the country and world.

If you are falling behind with technology, you are restricting the talent you can attract.?Remember iron sharpens iron and engineers want to work for a forward-thinking technology company surrounded by top notch talent.

In order to attract and retain this talent you are going to have to compensate them differently and more.?Offer them training! They won’t leave if you invest in them.?To keep them, pay them only if they are putting in the work and growing their skills.?

Automation and cross-training are required for advancement, promotion and bonuses.

Your business will be more competitive.

Education has to be a part of the culture.?Time must be allotted each week for learning.?It is so inexpensive these days for employers to provide this to them.?Engineers must feel comfortable and it is silly to lose one because of it.

It is a business facilitator. ?

It is an investment that provides an automated infrastructure and without it, reduces your ability to be competitive in the market place.

In order to compete you will have to provide the most value to your customers. Automation gives you that advantage.

Who starts the conversation?

As a manager or leader, communicate this upwards. ?Look at your corporate high-level strategic objectives.?Can you align training to any of these objections? You’ll have a better chance of making your point and getting funding.

It is simple and it can be easy.?Just be a human about it.