Shard #3 AI – Authentic Imperfection
Suzanne V.
Shard Nurse with a passion. Innovative academic and researcher, always looking to collaborate and captain change for consumers, colleagues and community.
From ‘Feeling like a Fake’ in Shard#2 to AI and the difficulty of knowing what is real, welcome to the next Shard.
Pre-pandemic I had the privilege of presenting at a Healthcare conference with my then Australian College of Nursing (ACN) Nursing Emerging Nurse Leader mentor. The topic was mentorship and I still remember Jason stating that my superpower was authenticity. I had never considered this to be a ‘superpower’ or anything really, I just was – who I was.
I have been pondering Artificial Intelligence a lot, especially with the new possibilities in day-to-day life. Then an inspiring presentation by colleague Taylor Berrett, AFHEA on ‘Radically Human Teaching in the Era of AI’ inspired me to explore how authentic or human I really am, at work or in private.
Artificial, enhancing, masking, faking
Did you know that artificial in the Oxford English Dictionary is defined as being man-made, a substitute made by humans? Whereas artificial intelligence is the ability of machines 'to simulate intelligent behaviour'. Progressively content ‘created’ by generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT for writing and DALL-E for images is presented alongside human output, and it is becoming more and more difficult to discern what is original human creation or what is machine-made. Even family photos are now edited to have all the heads aligned. I admit, I use spell checkers, calculators, Zoom filters (it does soften features ??), occasionally make-up and nail polish, and other enhancements. Is there a difference, am I not being hypocritical?
So, what is authentic? I found that there is an Authenticity Scale developed by Wood et al. (2008), and it is not the only one. They start their paper with a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, ‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou cans’t not be false to any man’.
Well-being appears to be linked to authenticity, alongside integrity and honesty which all makes sense considering what Shakespeare wrote so long ago. A different paper by Ostermeier et al. (2022) 'Can I be Me with You at Work?' looks at relational authenticity at work and if this influences workplace behaviour.
Well, now I have some evidence that authenticity positively influences work culture. Being genuine and feeling authentic leads to more engagement and what the researchers call ‘sportsmanship behaviour’.? There we have it. If we can be ourselves, we thrive, and our environment improves.
But am I good enough to be myself?
AI - Authentic Imperfection
I was recently told at work to be less enthusiastic. An interesting comment, and out of context it appears to be negative. However, it was well meant and for that situation it was appropriate. But how do I get to be ‘less’ enthusiastic? Yes, I need to work on myself daily, grow, develop… but I cannot rid myself of what makes me ‘me’. I know I take on too much, I have too many ideas, and I want to do many things, but this also leads to great things, innovations, change, and support for others. Being me is being imperfect.
When I try to be as calm as my office buddy, or as softly spoken as my colleague it feels artificial to me and it does not last long. My soccer team called me effervescent, something like those bubbly tablets that dissolve in water.
So that is me: effervescent, enthusiastic, and authentic in my imperfection! ?
What is your authentic self? Can you bring your whole self to work, sports, clubs, family gatherings? I challenge you to be 'you' - authentically imperfect!
Suzanne The Shard Nurse
#NursesWhereYouNeedThem #NursesNurtureTheirYoung #TheShardNurse
Check this out:
This is the reference to the above link. The second article is not easy to read (well, for me it was not), but for those who want to dig deep into this topic.
Ostermeier, K., Medina-Craven, M. N., Camp, K. M., & Davis, S. E. (2022). Can I Be Me With You at Work? Examining Relational Authenticity and Discretionary Behaviors in the Workplace.?The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science,?58(2), 316-345.?https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886320976627
Wood, A. M., Linley, P. A., Maltby, J., Baliousis, M., & Joseph, S. (2008). The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale.Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(3), 385–399. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385
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#nurseswhereyouneedthem
11 个月What a great exploration of being “me” and the translation of “me” at work. What we know in our hearts to be true. ??
Educator | Writer | Songwriter | Research Student
12 个月Absolutely love this, Suzanne! (And not just because I got a mention it it — thank you by the way!) I particularly connected with the section on you being told to be "less enthusiastic." I've had similar experiences throughout my life and career, and I think it's such an interesting societal quirk that from roughly when we arrive in high school the world either explicitly or implicitly tells us to dull down our outward enthusiasm, to become stoic, detached, etc. Whether it's in the service of the vague concept of "cool" or the idea that Grown-Up Adult Professionals shouldn't be bubbly and excitable, we all seem to want to dull down the wacky, quirky bits of ourselves and the people around us. Over the last year I've decided to stage an enthusiasm rebellion. I'm going to keep being manically excitable, because it's who and how I want to be.