The talk about artificial intelligence in the workplace is full of dystopian predictions and utopian promises. Will it end jobs or usher in a new era of human creativity? For managers and leaders, the question is more prominent: will advances in AI make my role obsolete? The answer is a definite no. AI will not replace managers. However, it will act as a major catalyst, removing the crutches of management that many have relied on for decades and exposing a fundamental deficiency in our organizations: the inability to truly manage people.
For more than a century, the prevailing management model has been one of command and control. Managers were expected to be a combination of knowledge, problem solvers and task solvers. Promotion to management was the reward for acquiring technical skills in a particular area, creating an army of what the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has called “risk managers”—individuals promoted by their experience but completely unprepared for the challenges of human leadership. Only in the UK, CMI estimates that 82 percent are managers they do not receive formal preparation or training to handle the human resources aspects of their role.
This is the manager phase that AI comes in. A manager whose primary value lies in capturing information, creating reports, sharing tasks and solving common problems is standing in a trapdoor. Generative AI and advanced analytics can now perform these tasks with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Knowledge is no longer power because knowledge is everywhere. A recent MIT Sloan study found that access to AI tools increased productivity of skilled workers by more than 40 percent, mainly by doing the integration and retrieval of information—the very tasks that once consumed the manager’s day. If the “what” and “what” of work is automated, what is left for the manager to do?
The answer is all that really matters: the “who” and the “why.” What’s left are deep human skills that AI can’t replicate. These include promoting psychological safety, building trust, motivating motivation, navigating conflict and cultivating innate strengths. In this new field, the manager’s role is changing from being a great problem solver to a great manager. Success will no longer be measured by the solutions a manager provides, but by the problem-solving skills they develop within their teams.
This is where the management problem becomes painfully obvious. Despite decades of global investment in leadership development programs, each busy inventing their own version of the management wheel, employee engagement levels remain stubbornly low. Gallup reports only that 10 percent of UK workers., for example, they feel busy in their work. Globally, the number of workers experiencing daily stress has steadily increased over the past 20 years to 41 percent, rising to nearly 60 percent of those who work under poor management. Together, unemployment and stress are estimated to cost the global economy $8.9 trillion annually, about nine percent of global GDP.
Traditional management methods, which emphasize command, control and direction, are not well suited to how people learn and act. By removing autonomy and short-circuiting learning, they unintentionally exacerbate disengagement and burnout, precisely the consequences that organizations cannot afford in an AI-accelerated environment.
The solution requires a basic reboot of our admin operating system. For years, organizations have tried to bring coaching skills back to managers through formal, sessional models like GROW. These models, while effective in executive coaching situations, are not suited to the dynamic, fast-paced reality of frontline managers. Time-starved managers rarely have the energy for scheduled, hour-long coaching sessions, or the mental distance needed to coach their direct reports while holding them accountable for their performance.
What is needed instead is a more integrated, behavioral approach that embeds teaching in everyday interaction. This means moving from solving problems dynamically to helping others think better, and bringing improvements to work flow.
At its core, this approach can be reduced to a simple behavioral sequence summarized as STAR.
Wait: The first, and most difficult, step is to resist the instinct to immediately solve the problem when an employee raises an issue. Instead of jumping to an answer, the manager pauses and backs off.
Consider: At that time, the manager checks if this is training time. Isn’t this situation urgent? Is there an opportunity to learn rather than rescue?
Ask: Rather than dictating, the manager uses an inquiry-led approach, using questions to inform reflection and ownership. A subtle but effective shift from questioning “why?” solution-oriented questions “what?” questions. For example, instead of “Why is this late?” by “What obstacles arose, and what options do we have now?” it changes the tone from suspicion to cooperation.
Result: Collaboration ends with clear next steps and follow-up, which reinforces accountability while ensuring that the employee owns the outcome and that there will be an opportunity for appropriate feedback.
This is not coaching as a formal, organized meeting. A 90-second interaction in the hallway or a two-minute exchange on a video call. It is training as a small ongoing practice. The cumulative impact, however, is huge. A government-sponsored study by the London School of Economics revealed that managers are not trained in this way. it increases the time 70 percent used training in workflow. The benefits are external: managers regain time as their teams become more autonomous, employees feel valued and trusted and the organization develops a stronger, more flexible and more collaborative culture.
AI is an epochal technology that will simplify and democratize access to information. This change will not be easy for managers who have built up authority to be the expert in the room. But for those who realize that the future of leadership lies in interpersonal communication, judgment and interpretation, it represents the greatest opportunity of a generation.
The challenge is clear: transform from operations manager to people engineer. AI will increasingly manage tasks. Leaders must manage the meaning and conditions in which people can do their best thinking. AI will not replace those who fail to make this change, but it will make them redundant by revealing a new, higher level of leadership.
Dominic Ashley-Timms is CEO of Performance Consultancy Notion and co-author of the best-selling book, The answer is the question: The Power of Absence Changes Everything and Will Transform Your Impact as a Manager and Leader..
