As our world, and especially our workplaces, become increasingly automated it’s important to remember that people don’t operate like bits and bytes. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are being trained and conditioned by the speed and capabilities of the technology around us. This includes the technology we control and the technology that controls us. Some of us spend more time actually interacting with a keyboard and an LCD than we do with a flesh and blood human being. An unintended consequence is that our expectations about how people should “operate” can be affected as we become programmed by the performance we get from our laptops or cell phones.

With a few exceptions, technology usually works as advertised. When it doesn’t, it might require an upgrade or replacement. We learn, often through trial and error, what keys to press and what commands to give to get the results we want. Each time I sit in front of my laptop and click the Word icon, it loads and I can create a document the same way I did yesterday or last week. Once I learn how to operate the “program” it may not work as intuitively as I would like, but it does respond consistently. There can be a downside. How often do interpersonal problems occur because we unconsciously expect that our co-worker, our boss, a friend, or family member will respond as consistently as the technology we use? When they don’t, we devalue them.

People are “buggy” software. Dealing with them is often unpredictable and even messy. One day they are in a positive mood, another day they are not. One hour they are incredibly productive, the next they are staring out the window. As skilled as some of us may be in operating and even programming our computers and cell phones, we ourselves are buggy. We have moods, with different abilities to communicate that other people have to respond and adapt to.

The lesson for leaders is to remember that managing people is not the same as managing an Outlook calendar. A lot more patience and flexibility is required to prevent constant frustration that will spill over to people around them. This frustration can contribute to dysfunction in the workplace. I am not suggesting that standards be lowered. I am suggesting that we recognize the benefits of each of the resources we work with, particularly the human variety. Focus on how to maximize all resources, as well as accept their limitations. Let’s remember that even when people meander, a big advantage they can have over technology is their problem solving ability, judgment and creativity. When people feel valued they can apply those abilities and deal with ambiguity, particularly during challenging and uncertain times like these. Computers can’t. At least not yet.