Whatif… We don’t use AI as a ‘crutch’?
Have you ever written an email, knowing you couldn’t send it? Maybe it was snarky, dismissive, passive aggressive, or even straight out aggressive. It’s often suggested as an exercise to get out frustrations before you write the “real” email when you are feeling frustrated or angry with someone (especially at work).
I’ve discovered this is a great use of AI. Give ChatGPT a prompt that asks it to keep the same basic idea but make it professional and respectful and - voila - you have an email you can actually send. You can turn this around in minutes.
ChatGPT is great at helping to tighten and tone e-mails. Most of us (I’m guessing) are using it (and other AI LLM programs) for this. But I’ve been thinking about the process of moving from that angry e-mail to the healthy e-mail, and I believe that process matters.
When I have had to sit with the angry e-mail, and actively try to wrestle it into something I can send, I learn and grow. There are a few ways that the actual process of taking the time to sit with and revise that initial e-mail that can actually force us to reckon with our own feelings and to grow from them.
Why am I feeling this way? Once I get all the words on paper, I have to read it. Ick. That alone is a hard thing to do. I have to face the fact that I can be petty. I have to face the fact that I’m feeling angry or upset. It challenges me to confront those difficult emotions. Emotions are data, and as humans we create all sorts of protective mechanisms that prevent us from actually feeling our feelings. Acknowledging them and sitting with them is an important start.
Before I start refining, I have to ask myself what the goal is with this communication. Am I just ranting because I need to get something off my chest to process it? Do I have an objective in reaching out to this person? Am I being demanding? Collaborative? How can I engage with this person in a way that will help us achieve whatever the objective is? I can’t write until I know why I’m writing.
Then I have to start revising. The actual process of thinking and rethinking about the words we use is a learning process. I have to actually think and make choices. I have to take accountability for how I am reframing the language. This typically requires a lot of revisions as I process the way I’m feeling and define the objective for the interchange.
So the actual process of working through the feelings and reshaping the goals to achieve some sort of helpful outcome is, in and of itself, a learning process. ChatGPT does a great job, and we can send an e-mail knowing it’s professional and respectful. But what about how we are feeling? Where do all the emotions go?
Another example of how ChatGPT could be so helpful while also potentially impeding our growth as humans is the creation of online courses. AI is capable of generating quick content that people can sell at scale. I’ve heard some folks talking about this recently as a way to build their brand. It makes sense in that you can quickly generate content and then use pre-existing platforms to sell the courses at scale.
When we developed the two Coursera MOOCs (Leading Teams: Developing as a Leader and Leading Teams: Building Effective Team Culture) for our graduate program (University of Illinois IDegrees Programs) back in 2022, we didn’t have the benefit of ChatGPT. And if I were to create it now, I would absolutely use ChatGPT for helping me map out the course, generating some content, and refining my ideas. I’m guessing that could have saved a lot of time, anxiety, and significant moments of doubt.
Our goal was to create a “docu-course”, bringing in many different voices to help others think about leadership and teamwork. For this, I did long-form interviews with 14 people (a variety of academics and practitioners), which we used as embedded stories and examples throughout the course.
I conducted all of those interviews in person and then decided what pieces we would use throughout the videos in the course. And for me, this was a transformational learning experience. To sit across from each of these unique individuals, to hear their stories, and to challenge myself to stay curious and ask questions that allowed them to share the most unique elements of their experience was a personal growth challenge for me. And it’s perspective that I have because I actually conducted the interviews.
Between the interviews and then scripting and recording the rest of the videos, I have to say that it was one of the most emotionally and psychologically vulnerable things I have done. It was through that vulnerability that I learned. It’s not about creating some magic content or perfect course (whatever that might be). Instead it was about the process of creating this thing and challenging myself in new ways during the process.
These AI/LLM programs are cool and exciting and have a lot of potential. They help us in new and different ways with our work and our communication. I want to continue to learn how to use them effectively and responsibly. But I also don’t want to miss out on the experience of being human, growing and learning in messy and uncomfortable ways. Whatif… we challenged ourselves to use AI/ChatGPT in ways that help us, but not as a crutch to prevent ourselves from feeling our emotions and growing as a result?