When we talk about AI in the workplace, the conversation often jumps straight to cost savings and job cuts. But what if that’s missing the point entirely? In this thought-provoking Q&A, we speak to workplace culture expert, author and investment industry leader, Jenny Segal and senior leader and cultural transformation strategist, Annabel Gillard, about how AI can do more than just make businesses leaner; it can make them better.
From motivation and mastery to trust and transformation, they explore why the real opportunity lies not just in efficiency, but in empowering people to do more meaningful work. Their message to business leaders? Don’t forget the humans.
Let’s start with the big picture—what’s your instinctive reaction when you hear ‘AI transformation’? What excites you, and what concerns you?
JS: My initial reaction is this is probably bad news! There’s a lot of unhelpful noise around AI – about jobs being lost and humans being consigned to the scrap heap. And that biases people, which actually matters in a very real sense because, without their buy-in, the transformation project is much less likely to succeed. This is unfortunate because there is a lot to be excited about when AI transformation is done well. It relieves people of the more mundane parts of their work, increasing their capacity for personal growth and more opportunity.
AG: We are living in an extraordinary time, on the cusp of profound changes – which brings both opportunity and threat. What’s really exciting is the chance to rethink the way we work, because so much of the way we work isn’t working for us at a human, emotional or physical level. This is a rare and genuine opportunity to reimagine our processes, systems and priorities. But what worries me is that if our objective remains the short-term profit maximisation that has dominated corporate thinking over the last couple of decades, then we’ll miss that opportunity and instead exacerbate lots of the unhelpful trends of the last few years. There is a unique opportunity to rethink how we do things, so I hope we’re brave enough and imaginative to do that justice!
You both talk about the power of motivation at work. Why is mastery, autonomy and purpose so essential—and how does AI threaten or support that?
JS: As individuals, we are motivated by money, but only up to a point – the point at which we have ‘enough’. Beyond that, money simply becomes a hygiene factor, and if we are not paid fairly relative to our peers and our worth, it can become a pretty effective demotivator. What motivates us beyond that is being part of a team, being in control of our work and having a purpose. Done well, AI can facilitate this: by taking out unnecessary costs from the business, there is potential for better pay, and by relieving us of mundane tasks, we have the time and space to think more creatively, which is more rewarding work.
AG: For me, the critical question here is ‘how’ AI is deployed. It has the potential to enhance the human experience in the ways Jenny has outlined. But only if tech is in the supporting role. There are risks of dependency and deference when AI takes on critical processes within an organisation – we can lose the skills or the confidence to challenge tech, as we saw with the post office scandal. AI is a problem where it replaces human choices, judgement and self-determination, whereas it is an enabler where it facilitates insight, removes routine processes and empowers human judgement.
Many companies approach AI as a cost-cutting tool, but you argue that empowerment should be the real goal. What does that look like in practice?
JS: Whereas most businesses are working to maximise profit, the same is not typically true of the people working in them. The key to empowerment is to tap into what actually motivates us. AI enables employees to engage in more meaningful, purposeful work, thus fulfilling their intrinsic motivations. And when we are motivated, we work harder because we are engaged, and we genuinely care. This leads to a multiplicity effect: with efficiency and empowerment both in play, businesses maximise productivity gains both from AI and from their human workforce.
AG: I wonder what possibilities might be created from the idea of businesses considering what more they can do with the existing cost base, rather than seeing tech a means of cutting it further. that they are functional and sustainable at their current cost base and, instead of considering how to shrink it – thinking in terms of how to expand the capacity of the business.
Why do so many business transformations fail, especially when it comes to culture and tech? What needs to shift?
JS: Transitioning to an AI-enabled business is complex and expensive, and there has not been a good track record of success thus far, with a 77% failure rate according to a recent McKinsey study. And even those that have run successful pilots often fail to scale up. This is partly down to technical, organisational and strategic complexity, but often it is because of a spectacular failure to get the people side of it working.
To get this right, the narrative behind the roll-out is critical, as is getting early buy-in. Businesses get better outcomes when they behave authentically and are true to their cultural values. Be clear about what you are doing, why you are doing it and what the benefits are: bring your people along the transformation journey with you.
AG: We desperately need a new model for transformation – it’s shocking that the failure rate is so high. In an environment of profound and continual change, we simply can’t afford such waste! Business tends to underestimate the importance of the human dimension and behavioural drivers. Change and uncertainty are quite hard at a human level – but made easier when there’s trust, a shared vision and sense of purpose, and a degree of self-determination. Transformations undertaken with your people rather than to your people, with a clear benefit to the future purpose and health of your will unites energy and direction. Most transformations fail because they mistake the organisation for a machine, rather than a living organism.
What’s your advice to business leaders trying to be both efficient and empowering? Can the two coexist?
JS: Efficiency and empowerment can, and do, coexist. In fact, I would argue that they go hand-in-hand. It’s about optimising who does what, making sure you are not deploying resources to fulfil a task they are too expensive or over-qualified for. AI done well is perfect for this – unlike their human counterpart, they won’t get demotivated or disheartened and work less efficiently when they are given something dull to do. It’s horses for courses. Match the talent with the task, and we will get the right outcome for both the bottom line and the people who are driving it.
AG: These two aims are only in conflict if efficiency is the driving force. A top-down, efficiency drive often feels very disempowering to those on the receiving end. It’s also a very mechanistic way of thinking about people. A focus on efficiency implicitly communicates that the priority is limiting cost rather than maximising potential. If instead the focus is on empowering employees to stretch into new capabilities and creating the space and time for them to do what they do best, that facilitates relinquishing lower-value activities, focusing on the greatest impact. By prioritising empowerment, you will gain efficiency as a side-effect, but its quantum will be dwarfed by the productivity gains achieved.
