The human side of AI & change
Explore the research, human questions, and leadership decisions behind the conversation.
The case for change
The 2026 research points to a leadership challenge: turn new capacity into meaningful human contribution while helping people navigate the change.
Capacity is opening up
66%Of AI-using knowledge workers surveyed across 10 countries, 66% said AI lets them spend more time on high-value work. What will your people do with that capacity?
Microsoft Work Trend Index · May 2026 (opens in a new tab)People are feeling the shift
27%Of U.S. employees in AI-adopting organizations, 27% reported substantial workplace disruption over the past year, compared with 17% where AI had not been adopted.
Gallup · February 2026 survey (opens in a new tab)Leadership must catch up
Only25%Only one in four U.S. employees said their organization had communicated a clear AI integration plan. Meanwhile, 47% said their organization had already begun integrating AI.
Gallup · May 2026 data (opens in a new tab)Give your people a place in the future you’re building. The Cost of Standing Still opens the conversation about what to automate, what people need through the transition, and how to make connection, creativity, and collaboration central to the business.
The optional workshop
We begin with a facilitated digital conversation with your team. Through appreciative inquiry, we explore what is working, the real needs, obstacles, and limitations, and what you hope to make possible. Then we use six decisions to shape the next step.
Define the business you want to become, the people you serve, and the cost of staying as you are.
Consider: Name one business outcome and one human outcome worth pursuing.
Consider where technology can relieve recurring effort or expand capability. Weigh the benefit, reliability, risk, and human judgment each choice requires.
Consider: Identify one area where greater capacity could make a meaningful difference.
Surface concerns about security, competence, status, and belonging. Explain the direction, invite participation, and plan support before making the transition.
Consider: Ask what people fear losing and what they hope to gain.
Help people see their value beyond a task, title, or ability to hold the answers. Make room for experience, imagination, discernment, and care.
Consider: Identify the contribution each person wants to develop.
Align responsibilities, decision making, learning, and leadership with the new direction. Keep people involved in shaping the business they will inhabit.
Consider: Choose a first transition with clear ownership and time to learn.
Put time and intelligence into relationships, new ideas, thoughtful service, and shared problem solving. Review whether the transition is improving business and human outcomes.
Consider: Make connection, creativity, and collaboration part of how success is measured.
Automation creates capacity. Leadership determines what that capacity becomes. Give people the time and purpose to strengthen relationships, develop ideas, and solve problems together.
Turn time spent on routine tasks into conversations that build trust with customers and colleagues.
Give people room to question assumptions, imagine better experiences, and develop ideas worth pursuing.
Bring people across roles together to solve problems, share judgment, and turn ideas into progress.
The Cost of Standing Still invites your audience to rethink both sides of the transition: what technology can carry, and what people can become.
Changes in work can threaten a person’s sense of competence, security, or belonging. For some people, disruption can also reactivate earlier trauma. Leaders can meet different reactions with curiosity, clear communication, and practical support.
Explain what is changing, why, and how decisions will be made. Say what you do not yet know. Make questions and concerns welcome.
Ask how the transition affects their sense of purpose, contribution, and belonging. Invite them to help shape their changing role, with practical learning and a clear person to approach for support.
Listen before interpreting someone’s behavior. Address legitimate workload and job concerns, adjust the process where needed, and connect people with appropriate support.
This leadership approach draws on principles of safety, trust, collaboration, and empowerment. SAMHSA: principles of a trauma-informed approach.
Efficiency needs a human purpose
As AI takes on more tasks, the everyday reasons to speak with another person can disappear. A colleague becomes a prompt. A conversation becomes an automated reply. A customer gets an answer without ever feeling known.
I call the danger relational complacency: assuming that because the system responded, the relationship was cared for. The opportunity is to automate the heavy lifting and deliberately redirect human effort toward connection, creativity, and growth.
Gartner forecasts that at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously by agentic AI, up from 0% in 2024.
Gartner · June 2025 forecastGartner forecasts that agentic AI will resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention.
Gartner · March 2025 forecastAs more work becomes automated, which human interactions will we deliberately preserve or create?
The risk is already visible
Four studies involving 794 participants linked greater interaction with AI at work to loneliness and a stronger desire for social connection. Some employees also became more helpful to colleagues. Make human connection part of how work happens.
Tang and colleagues · Journal of Applied Psychology, 2023Gallup’s 2024 meta-analysis found 23% higher profitability in business units in the top quarter of employee engagement than in the bottom quarter.
Gallup · 2024 meta-analysisKeep accountable people at the center of the relationship. Give them the time, skills, authority, and clear expectations to do work that makes others feel understood.
Let automation carry: scheduling, reminders, routine updates, and information retrieval.
Redirect people toward: listening conversations, personal welcomes, proactive customer care, difficult decisions, and repairing trust when something goes wrong.
Look for: stronger retention, resolved concerns, and customers who feel understood.
Let AI assist with: research synthesis, first drafts, comparisons, and routine analysis.
Redirect people toward: customer discovery, original ideas, service design, experimentation, and judging what is meaningful, useful, and authentic.
Look for: ideas tested, services improved, and new sources of customer value.
Let automation carry: status collection, routing, follow-up reminders, and routine reporting.
Redirect people toward: mentoring, shared problem solving, community presence, trusted partnerships, and thoughtful referral conversations.
Look for: stronger participation, repeat business, qualified referrals, and contribution margin.
Map the human moments that matter. Choose tasks to automate. Co-design new responsibilities with employees. Protect time for relationship work, teach listening and collaborative problem solving, and reward meaningful outcomes. Keep a clear route to a real person and be honest about when customers are interacting with AI.
Review efficiency and relationship health together. A faster response is useful. Knowing whether someone felt heard tells you something different.