Why I choose to remain clumsy in an age of convenience

Generative AI has started to be used quite a bit in the workplace.
How people use it varies, and there are even some people who can tell the moment they see a document,
'This is AI!' (laughs)

Using AI well makes things efficient and fast, so it's usually obvious that you should use it,
but there were times I felt a bit like, 'Is that really okay?'

At my workplace, it's just about time to evaluate the members.

The evaluation sheet is something where the individual first writes a self-evaluation based on the goals and plans set at the beginning of the term,
and then the supervisor writes scores and comments on it; I think it's a common system in many companies.

But this is surprisingly tough.

Writing comments for 25 people doesn't end in a single day.
If you do it over several days, the tone and level of detail in the writing subtly change depending on your mood or how tired you are that day.

Moreover, among the members,
there are people who compare it with 'what was written last year'.

Therefore, I also have to consider consistency with last year.

I always used to make a list with members vertically and past comments horizontally,
and draft them so the tone wouldn't waver.

Five to six comments per person.
I usually did it at night, when there were fewer people around, using quite a lot of time and energy.

Since I'm no longer in a management position this year,
I've been freed from writing evaluation comments for subordinates.

Instead, as I watched the current managers writing comments in the gaps of their busy schedules,
feeling a bit detached thinking, 'That must be tough...',

this thought suddenly occurred to me.

--Wouldn't they want to have AI draft this?

If you feed it last year's comments and this year's self-evaluation,
it seems like it could churn out a plausible-looking text all at once!!

If I were doing it again this year, I might use it.
Honestly, that's what I thought.

I'm busy, and I don't have time.
If possible, I want to make things even a little easier.

But at the same time,
this feeling also welled up.

What if I were the one being evaluated?

If I received a generic, seen-it-somewhere-before text in response to the self-evaluation I wrote with all my heart...

How would I feel at that moment?

Would I think, "Well, it can't be helped"? Or would I feel a little lonely...

Curious, I casually asked
Department Manager S and Department Manager A about it.

"Don't you want to use AI?"

The answer that came back was,
"I want to use it, but I haven't yet."

On the other hand, among subordinates,
it seems self-evaluations that are clearly written by AI are on the rise.

They have strange Japanese phrasing or are oddly too polished.

Well, it's convenient! I can understand why that happens.

Before long,
AI might automatically write self-evaluations, and another AI might evaluate them as a manager.
Perhaps an era where that is the norm will arrive.

In terms of efficiency,
using AI is a perfectly normal choice.

If you only leave the drafting of comments for subordinates to AI,
and polish them with your own words at the end,
there shouldn't be any problem.

But, this is what concerns me.

When you are more tired than you expected.
When you are pressed for time due to deadlines.
When you have lost your composure for various reasons.

Even then,
can you remain "a person who truly faces their subordinates"?

Even if you are fine at first,
won't you gradually leave everything to AI?
Won't you end up saying "Oh, whatever!"?

The time spent writing evaluation comments is,
admittedly, a hassle.

Honestly, there were days I didn't want to do it.

But, while writing,
I asked myself many times.

Have I really been watching this person?
Am I not judging them based on assumptions?
Because the subordinate is being careless, am I just drifting toward the easy path of being careless myself?

The time spent writing evaluations is
a time to look at subordinates anew, and
at the same time, I feel it was also a "time to look at myself".

In the end, what is being questioned is not
the superficial topic of how to use AI.

It is about something much deeper.

For myself,
what kind of attitude do I want to have when interacting with others?.
What kind of work do I want to do?.
What kind of boss do I want to be?.

To put it another way,

what kind of person do I want to be?.

Do you choose sincerity over efficiency?
Do you choose personal conviction over how others evaluate you?
Do you choose to face things properly rather than taking the easy way out?

Those small choices
shape who you are.

Perhaps the people who are called 'highly capable' these days are those who don't think about or struggle with such things,
and instead use AI to get things done efficiently and smoothly without others noticing.

If that is how you want to be, then that is fine.

However,

if you read this article,
and paused for even a single moment,

Ipresumptuously feel that you are a kindred spirit worth cherishing.

How do you
want to engage with AI?

And—
what kind of person do you want to be?

See you later!

I've been doing this lately!

https://www.street-academy.com/myclass/207720