How To Build Your Team With Autonomous Humans, Not Just Autonomous Systems

Eric Francia, co-founder and CEO of Stockholm-based Uniplay, says companies need autonomous humans who can direct autonomous systems. In Crunchbase News's report, the six-time founder describes how leaders should hire and manage the smaller teams that direct those systems. Uniplay, his sixth company, is an agent-driven, game-based learning platform. He has built, exited and scaled digital companies across 70 countries.

This piece is for founders and leaders who staff the small teams that direct AI systems. It sets out Francia's case for hiring curious people, giving them real responsibility, and treating boredom as a retention risk as companies become smaller. He writes for the manager who has to answer a junior employee questioning a long-standing practice, and for operators who need people they trust to make decisions when they are not in the room.

To Build Your Team With Autonomous Humans: what actually changed

Autonomous systems are changing the way people work, Francia writes. AI has made knowledge accessible on a scale never seen before, so companies are becoming leaner and operating faster. What once took a large team months to do can now be done by a handful of people in a few days. In the small and dynamic teams of the future, choosing the right humans to direct those AI systems will become make or break for a company. He calls the humans in that role autonomous humans.

Job roles are changing at the same pace. A job description can be totally different from the one advertised by the time a candidate is found, and a six-month roadmap is outdated by the time it has been drawn up. The World Economic Forum has stated that 59% of employees will need to reskill by 2030 as AI reshapes the workplace. Hiring for a fixed set of skills will not move the needle, Francia writes. The people worth investing in are those able to learn what comes next.

To Build Your Team With Autonomous Humans: how it works

Francia's name for the approach is "AI by design." He writes that it means building the right autonomous systems and creating autonomous humans. "You need to trust the human in the loop as much as you do the technology." The team around a leader shapes the company in ways the leader cannot control, so he says it is critical to success to keep people who can make decisions when the founder is not in the room. Employees with autonomy, he adds, operate faster.

"Curiosity is the best trait you can hire for," Francia writes. On a CV he looks past experience and academic credentials to what people have built on the side and what they have made on their own initiative. Hire for curiosity, he says, and people will throw new ideas around and challenge outdated ways of doing things. "If your team is worried about saying the wrong thing, they won't end up saying the right thing either." He tells leaders to let those employees pursue new ideas and reinvent things.

To Build Your Team With Autonomous Humans: why it matters now

As companies become smaller, employee retention is more important than ever, Francia writes, because losing the best people is costlier when there are fewer of them to begin with. The effects of a bored employee surface quickly in a small team. Boredom makes talented people a little bit slower, and a lot less likely to try the difficult thing. The challenge for modern leaders is keeping the team engaged and interested. A bored employee is more likely to be swayed by a flattering LinkedIn recruiter.

In a world where technology is turning everything on its head, the companies that will thrive, he writes, are the ones with curious people who are able to adapt to change quickly. Employees with real responsibility make better decisions because company vision is not abstract to the people asked to drive it. Being involved in strategic direction stitches an employee into the fabric of the company and keeps them engaged. He says leaders should trust employees to know what is not working.

To Build Your Team With Autonomous Humans: who is affected

Francia aims the argument at founders and at leaders who decide what happens when a junior employee questions the way something has always been done. He asks whether that leader rolls their eyes and dismisses the comments as naivety, or indulges the curiosity. The team he wants questions orders as much as it obeys them. Those are also the people he says must carry decisions when the founder is not in the room. The 59% of employees who will need to reskill by 2030 are the wider group in his argument.

People closer to the product are likely to spot potential problems before a leader does, Francia writes, and they need the autonomy to try to fix those problems before the problems take hold. Hiring managers should notice what a candidate has built on the side and made on their own initiative. The people worth investing in, he says, are those able to learn what comes next. That group includes employees who will need new skills as roles change, and the junior person who challenges a standing method.

To Build Your Team With Autonomous Humans: what to watch

Boredom is a big business risk once a team is already small, Francia writes. The effects surface quickly: talented people become a little bit slower, and a lot less likely to try the difficult thing. He tells leaders to invest in development, keep the team learning, and always encourage curiosity. Give people autonomy and responsibility from the beginning, he writes, and boredom has nowhere to take hold. The mentality of risk, and the drive to challenge something outdated, is what he says a company needs in a changing work environment.

"Dare to be a beginner, and teach your team to do the same," Francia writes. As a six-time founder with experience building, exiting and scaling digital companies across 70 countries, he says the best workplaces are the ones where questioning things is the norm. He wants leaders to indulge a junior employee's curiosity instead of dismissing the comments as naivety. That junior employee questioning how things have always been done, he writes, could be the most valuable person in the room.