With AI use nearly doubling in the last two years, Dominic and Laura Ashley-Timms say human abilities such as empathy, listening and engaging others are what will set leaders apart
A perfect storm is happening in our workplaces and, if we’re to navigate through it, we must urgently rethink what we value in business. Soft skills are dead. In their place are power skills that are now non-negotiables if you’re to stay professionally relevant.
The first part of this storm is the crisis in work engagement. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, the UK has one of the lowest employee engagement levels in Europe, at a concerning 10 per cent. This has a huge knock-on effect economically: low engagement is estimated to cost the global economy $8.8trn, equivalent to 9 per cent of global GDP.
A key reason for this is management. Professor John van Reenen found that at least a third of the variance in productivity between countries and companies is a result of poor management, and Gallup’s research shows that a manager accounts for 70 per cent of the variance in a team’s engagement.
The next part of the storm is rapidly accelerating advances in technology, creating a workplace that looks very different to a decade ago. Use of artificial intelligence has nearly doubled in two years, leading to a democratisation of knowledge. With myriad AI-enabled tools now capable of managerial tasks such as tracking KPIs, generating reports and managing schedules, knowledge is no longer power – subject expertise is now gauged by who can ask the best prompts of their AI assistant.
This second scenario is having a massive impact on the first. Why? Because skills previously described as ‘soft’ have now shifted to become the skills that AI can’t replace and therefore crucial in people management: think empathy, listening and engaging others. Human skills that promote engagement, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking are now the key differentiators for organisational success. For managers, it’s their strength in these areas that will set them apart in an increasingly AI-dominated world.
In fact, to highlight their importance, we need to dispel the notion of ‘soft’ skills and rename them ‘power’ skills. This is more than just simple semantics – it’s a fundamental reframing of their value as the foundational, transferable abilities that amplify the effectiveness of every hard skill.
These are the three non-negotiable power skills that managers need to elevate their people management abilities in today’s increasingly automated workplace:
1. Lead with certainty
The world has never been more unstable, and it’s not possible to wait for certainty before making decisions. Good people management is about taking a strong path through this ambiguity, and providing clarity, confidence and direction for a team when the best way forward isn’t always obvious.
Leading with certainty is about making sound judgements that are based on both data and intuition, offering a chance for a leader and their team to learn, experiment and adapt. The result is an organisation that can quickly pivot, adjust and find a new way forward, acting decisively while competitors are paralysed by analysis, turning market volatility from a threat into a competitive advantage.
2. Create a workplace that feels psychologically safe
A workplace where people feel safe enough to take risks is crucial for building a successful team. Once people feel secure, they know they can challenge the status quo, admit mistakes without fear of blame, ask for help and offer unconventional ideas. Once a psychologically safe workplace is created, it unleashes innovation, resilience, candour and creativity. The result is a team who can work together to effectively solve complex challenges.
3. Adopt an enquiry-led management approach
The most impactful leaders are those who incorporate a coaching style into their everyday leadership and management, and we’re not talking about holding a succession of sit-down, one-to-one coaching sessions here. We’re talking about the ability to ask powerful questions in the flow of work.
Described as ‘the missing superpower’, this enquiry-led approach is the cornerstone of a new style of management called ‘operational coaching’. At its heart this is asking purposeful questions to engage the thinking of others, which has been proven to generate hugely positive outcomes for organisations. In fact, it’s the most critical power skill, because this human approach draws on the talents that others have to offer and guides team members to find their own solutions.
Adopting an operational coaching style transforms a leader from a simple problem solver into a multiplier of their team’s capability, driving autonomy, innovation and resilience. Instead of being perceived as ‘the boss’, with staff bringing them problems to direct, managers shift accountability back to the individual by stimulating their thinking and helping them gain confidence to take action. The enablement and empowerment of others is what establishes a more equitable relationship between managers and their teams.
It aligns with other power skills by developing an inclusive culture of trust and, in turn, psychological safety, ultimately driving innovation, engagement and increased productivity.
Having hardly advanced beyond 20th century practices, modern management is overdue an overhaul. Suppose we’re to equip today’s practitioners with the critical people engagement skills they desperately need to address the tectonic shifts affecting workplaces. In that case, we must appreciate the value and currency of these human-centric skills for what they really are – the new power skills.
Credit: www.peoplemanagement.co.uk
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