Your humanity is showing
Chris Karnes has written multiple chatbot scripts, including one for a chatbot that's still in use on 1,000 apartment community websites. The day I was supposed to interview him, he needed to reschedule our call and he was open about why: His kids were home from school for a snow day. I was more than happy to oblige, no problem. If he were subscribing to a more conservative model of professional engagement, out of fear of judgment he might have been vague or offered a fake excuse like the need to go to the doctor. But Karnes believes it’s easier to foster connections by being real with people. “Instead of trying to hide our humanity in the workplace, just being more open and transparent about, yes, we are all people with lives happening.”
Karnes says, “People, just like bots, need to be more forthright in what they are and what their intentions are.” So, when he and his team are designing a new bot, they “always start with this concept that you need to let people know up front what they're dealing with.” This type of transparency between people can also be instrumental in more effective engagement.
As an example, Karnes points out that when he’s asking the smart speaker in his kitchen a question, he knows he needs to adhere to certain parameters and format the question accordingly. When you and your co-workers are transparent with each other about parameters, it allows for a more direct connection. So, if you’re a parent who needs to pick your child up from school, it’s okay to share that information in an afternoon meeting, so people can be chill about you not being able to stay if the meeting runs long. Or if your co-worker finds they get overwhelmed if they check Slack first thing in the morning, they can establish the parameters that they’ll respond to all Slack messages after 10 AM, but colleagues can text them if something urgent goes down.