Linda Dulye Envisions Harmony Between Technology, Human Connection

The Blended Workplace

As companies grapple with the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) and other disruptive technologies, the conversations tend to focus on productivity and efficiency.

Linda Dulye wants companies to think about something else: the human element.

“I’ve seen it in my clients; there’s this rush, this FOMO — ‘we’ve got to get this injection of AI,’” she told BusinessWest, using the popular acronym for ‘fear of missing out.’ “This reminds me a lot of when I was working with General Electric and also AlliedSignal — when Lean and Six Sigma were unfolding, we were on the front end of it; we were the pioneers. And there was this rush.”

And her current concern surrounding AI is the same concern she had then — and has expressed with clients over the years when discussing those efficiency models — which is whether the human element is being squeezed out of the discussion.

“You can come in with all the tools, all the technology that is going to improve processes, and we’re going to take what was 10 steps down to three steps, but that can be daunting and scary for many people. So you still have to have a degree of human connection, collaboration, and communication.

“A lot of my work has been centered on, how do we get people to understand the new technology that’s coming in? Automatically there’s a barrier — ‘we’ve been doing this for 10 years; what do you mean I have to change?’”

Dulye — who launched her management consultancy, Dulye & Co., in 1998 to help business leaders and their organizations cultivate cultures where people want to stay and grow — has turned her thoughts on the coming AI revolution into a concept called the Blended Workplace, which she calls a “human-centered approach that harmonizes the benefits of advanced technology with the in-the-moment power of digital minimalism.”

In short, she said a technology-first, people-second mindset is costing companies dearly and pulling leaders away from making critical investments in human connection and communication.

“You can come in with all the tools, all the technology that is going to improve processes, and we’re going to take what was 10 steps down to three steps, but that can be daunting and scary for many people.”

“AI is essential for business success — so is human interaction,” Dulye notes on her website. “The current AI surge feels eerily similar to the Lean and Six Sigma boom. Back then, companies realized that even the most powerful productivity tools couldn’t succeed without real, person-to-person communication. The same holds true today: when workplace connections erode, so do trust and teamwork.”

In a wide-ranging conversation with BusinessWest recently, she explained that people love new bells and whistles in, say, their cars, but not so much at work.

“That’s kind of scary for many people. So that’s why I developed this concept of the Blended Workplace — it’s helping organizations understand they’ve got to devote time with human beings, helping them understanding why we’re doing this, showing them how this augments their skills and doesn’t make them obsolete.”

Linda Dulye says any process improvement has to be accompanied by human connection, collaboration, and communication.

On the contrary, the goal is to show team members how to adapt to new technology and new models and make themselves even more valuable to the company.

“That’s ultimately what we’d love to have people do. But we all don’t operate the same,” Dulye went on. “It’s not like flicking a switch and saying, ‘OK, on Monday, we’re going to be utilizing this new AI technology,’ and you’re like, ‘wait, what? What’s going on?’ We want to help people understand why we’re doing it, what it means to them in their job, and how to get comfortable with it. You have to help people.”

Change Agent

The Blended Workplace fits well with the overarching philosophy of Dulye & Co., a concept (and movement) known as the Spectator-Free Workplace, which emphasizes investments in human connection and communication in the workplace — in short, being engaged at work and not just a spectator.

Dulye’s new message with the Blended Workforce concept is underscored by a few insights:

• Employee fatigue is real. Endless screen time and nonstop notifications are burning employees out. Her company’s research shows employee engagement is steadily declining, echoing Gallup’s report of a 10-year low in 2024. Making matters worse, only 56% of employees believe their leaders genuinely care about their well-being, according to a Deloitte survey.

• Gen Z, in particular, is unplugging. The rising generation of professionals values authenticity and meaningful relationships over algorithms. CNBC reports that Gen Z craves in-person interaction — especially new graduates, who’d rather learn company norms from colleagues than scroll TikTok.

• Connection drives performance. Whether in person or with cameras on, face-to-face interaction builds trust, ignites creativity, and strengthens accountability.

One Dulye & Co. client boosted engagement and productivity by more than 50% in less than a year simply by transforming team meetings with no-frills fixes like employees helping to set agendas, tackling tough issues head-on, and recognizing peer contributions, she noted.

