Do Not Sell Your Organization’s Soul to Technology

The best organizations have something that sets them apart from their competitors. Something that is so important to what the organization is that it would be hard to think of the organization the same way without it. We can think of this thing as the organization’s soul, and it must be fiercely guarded from opposing technologies.

13 March 2024

Organizations have souls, or at least the best ones do.

An organization’s soul is the thing that differentiates it from all of the other organizations providing the same products and services. It is what makes the organization and its products and services special and desirable. It is the thing that if lost, the organization ceases to be what it is.

Harley Davidson’s soul is its cool and rebellious image. The Ritz Carlton’s soul is its superior customer service. Volvo’s soul is its commitment to safety and understated luxury.

Losing its soul typically devastates an organization. Think about what would happen if The Ritz Carlton lost its focus on customer service. Would customers still flock to its hotels and resorts? Would it still be thought of as the same The Ritz Carlton that it is today? What about Harley Davidson or Volvo? Would Harley still be Harley if it came to represent conformity? Would Volvo still be Volvo if its cars became garish and unsafe?

While an organization’s soul is critical to its long-term success and even survival, many organizations do not think much about it when considering the implementation of new technology. This is unfortunate because technology can have a profound impact on an organization’s soul.

Let’s return to the example of The Ritz Carlton. As was mentioned above, its soul is its level of customer service. The Ritz Carlton is legendary for going above and beyond to delight its customers with exceptionally high levels of service. It could change a lot of things and remain The Ritz Carlton, but it could not decrease its level of customer service and continue to be seen as the same organization.

The heart of The Ritz Carlton’s exceptional customer service is its people and their relationships with customers. So what would happen if The Ritz Carlton decided to implement customer-facing automation technologies? Such technologies could probably save The Ritz Carlton substantial labor costs. But what would the cost be to the organization’s soul? How would The Ritz Carlton’s customers react if, for example, calls to the front desk or concierge started being answered by an automated phone service instead of an exceptionally professional staff member? Would The Ritz Carlton still be The Ritz Carlton, or would it just be one more expensive hotel chain?

The Ritz Carlton losing its legendary reputation for customer service as the result of implementing customer-facing automation is an extreme example of how the wrong technology can destroy an organization’s soul. And it is unlikely this will ever happen at The Ritz Carlton because its leaders and staff understand the value of their organization’s reputation for customer service and will go to great lengths to protect it.

Unfortunately, the leaders and staff of other organizations are not always as protective of what makes their organization special as the staff and leaders of The Ritz Carlton. This can result in these organizations implementing technologies that trade modest short-term efficiency gains for substantial long-term damage to their soul.

Most organizations do not lose their soul as a result of one large change. Instead, it happens slowly as the result of a series of several seemingly insignificant changes. For this reason, it is essential that organizations evaluate every potential technology change against its potential impact on the organization’s soul. To do this, organizational leaders need to clearly understand what it is, or what they want it to be, that differentiates them from their competitors. That is to say, they need to know what it is that is their organization’s soul. Once this is known, organizational leaders need to make assessing the impact on the organization’s soul a mandatory part of the evaluation process for every new technology and fiercely guard against the introduction of any technology that will damage what makes the organization what it is.

The best organizations have souls that differentiate them from their competitors. And the leaders of these organizations understand what the soul of their organization is and defend it against damage from new technology. What about you? Do you know what your organization’s soul is? Will you protect it against damage?