#54 Blog. AI and the Manager’s Role: What’s New, What’s Not, and What Really Matters in 2026

Happy New Year.

This year feels different, that’s for sure.

Let me start with an open question: If AI gave you back five hours a week, where would you actually invest them?

Most managers I work with have plenty of ideas, and very little space to act on them.

We’re no longer just talking about AI adoption; we’re living it.

Organizations are embracing AI across functions: customer service, R&D, HR administration, sales forecasting, performance tracking, even drafting feedback. According to Gallup, many leaders are using AI more than their teams, and executives are adopting it faster than most employees.

Of course, this looks different in every organization, depending on culture, leadership, industry, and strategy.

Still, it raises an important and slightly uncomfortable question for managers: Has the manager’s role actually changed, or are we just repainting the same responsibilities with new technology?

Do we really need to change anything? Or is this just another iPhone update, impressive, but not transformational?

What Has Changed

1. Time Is Being Reclaimed, But Only If Managers Use It Well

AI now handles much of the managerial “busy work”: scheduling, dashboards, meeting summaries, reporting, and data consolidation. Tasks that once consumed a large portion of a manager’s day are increasingly automated.

In theory, this frees time for what matters most- People. In practice, that shift only happens if managers are equipped to use the time differently.

For example, instead of manually reviewing reports, a manager may receive real-time insights from AI dashboards, creating space to coach an employee, explore performance barriers, or support development. But if the saved time is filled with more meetings or tighter monitoring, nothing truly changes.

2. AI Adoption Is Accelerating Faster Than Leadership Readiness

AI use at work has nearly doubled in the past two years. Gallup data shows that 40–45% of U.S. employees already use AI at least occasionally, with managers and leaders using it even more frequently. At the same time, McKinsey finds that executives consistently underestimate how much AI their employees are already using.

This gap matters. Adoption isn’t just about access to tools, it requires interpretation, guidance, and integration into real work. Managers now sit at the center of this transition, helping teams make sense of AI outputs, use them critically, and apply them responsibly in daily decisions.

Without managerial capability, AI becomes fragmented, misused, or quietly distrusted.

3. Managers Are Becoming Human-Centered Integrators and Ethical Stewards

AI doesn’t remove judgment, it demands better judgment.

Machines can surface patterns, recommend actions, and optimize efficiency. What they cannot do is understand values, culture, trust, or long-term human impact. Managers must now balance data with discernment.

For example, if an AI system recommends reducing a team based purely on cost metrics, a manager must weigh factors the system cannot: morale, psychological safety, client relationships, and future capability, and then lead the change in a human context, not a chatbot window.

As Caroline Castrillon notes in Forbes, AI is transforming the manager role by requiring leaders to balance efficiency with empathy and act as ethical stewards of their teams. Ethical leadership now shows up in everyday choices: questioning AI recommendations, noticing unintended consequences, and protecting trust while embracing innovation.

What Hasn’t Changed (and Won’t)

1. The Human Side Still Matters Most

Despite automation, human skills remain central to leadership.

Emotional intelligence like listening, coaching, conflict resolution, trust building cannot be automated. AI won’t sit in a 1:1 and sense the fear behind resistance or the ambition behind silence.

That remains manager work, and in many organizations, it’s the work that has been postponed for too long.

2. AI Isn’t a Replacement for Leadership, It’s a Tool

There’s a persistent myth that AI might eventually replace managers entirely.

But human judgment remains essential. AI can assist, it cannot carry responsibility for culture, values, or people outcomes.

If leadership is reduced to metrics alone, something vital is lost.

Practical Things You Can Do This Year

Here are four concrete actions managers can take right now:

1. Redefine Work, Not Just Tools

Don’t start with what AI can do. Start with what leadership requires.

Decide together with your team:

• What tasks AI should handle

• What tasks require full human presence (coaching, visioning, career conversations)

Clarity reduces anxiety and misuse.

2. Build AI Fluency as a Team Habit

AI literacy grows through conversation, not policy.

Create short, recurring moments where team members share:

• One tool they used

• One insight it gave

• One question it raised

That’s how individual experimentation becomes team intelligence.

3. Balance Automation with Connection

Use AI for reports and invest the saved time in questions like:

• What’s holding you back right now?

• What are you proud of this week?

• What support do you need from me?

Technology should buy back presence, not distance.

4. Leverage AI for Leadership Development, Not Just Productivity

One of the most underused opportunities is using AI to develop managers themselves.

AI-powered leadership development platforms, such as RiseBud, allow managers to:

• Reflect before difficult conversations

• Practice feedback and decision-making in real scenarios

• Learn continuously, in the flow of work

Instead of waiting for a workshop, leadership development becomes ongoing and contextual.

Here, AI is not the decision maker, it’s a mirror, a coach, a pause button.

And that pause might be the most important leadership skill of all.

A Final Thought

AI isn’t here to replace leaders, but it is here to expose what leadership really is.

In 2026, a great manager isn’t the one who uses AI the most, but the one who knows when not to hand leadership over to it.

The future of leadership isn’t human versus machine. It’s human with machine, working together with intention, judgment, and care.

Here’s to leading with clarity, wisdom, and heart in the age of AI.

Hana Zacay