Andrea Nicholas is the CEO of Andrea Nicholas Coachsulting.
In the AI era, leaders are at an inflection point. The numbers speak for themselves—employees are overwhelmingly using the technology. For instance, data collected in 2023 by McKinsey revealed that 88% of nontechnical employees use generative AI in their roles. Additionally, a 2024 study by Microsoft and LinkedIn revealed that 75% of knowledge workers worldwide use AI and that 79% of “AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work.” AI is here to stay, and while thriving in this new era will require connecting the workforce to the right AI tools, doing so is only one part of the equation. To succeed in the AI era, leaders will have to fundamentally shift their leadership styles and mindsets.
It’s Time For Leaders To Unlearn Outdated Practices And Ways Of Thinking
To adapt to AI in the workplace, leaders will have to put aside certain leadership styles and ways of thinking they might have grown accustomed to over the years.
Micromanagement and excessive control are paramount to let go of. Even the most advanced AI tools in the workplace won’t yield positive results if leaders don’t entrust their employees with the autonomy needed to experiment with those tools. Monitoring every step employees take when using AI will likely hinder creativity and innovation, creating a culture of uncertainty and fear. Instead, a good rule of thumb is to offer employees general guidelines to abide by and then give them space to see what solutions they come up with.
In some organizations, there is a heavy emphasis on rigid hierarchical structures. However, leaders should recognize that AI can enable more collaborative work environments that ultimately create flatter organizational structures. When information becomes democratized, decision-making can, too. As noted in a Harvard Business Review article, when “AI tools spread throughout the organization, those closest to the action become increasingly able to make decisions once made by those above them, flattening organizational hierarchies.” Leaders must be prepared to give employees more agency across the board and detach from the top-down chain of command that has traditionally ruled the corporate world in order to gain the most benefits from AI.
Leaders Will Have To Leave Their Comfort Zones To Prepare Their Organizations
Truly adapting to the AI-driven workplace will require leaders to leave their comfort zones not just by unlearning longstanding leadership approaches, but also by adopting new habits and mindsets.
First, given the rapid evolution of AI, leaders should embrace continuous learning and adaptability. As AI advances, applicable use cases (and their implications) will change. Leaders who don’t keep up with current developments and who don’t think flexibly risk their organizations falling behind. The more up-to-date and flexible leaders remain, the better they can prepare themselves and their teams for what’s ahead—and future-proof their organizations. Striking a careful balance between short-term and long-term thinking is key along the way. Leaders should be aware of how AI is changing day-by-day, but they shouldn’t jump on every trend or take a quarter-by-quarter approach. Rather, they should think long-term about how they want to implement AI in a manner that aligns with their corporate visions, goals, budgets and so forth.
As part of their continuous learning, leaders should prioritize becoming more tech-savvy and data-literate. Specifically, they need to learn about data analytics, machine learning and AI algorithms, and then create avenues for their team members to gain that knowledge as well. By emphasizing AI and data science literacy in their organizations, leaders can influence better results. Consider findings from a 2024 study by DataCamp, an AI and data science training platform: “Leaders with either mature data and AI literacy programs report seeing even more benefits in the form of faster decision-making (90%), improved decision-making (88%), better innovation (87%), improved customer experience (81%), decreased costs (84%), increased revenue (81%), and better employee retention (81%).”
The more well-versed leaders become in AI and data science, the more strategically they’ll be able to identify ways they can weave AI into their organizations. However, leaders shouldn’t view AI as a replacement for workers and processes. Instead, they should view it as a supplement for their workforce and identify opportunities for employees to use AI to enhance their skills and knowledge—and make processes more efficient.
Empathy And Ethics Should Be Top Of Mind
While the workforce is rapidly adopting AI, this technology is still a major change for people. Concerns about having to learn new skills, being on the receiving end of AI-induced biases and job loss are just a few of the worries many workers are grappling with. To help ease such fears, leaders need to be more emotionally intelligent and empathetic. A key way leaders can refine their emotional intelligence and empathy is by regularly communicating with employees, which, in turn, can create a culture of transparency. Employees need to know that they can go to leadership with their concerns and truly be heard. It’s that two-way communication that will enable leaders and employees to work hand-in-hand to solve challenges and maintain positive work environments.
As leaders work with employees to implement AI, they must do so in an ethical, responsible manner. AI poses various risks to the workplace, including the potential to introduce or exacerbate biases, create privacy issues and lead to job displacement. Leaders must develop comprehensive plans to address these risks as best as possible. For instance, to counter biases, they could create a review system where a committee of employees reviews all AI outputs. To address privacy concerns, they should establish strong data governance policies and frameworks that minimize the chances of sensitive employee and company information getting leaked. As for job displacement, leaders should carefully consider the organizational and societal impacts of replacing people with AI before making decisions—and if they decide to eliminate jobs, they should do their best to reassign their affected employees to different departments or reskill them.
Ultimately, Shifting Leadership Styles And Mindsets Can Give Companies A Competitive Edge
By leaving traditional leadership styles and mentalities in the past, embracing new habits and mindsets and acting empathetically and ethically, leaders can create productive, positive work cultures where employees are excited to innovate and experiment with AI—and, in turn, give their companies a competitive edge.
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