AI, Automation, and Human‑Centred Leadership

As more leaders integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into work processes, outcomes aren’t always what we expect.

Consider a sales leader who replaces many routine tasks like scheduling meetings, sending status updates to clients and drafting responses to client queries with AI-driven automation. At first, productivity metrics improve markedly.

Then, after a couple of months, there’s a sharp decline in employee morale and a drop in client satisfaction. Why isn’t being freed from the drudgery of monotonous tasks and the quick response time for clients succeeding?

Team members feel disconnected from clients and less in tune with the rhythm of the business. While they appreciate not having to schedule every point of contact, they’re missing the conversations that build relationships and trust.

Clients sense the loss of authentic connection to their sales reps. While the AI-generated updates and responses are timely and professional, they lack heart and true personal connection. AI just doesn’t know them the way that sales reps do, and it shows.

This is becoming a common experience. While AI-automated processes are revolutionary in terms of efficiency, which arguably drives revenue growth, they lack the human elements that build trust, foster creativity and engage people in meaningful ways. This is significant because research shows that purpose-driven workplaces outperform organizations that focus on profit.

The challenge for leaders is having future-ready organizations that adopt AI without losing what makes work worthwhile. It’s finding ways to harness automation and cutting-edge technology with human-centred leadership that preserves and enhances human connections.

What AI and automation change in leadership roles

We know that there are certain tasks that AI does well. These are things such as routine operations like data entry, scheduling, drafting content and sorting through vast amounts of information very quickly. Automation is a gift in many ways. After all, you need to master daily tasks to achieve big goals. Automated tasks reduce the risk of human error (no more forgetting to do a step!). By saving time on routine tasks, leaders theoretically have more time to focus on big-picture priorities like strategic planning and developing people.

According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), AI is redefining managerial roles because automation shifts management responsibilities from execution to orchestration. Specifically, leaders are “strategic sense-makers” instead of administrative task-drivers because AI can even do things like assign tasks and track progress.

If you’re a senior leader, with leaders reporting to you, you’re probably already noticing a challenge — many leaders like getting in the weeds, they like doing the tasks and they’re a bit more comfortable spending some of their time “doing” more than “leading.”

Some worry, with reason, that the efficiency gains of AI could reduce the need for middle-management personnel, flattening the layers of management as there’s less need for administration coordination. The loss of more well-paying jobs is not welcome news for most workers in a tight job market. HBR also cautions that frequently organizations implement AI without fully understanding what researchers term “connective labour” — the elements of emotion and relationship connections related to the work. The risk of this includes staff feeling dissatisfied with their jobs because they aren’t engaged and they lose a sense of purpose.

AI is changing more than the tasks leaders must do and how many managers will be required as automation replaces some work. The key takeaway is that AI makes human-centred leadership critical.

What human-centred leadership means in this context

When we’re discussing using AI in an organizational context, human-centred leadership is a focus on putting people — team members, clients and other stakeholders — at the core of any decision-making. It means using AI technology and automation to amplify human qualities, not replace them. According to Forbes, five key traits of human-centred leadership are:

Demonstrating empathy: understanding and responding to emotional needs of those around you.
Using emotional intelligence: being able to understand not only your own emotional response to a situation but also the emotional and interpersonal needs of others so that you can respond effectively.
Helping others to find their purpose: having the ability to connect people to meaningful goals.
Creating psychological safety: so that folks feel safe to share opinions or concerns candidly without fear of repercussions.
Navigating diversity with cultural intelligence: so that workplace inclusion means diverse perspectives are valued and heard.

Is AI a threat to leadership? Not if leaders focus on what human beings do best: building trust, building strong relationships, using nuanced judgment and making decisions based on values.

Strategies for leaders to stay human while leveraging AI

Effective human-centred leadership requires leaders to be intentional about adopting new AI technology and cultural stewardship. Here are some strategies to help:

Build AI literacy across the organization. No silos! Every team member (not just the IT folks) needs to have a baseline understanding of AI, what it does well and what it doesn’t. When people aren’t afraid of AI, you can initiate conversations about using it ethically and creatively.
Share ownership of AI strategy. HBR argues that putting one person in charge of AI is not as effective as an AI strategy that is collaborative and cross-functional.
Involve employees in the design and deployment of AI in the workplace. In this way, AI is grounded in real business processes and human needs. The input of frontline workers ensures the automation addresses and improves routine tasks. Involving stakeholders builds trust and improves buy-in.
Prioritize meaningful work. AI automation that eliminates menial tasks and lightens the load for team members is the goal (not stretching them more or hurting morale).
Maintain transparency and uphold ethics. Communicate clearly with team members about which tasks are being automated and why, as well as how this will affect roles and responsibilities — and jobs. Talk about the limitations of AI, potential biases and what AI cannot (and should not) do.
Promote psychological safety. When team members feel safe to experiment with AI, they will fail and learn from their mistakes. It’s helpful for leaders to model curiosity, rewarding learning and not just results.

Case examples of automating with AI

There are real-life examples of using AI in advantageous and detrimental ways. Forbes shares that a global consulting firm used AI to improve routine tasks and successfully enhanced human connections. The consulting firm improved efficiency by automating more than half of its project reporting. Then, instead of laying off analysts, they retrained them as client advisors. The result? Improved employee morale and better client satisfaction thanks to the robust, human-led insights from the advisors. In contrast, HBR tells a cautionary tale about a company’s automation misstep. Rather than having leaders regularly check-in with team members, an AI feedback tool was implemented. After months of automated questions to see how team members were feeling, morale dropped and turnover increased. Why? Employees felt monitored, not supported. These case studies underscore that what you decide to automate matters just as much as how you automate it.

Implications and what leaders should do now

To lead effectively in this age of AI, human-centred leadership is important. This means leaders must:

Take a new approach. Instead of command-and-control, develop coaching skills in your leaders, build cohesive leadership teams who support each other and create collaboratively. While learning about AI is necessary, human skills are vital to successful leadership.
Reward more than efficiency. Create a culture where learning from mistakes is celebrated and being adaptable and agile is encouraged.
Carefully think about roles and structures. Integrate AI in ways that enhance human connection rather than override it. This means considering job descriptions, team workflows and reporting.
Evaluate the right metrics. What are the real indicators of human-centred leadership that is successful? Track things like engagement, collaboration and innovation (not just productivity).

Human-centred leadership in an automated world

Using AI and automation in the workplace is here. It’s inevitable that AI will transform the work we do. Leaders who can learn about AI and implement it with a balance of efficiency and empathy will drive success.

Coach’s Questions

What should be automated in your organization? Which parts need more of a human focus? What would you want your people to focus on more, if AI took some things off their plates? What’s one thing you can do this week to make your leadership more human-centred?

Read the full article here: https://medium.com/@coachpadraig/ai-automation-and-human-centred-leadership-bcf3afb61afe