What is the role of AI in improving our work-life balance?
This week's topic: We cover how a shift to outcome based performance leveraging AI could change the game for our workforces.
"You know what the biggest problem with pushing all things AI is? Wrong direction. I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes."
Joanna Maciejewska
Highlights This Week
Key Insight: Joanna Maciejewska argues for AI to free us from mundane tasks, not creative ones.
Debate Question: Should AI help us reduce work hours or simply make us more efficient?
Actionable Tip: Consider shifting focus from time-based to outcome-based work for better balance.
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, it changes our work environments, promising greater efficiency and productivity.
Joanna Maciejewska highlights the importance of directing AI towards freeing up time for creative pursuits rather than increasing work demands.
Should AI help us focus on more meaningful activities by taking over mundane tasks, or will we work more efficiently without reducing our hours?
This week, we explore how AI could help reshape our work-life balance and whether we should shift towards outcome-based expectations.
The Current Landscape
Despite all the innovation focused on productivity in the last 10+ years, many people still work well over 40-hour weeks.
As we all know, AI can automate routine tasks like scheduling and data management.
Depending on what you do for your day-to-day job, the benefits could help free up time for more strategic and creative work.
However, as more and more companies implement tools that tap into “AI,” these gains in efficiency are also leading to increased expectations instead of lighter workloads.
Outcome-Based Expectations
Maciejewska's quote encourages us to rethink AI's role.
For many of us - and if you’re not there yet, you will someday - the realization of how important prioritizing our time effectively is.
With AI handling continuing to handle more mundane tasks, we can have an opportunity to shift from time-based work to outcome-based work.
If you’re interested in learning about outcome-based work, check out this video:
Making a change, such as moving to outcome-based work, means focusing on the quality and impact of our work rather than the hours spent on it.
This shift can promote a healthier work-life balance, where success is measured by results rather than time.
Consider a marketing team using AI tools to automate data analysis and campaign scheduling.
Instead of measuring success by the hours spent on these tasks, the team focuses on achieving specific goals, such as increasing website traffic by 20% or boosting engagement on social media.
This shift allows team members to invest more time in creative strategy and content creation, ultimately leading to more innovative and effective marketing campaigns.
Cultural and Organizational Change
So why should companies change the landscape and way of working?
We know this type of change would be incredibly disruptive for most.
However, as company leaders become more knowledgeable about these ways of working, perhaps making the case for change will become easier.
Companies can benefit from a cultural shift toward prioritizing well-being, which leads to a more engaged and productive workforce.
Happier employees tend to be more creative, resilient, and loyal, which improves retention and reduces turnover costs.
Focusing on outcomes rather than hours worked fosters innovation and better performance, benefiting the company's bottom line.
This approach creates a positive work environment, aligning employee satisfaction with business success, making it a win-win for the organization and its employees.
Final Thoughts
AI offers a transformative opportunity to rethink how we approach work.
By automating mundane tasks, we can reclaim time for creative and meaningful activities.
Embracing outcome-based work allows for a healthier balance, aligning employee satisfaction with business success.
How do you envision AI shaping your work-life balance? What challenges do you think we might face in making this shift?
Leave a comment and let us know.
Thank you for reading on Substack, and be sure to connect with us on LinkedIn.
Mike