If you’re not helping employees with AI-xiety, you’re not leading

6 hours ago7 min read

The modern workplace hums with a quiet, pervasive anxiety that extends far beyond the usual concerns about quarterly reports or office politics. Employees carry the weight of high living costs and turbulent political landscapes, but increasingly, a new specter haunts their professional lives: the relentless advance of artificial intelligence.This isn't merely a fear of obsolescence, a primal worry about being replaced by a more efficient algorithm. It's a more complex 'AI-xiety,' a term that perfectly captures the multifaceted dread.Workers are not only stressed about potential job loss but also about the daunting learning curves of collaborating with new technologies and, perhaps most insidiously, the shifting expectations of their managers. A recent Upwork study illuminated this perfectly, revealing that AI is paradoxically making jobs harder by inflating managerial demands, leading to heavier workloads compressed into tighter timeframes.In the face of such seismic change, leadership can no longer be defined by mere oversight or strategic direction. Heidi Brooks, a leadership expert at the Yale School of Management, articulates a new, essential mandate for leaders: to hold space for this collective unease.She reframes anxiety from a disruptive force to be eliminated into a central, valid part of the contemporary work experience that must be met with presence. This presence, she explains, isn't about physically showing up to meetings; it's a grounded, steady way of being with people amidst ambiguity, resisting the instinct to prematurely smooth things over or offer false assurances.It’s a quiet, powerful form of leadership that chooses to stand firm in uncertainty rather than retreat from it. This philosophy is critically linked to communication, which, in this anxious context, transforms from simple information-sharing into a form of emotional containment.Brooks warns that silence is fertile ground for fear, allowing employees' imaginations to conjure worst-case scenarios. The data supports her; a survey on frontline workers found a stark disconnect: while only 17% felt their organizations were transparent about AI integration, a resounding 63% declared such communication essential.The sentiment from one worker—'If you explain it, we’ll accept it. If you don’t, we’ll resist'—cuts to the heart of the human element in technological transformation.Leaders don't need to have all the answers, Brooks assures us. The goal isn't false certainty but fostering a sense of shared journey, making people feel less alone in the uncertainty and even inviting them to contribute their voices to the learning process.Yet, leaders themselves are navigating this uncharted territory, tasked with holding space for the human experience while grappling with their own 'AI-xiety. ' Brooks emphasizes that this is a moment for leaders to be intentional about checking in not only with their teams but also with themselves, creating forums where they, too, can air their fears and struggles.When we can be real about what we are going through, she notes, we become wiser together, able to discuss what’s actually happening and collaboratively learn our way forward. This reflective, human-centric approach suggests that the ultimate test of leadership in the AI age may not be mastering the technology itself, but mastering the capacity for empathy, open dialogue, and shared vulnerability in its shadow.

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