Most conversations about AI at work start with the technology. What can it do, how quickly can it be adopted, and which tasks can it take on?
Those are sensible questions. But there is another that deserves just as much attention: as technology becomes more capable, which human skills become more valuable?
This article explores the growing importance of human skills in the future of work and how organisations can help leaders, managers and teams develop them alongside technological change.
A changing picture of value
AI is already changing how work gets done, drafting, summarising, analysing and organising information in seconds, and for many roles that removes some of the more repetitive tasks of the day.
When a first draft or a data summary is available to everyone in seconds, the value moves to what people do next. Reading a situation, weighing up competing priorities, having a difficult conversation well and sensing when the answer on the screen does not fit the reality in the room all come from people.
These skills have always mattered. What has changed is how visible these skills are, and how much it costs when they are missing.
What the evidence says
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 gathered the expectations of employers worldwide. On average, workers can expect 39% of their existing skill sets to be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. Technical skills are set to grow fastest, but analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill, with seven in ten companies considering it essential, followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, and then leadership and social influence.
In other words, even as demand for AI and technical skills grows, distinctly human capabilities remain central to what employers say they need.
What we mean by human skills
Human skills are the capabilities that allow people to connect, collaborate, communicate and exercise sound judgement. They are sometimes called soft skills, which undersells them considerably. Some of the most important are:
Judgement. AI can offer an answer, but it cannot take responsibility for it. Good judgement draws on experience, values and an understanding of the people affected.
Empathy. Picking up on how someone is feeling, and responding with care, shapes trust, loyalty and whether people feel able to speak up. A well written message from a chatbot can sound caring but it doesn’t notice that a colleague has gone quiet in meetings.
Communication. Saying the right thing, in the right way, at the right time takes more than clear wording. It involves listening, reading the room and adjusting. In hybrid teams, where so much contact is filtered through screens, it takes more deliberate effort than it used to.
Curiosity and critical thinking. When answers are instant, asking better questions becomes the valuable part. So does noticing when something looks convincing but is wrong.
Ethical awareness. Decisions about how and where AI is used involve values as well as efficiency. Someone needs to be asking who is affected, what could go wrong and whether something that can be done should be done.
Why this needs attention now
There is a risk that organisations invest heavily in tools while assuming the people side will look after itself. Even on the technology itself, the UK picture suggests training is lagging. The Office for National Statistics found that only 11% of businesses with 10 or more employees report that more than half their workforce has received AI-related training, against AI adoption of around 35%.
If investment in training people to use the technology is already lagging behind adoption, it raises an equally important question about how much attention is being given to the human capabilities needed alongside it.
In practice, people are adjusting to new ways of working while still managing their usual workload. Some are curious and enthusiastic. Others are anxious about their role, or unsure how far to trust what the technology produces. Managers are being asked to lead teams through all of this, often without having had the chance to think about what it means for their own approach.
There is also another issue: when a tool is available to do the thinking, it is tempting to let it. Skills that are not used tend to fade, and weighing up a decision, drafting a sensitive message or working out how to approach a tricky colleague all need practice.
Listening well, giving honest feedback and staying steady under pressure rarely develop by accident. They need time, attention and permission to be treated as seriously as technical capability.
Where human skills show up in practice
A team that trusts each other is more likely to say when an AI output looks wrong, rather than passing it along because it sounded confident. A manager who listens well will pick up on a team member’s worry about their role before it turns into disengagement. A leader who is honest about change, including what they do not yet know, gives people something to hold on to.
None of this appears on a dashboard, but it influences retention, performance, wellbeing and the quality of decisions.
What organisations can do
The encouraging part is that human skills can be developed, and organisations have a big part to play in that. It starts with giving people the time, support and encouragement to build them.
Useful questions for organisations to consider include:
Awareness: Do people have a clear sense of which human skills their role relies on most, and where they would like to strengthen them?
Practice: Is there protected time to practise skills such as communication, judgement and listening, rather than expecting them to develop on the job around everything else?
Leaders: Are leaders developing and demonstrating these skills themselves, including being open about what they are still working out?
Managers: Are managers equipped to coach these skills in their teams, for example by giving feedback on how a conversation went as well as what was delivered?
Habits: Are people encouraged to keep using their own thinking alongside AI, such as questioning an output before passing it on, so the skills stay sharp?
Connection: Do people get enough real conversation with colleagues to practise empathy and trust, particularly where much of the work is remote?
Putting this into practice
At Work Well Being, we recently worked with managers and directors at a professional services firm to develop the human skills becoming increasingly important in an AI-supported workplace. Through practical exercises, participants explored creativity, judgement, communication and collaborative problem-solving, alongside the role of trust and connection as technology changes how we work.
An important part of the session was translating this into everyday management practice. Managers identified ways to give their teams more space to problem-solve and experiment, encourage new ideas without fear of failure, and create more opportunities for collaboration across teams.
It reinforced an important point: developing human skills requires more than training. Organisations also need to create the time, environment and leadership behaviours that allow people to practise them.
Looking ahead
Technology will keep developing, and the tools available to us will keep changing. The organisations that adapt best are likely to be those that treat human skills as a priority alongside technical capability, rather than an afterthought.
That means helping leaders, managers and teams to think clearly, communicate well and look after one another while the workplace keeps changing. AI can support a great deal of what people do. Deciding how it is used, and caring for people while things change, remains a human job.
About the author
Lisa Cressy is a certified mindset coach, accredited NLP Master practitioner and Associate at Work Well Being, supporting organisations across the UK and internationally to develop the human skills that strengthen wellbeing, leadership, team effectiveness and sustainable performance.
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