Tech is Powerful, But Useless Without Human Touch: Insights from Pro Sports

This weekend was a big one for global sports events. Wimbledon crowned its latest women’s and men’s champions on the famous Centre Court grass. Sunday also marked the final of both the men’s Copa America and Euro 2024 football tournaments in Miami and Berlin.

Yet, while Wimbledon and professional tennis have long embraced video technology to improve the fairness and accuracy of umpire decisions, soccer has faced yet another summer tournament plagued by claims that tech is ruining the sport.

What makes it more intriguing is that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system used in these competitions is based on the same technology as tennis’s Hawkeye system at Wimbledon. So why is there a divide in opinion on advancing technology in sport?

Advances in technology aren’t automatically embraced

Introducing video replays represents a seismic shift in how sport is played and consumed. But people are averse to change, in sport or otherwise. That’s never been truer as the rate of acceleration in technological advancement is outpacing our ability to make sense of how we apply such change to our lives – and whether we even want to. People focus more on the potential losses from altering the current state than on potential gains from a new one. Even tennis had teething issues with Hawkeye before it became a mainstay.

So, it’s no surprise that football is suffering from the same fate. But there’s more to it than that. Despite using the same technology, the governing football bodies are applying it in a different way, and not for the better.

Technology isn’t built for machines

By trying to eliminate human error through the hyper-digitization of different tools, we often overlook a crucial aspect: fans are humans, not machines. And we humans aren’t perfectly rational. We don’t care so much about perfect objectivity and precision. It’s not about the outcome of a more precise decision as much as it is about the process of how the technology (or the humans operating it) arrived at that point.

A set of studies by Harvard researchers Mike Norton and Ryan Buell demonstrate this neatly. Their work shows that the worth of an output relies in part on the perceived effort that goes into creating it. When you see the hard work that goes into a result, you value it more.

This is exactly where football is failing. The technology is sound. Its successful application in other sports demonstrates that. Where football authorities fall down is not allowing fans to see behind the digital curtain.

Not all decisions can be broken down into 1s and 0s

Tennis involves clear-cut decisions. A ball either is (or is not) on the white line. But subjective decisions are different. Winning over an audience with debatable outcomes is challenging.

Cricket offers a good example. During the recent Cricket World Cup in the USA and Caribbean, dialogue between on-field umpires and video reviewers was audible to those watching at home. Even when decisions were contentious, hearing the referee’s thought process added transparency. It’s the sporting equivalent of receiving marks at school for showing your work in a maths class.

Even the creator of Hawkeye, Paul Hawkins, seems to agree. “You can increase the patience of football fans in a similar way by making the VAR audible, and where possible the video replays, available in the stadiums while reviews are taking place. That would be a really big step forward for fans so you don’t feel completely in the dark”.

Embracing more technology in sport requires remembering that both the audience and the authority are human. Broadcasting the VAR conversations would not only showcase the effort behind each decision. It may also (counter-intuitively) remove referees from the media spotlight.

Beyond sport: The Future of Work

The debate over technology in sports is a microcosm of a much larger issue that applies to various fields, particularly in the realm of generative AI and the Future of Work. Technology, no matter how advanced and in the name of greater accuracy or precision, isn't always better.

We can’t just invent technology for technology’s sake because it’s deemed 'better', more efficient. It needs to serve basic human needs—needs that are ancient. There’s a piece of irony here worth stating: while technology aims to improve efficiency and precision, it often neglects the human element that is essential for true progress.

The late Steve Jobs was a chief advocate to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology, not shoehorning technology to fix a problem because it is new or impressive.?

For leaders and organizations grappling with change and transformation, it’s imperative to remember the human psychology behind these shifts. Behavioral Science and psychology are crucial in change initiatives of any kind—even those that are most technological or digitally related.

Advice for Leaders and Organizations

1.??? Prioritize Transparency: Just as football fans need to see the VAR process, employees need transparency in how decisions are made within an organization. This builds trust and reduces resistance to change.

2.??? Human-Centered Design: Ensure that new technologies serve the fundamental human needs of your team. Start with the problem and work backwards. Technology should enhance human capabilities, not replace them.

3.??? Communicate the Effort: Much like the studies by Norton and Buell, showing the effort behind decisions and changes can increase their perceived value. This can be achieved through regular updates and open communication channels.

4.??? Embrace Behavioral Science: Understanding the psychological impact of change can help leaders guide their teams through transformations more effectively. This involves recognizing loss aversion and other biases that may hinder acceptance of new technologies.

While technology can undoubtedly bring improvements, its success ultimately depends on how well it aligns with human values, needs, and experiences. Leaders must strike a balance between technological advancement and the inherent human aspects that drive true progress.