I’m noticing a strange paradox emerging inside the companies that I work with and speak to right now.
AI tools are becoming more powerful whilst teams are finally understanding how to get the most out of them. Automation is reshaping roles, responsibilities and expectations of what’s possible. Whilst I believe that such statistics are often inflated, McKinsey reports that 60-70% of work activities could be automated by current technologies.
The thing is, instead of making things easier for leaders, I’m noticing that it’s actually making things harder.
Instead of reducing the number of challenges that managers face, AI has created more of them. From the teams and leaders who I’ve spoken with, AI has created:
- More uncertainty about the future of the workplace and industry.
- More questions from teams on what is (and isn’t) appropriate to automate.
- More expectation to be seen at the cutting edge of AI and leading the way.
And the more automation that enters the workplace, the more teams realise something important: AI can replace tasks, but it can’t replace trust, judgement or human leadership.
AI also doesn’t help when something goes wrong and your team looks at you for reassurance that you’ll get through it.
Don’t get me wrong, I think that AI has the potential to have a hugely positive impact on our companies, roles and lives (even if I do believe that a lot of it is overhyped right now).
But the more automation we gain, the more human leadership and connections that we need.
Let’s break down why this is the case and how you can position yourself as the kind of leader who thrives in an AI-driven workplace.
Why the demand for effective leadership is growing
AI is amazing at completing tasks such as:
- Summarising content.
- Generating reports.
- Drafting documents.
- Looking for patterns in data.
- Writing up meeting notes and actions.
Where it struggles and where I believe it will continue to struggle, is in the messy, unpredictable, emotional landscape that leaders will spend a lot of their time in.
Take a minute to think about what the hardest parts of your day-to-day job are. They probably crossover quite heavily with the parts that you find most emotionally draining, such as:
- Calming someone who’s feeling overwhelmed.
- Mediating a conflict between team members.
- Making a tough decision where data isn’t clear.
- Helping someone rebuild their confidence after a mistake.
- Explaining a change that your team didn’t want.
- Prioritising when everything feels important.
- Creating clarity where none exists.
Only you as a leader of your team can handle these responsibilities with the nuance, trust and emotional intelligence that they require.
Yes, you can braindump any of these situations into an AI tool and it can help you rationalise and plan your approach to working through them. But AI has limits when it comes to these types of situations and can’t possibly understand the intricacies of leading your team.
This is why pressure on leaders is rising, not falling.
Automation removes repetitive work but it shines a brighter light on weak leadership very quickly.
Weak leadership can be:
- Poor communication.
- A lack of clarity.
- Avoiding difficult conversations.
- Emotional volatility.
- Inconsistent decision making.
The more teams rely on AI to move quickly and make big parts of their role more efficient, the more they lean on leaders to provide stability, confidence and clarity. AI can indeed replace the task-driven value that a leader can provide, but it can’t provide the intangible parts of your role and compliment effective task completion.
The leaders who will thrive over the next few years aren’t the ones who compete with AI, they’re the ones who complement it.
The leadership skills that AI can’t replace
As we’ve discussed, AI can streamline execution of tasks and this can lead to core leadership skills becoming more valuable (not less) as automation increases.
Let’s take a closer look at these skills which provide an important foundation for you to focus on and develop as a leader.
1. Emotional intelligence
Leaders with high levels of (or even average levels!) emotional intelligence are well positioned to navigate difficult conversations, fear and uncertainty, tricky team dynamics and human reactions to changes.
Ironically, AI can make the need for emotional intelligence even more important as more people worry about relevance, job security and learning curves.
AI can’t build psychological safety. But you can.
2. Strategic thinking
AI is excellent at data analysis and spotting patterns.
It’s not so good at making judgement calls and this goes to the heart of what strategy is about.
Strategic thinking requires:
- Making decisions without complete data or information.
- Prioritising based on context.
- Deciding what you should not do.
- Aligning people around direction.
- Weighing up trade-offs between different decisions.
AI can give you options, but only leaders can define what matters to their team.
3. Crisis management
At some point or another (if you haven’t already!) you’ll need to deal with some kind of a crisis with your team. It could be a team conflict, an unhappy client, a missed deadline, a software failure or a key team member leaving.
When this happens, your team won’t ask AI what to do, they’ll ask you.
You’ll need to respond in real-time, in a calm, collected and confident manner.
Again, AI can give you offers and suggestions, but it can’t step into a Zoom call with two frustrated colleagues and rebuild trust.
4. Trust and human connection
Trust doesn’t scale through automation. It scales through being present, being consistent, being empathetic, being clear and demonstrating strong behaviours.
Your team will feel that human connection from you and will follow leaders who they believe in – not tools that they’re given.
5. Ethical judgement
As we talked about earlier, more AI can mean more challenges for leaders. Another way in which this happens is that you have to make more decisions about privacy, fairness, transparency, reasonable use and potential harm when it comes to AI tools.
AI tools are opening up a huge range of possibilities for what we can do, but only leaders can judge what we should do.
How to position yourself as a leader that AI can’t replace
I believe that leaders who thrive in this new environment do something very specific:
They shift from doing the work to shaping the environment where work happens.
I’ll be honest – this is nothing new and has always been the case.
But it’s even more important than it used to be given the threat that AI can pose to our roles.
Here’s what this looks like in practice.
1. Become a “sense-maker” for your team
If your team struggles with change, it’s probably because they don’t know how to interpret what’s happening. You can play the role that AI can’t here and make sense of what’s happening by:
- Translating complexity into clarity.
- Create narratives that people can follow.
- Explain the “why” being decisions or changes.
- Help your team understand and focus on what matters most.
Only you can help your team understand something that makes them nervous or unsure.
2. Use AI as an amplifier, not a replacement
AI shouldn’t lead on your behalf.
But it can buy back some of your time so that you can be a more effective and present leader.
If you can find ways for AI to speed up processes, such as these AI prompts for managers, then you can free up time and headspace to spend on other, more valuable areas that AI can’t do.
3. Build your emotional resilience
Your team will be a reflection of your own emotional state – if you’re stressed and anxious, they will be the same. If you’re calm and collected, they will be too.
AI can’t take the place of a resilient leader when things go wrong or get hard. A resilient leader is able to lead during times of crisis and uncertainty, always keeping perspective and focusing on the outcome that they need to achieve.
4. Ensure you spend time on the human stuff
Be very deliberate with your time and ensure that you carve out time each week for human connection time with your team, such as:
- Coaching your team and helping them with their personal development.
- Giving them feedback and helping them improve their performance.
- Thinking about the big stuff such as strategy and goals.
- Getting to know your team, including what drives and motivates them.
- Being available to solve challenges and assist with giving direction.
Your team will almost certainly turn to AI tools for assistance on these kinds of things, which is fine. But remember to remind them of your value and spend time with them building real connection and trust.
So overall, yes, AI will change how we all work. But it won’t change what leadership is and the importance of your role.
Leadership is ultimately about human trust and connection, something that AI can’t replace.
Embrace AI for tasks and make your team more efficient. Embrace it for speeding up your own workload and tasks, but then use the time saved to be more present with your team.
AI tools + human connection = leaders that will thrive in the future.