“We want to help people understand why we’re doing it, what it means to them in their job, and how to get comfortable with it. You have to help people.”

Meanwhile, Dulye told BusinessWest, workers from different generations have different responses to — and tolerances of — major change, especially technological change, in the workplace.

“There’s always a new wave. Do you remember when computers happened? I’m old enough to remember the pink slip. I came in my office — I was a reporter then — and saw who called, and now I had to return a call. Well, the person who wrote that doesn’t exist anymore. And neither does the pink slip.”

The idea, she went on, is that change of any kind is constant in the workplace, and in the rush to apply new tools and technologies to be more efficient, companies aren’t spending enough time on the people side to help everyone navigate change — especially dramatic change like AI, which is much more disruptive than ditching written phone messages.

“These tools are only effective when people are working collaboratively, when they understand them together,” she explained. “We all are gaining efficiencies with these new tools that help us work better together collectively, not just individually. So you’ve got to spend time as a team really figuring out, how do we work these tools into our own practices? And that involves communication between team members.”

Moreover, Dulye added, “we’ve got to understand all the different nuances that affect learning it, applying it, and feeling comfortable enough that I want to advance this; you’re going to have different roadblocks than me, just because of our experiences. But that’s the kind of discussion a team needs to do together. Leaders need to spend time helping their organizations know why we are doing this.”

Dulye said there’s an opportunity to promote this kind of conversation with Gen Z, whom many people assume want to live behind screens — a stereotype she said isn’t true. “I feel bad for this generation because they actually want more connections than maybe Boomers do or or some of Gen X.”

But connections are harder in general during the new age of remote and (more commonly) hybrid schedules, which make it more of a challenge for leaders to promote communication in the office. But she said hybrid arrangements are a net positive in many ways.

“I think the flexibility factor is strong. Unless you do a lot of work in manufacturing, or have a job where you have to physically be there — like hospitality — I think you have to have a hybrid schedule. I see models where having an in-person requirement on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is very effective.

“It’s not just getting people to come in, but being very deliberate and intentional about what we are doing to create more team-based experiences.”

“But here’s the thing,” she went on. “Just because we’re coming in doesn’t mean we’re working more collaboratively together. Just coming in doesn’t mean you and I will cross paths. So it’s not just getting people to come in, but being very deliberate and intentional about what we are doing to create more team-based experiences.”

That goes back to Dulye’s original business concept, the Spectator-Free Workplace.

“People want experiences at work that make them feel, one, I’m valued; two, I really like the team I’m with; and three, I really do like the company I work for. But it takes an experience. If you’re still operating on routines that you’ve been doing the last five years, that’s building a spectator-filled workplace. And it’s not beneficial. It’s just people coming into work, showing their faces, and really not interacting. So I’m all for the hybrid workplace — with very intentional team experiences.”

Beyond Meetings

Dulye concedes, of course, that hybrid schedules create a more challenging environment for business leaders when it comes to in-office interaction, but that it’s still possible to create a healthy, connected workplace even if employees are at home part of the time.

One strategy are team meetings where everyone is expected to contribute.

“It’s not OK to have a team meeting where three people out of 20 are talking, and everyone else just sits there doing something else, and says, ‘yeah, pass, I have nothing going on.’ Really? If you’re paying me and one week has gone by and I have no new information to contribute to my team, there’s something wrong. That’s not acceptable,” she said.

“If you’re getting together as a team once a week for 30 minutes, everyone’s got to bring something they learned, maybe something they didn’t expect that happened, maybe even just a recognition of a team member, but everyone has to contribute. You don’t get a pass.”

Getting back to communication around AI, she said some employees are worried about the implications on job security, but those concerns existed when Lean and Six Sigma came into being as well.

“People were all concerned about, ‘well, if we take 10 steps and go to five, how many jobs is that?’ So this is not new. I think people need to understand this is not a new phenomenon. People have always been fearful that technology can reduce jobs when it makes work more efficient.

“Again, it’s how do you see yourself being able to utilize that technology in a role that you still want? Or, maybe you want to think about a new role that requires skill sets you have and want to grow, but maybe isn’t as affected by AI. I mean, AI won’t affect us all at the same rate. It affects us all, but by different degrees.”