A way to get middle managers to embrace AI? Invest in people first, not technology | Luck
Every CEO faces the same problem: To stay competitive, you need AI. The boards demand it, the competition implements it, and you invest millions in the technology. However, despite your personal enthusiasm, your employees are not adopting these tools at the rate you expect. That costs you money – and momentum.
This is the “messy middle” of AI adoption, where organizations move from experimentation to integration. People and culture, not tools, are what will help businesses get ahead.
After speaking with customers across Asia Pacific, I learned that the most successful teams are exploring how AI augments, not replaces, human potential. This is important because adoption of AI varies widely by role and seniority. Entry-level employees experiment freely and the C-suite sees the strategic value, but middle managers often struggle to bridge the gap.
This patchy approach means leaders cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. They need to meet people where they are, which makes connecting with people even more important, especially for leaders trying to manage talent and build trust.
After running LinkedIn’s APAC business and managing sales teams for over a decade, one lesson stood out for me: Pushing adoption without being clear leads to costly detours. Sustainable transformation is not achieved by mandate; instead, it is driven by leaders who focus primarily on people.
For leaders struggling to embrace AI, the answer is not to seek to mandate its use. Instead, they need to focus on the human side of the equation; it must lead employees on a journey of transformation by creating a culture that encourages adaptability and rewards learning and innovation.
Middle managers are the missing link
Middle managers are at the heart of AI adoption. They face pressure from above to implement initiatives they may not fully understand, while assuring those below of their job security. It is they who are tasked with ensuring that artificial intelligence works every day. They juggle performance goals, team interests, and adoption mandates, often without a playbook.
They ask themselves: How will I explain these changes to my team? What happens to the career paths we have built? How can I stay confident when I’m not even sure how AI will affect my role?
In a recent LinkedIn survey, nearly half of companies expected employees to start using AI, but 41% of professionals already feel overwhelmed by how quickly they are expected to adopt it. Meanwhile, 84% of APAC professionals aged 18-24 and 77% of people aged 25-34 believe AI cannot replace human judgment at work.
Middle managers don’t need to know all the answers. Instead, their value lies in acting as trusted coaches who help teams bridge new technologies, changing requirements and long-term career goals.
Companies that successfully implement AI start with a people strategy before deploying the technology. They are brutally honest about what AI can’t do and are creating space to gradually integrate it into their operations.
From automation to reinvention
LinkedIn research shows that while 45% of professionals use AI regularly for routine tasks, only one in three AI users use it for high-level work such as strategy or data analysis. What holds them back is not technical skills, but their sense of control over technology.
In Singapore, where I am based, one in four people use ChatGPT every week, which is among the highest in the world. This is true AI readiness: Singaporeans are going beyond exploration and experimentation to incorporate AI into everyday work. This high adoption rate shows that when people feel they have a say in how they use AI tools, they engage more deeply with them.
Adoption naturally accelerates as professionals understand that AI augments their capabilities rather than replacing them. This requires companies to move beyond simply using AI to automate tasks, but rather explore what new possibilities it opens up.
Change management in action
Leaders are under pressure to move faster while doing more with less. However, it must not lose sight of the need to invest in foundations that prepare employees for success. For example, they should give middle managers the time and tools to become confident AI users themselves before asking them to lead others to adopt AI. Leaders need to reward progress, not perfection.
This is what I call “thoughtful change management”: Aligning people to a shared vision, enabling collaboration, learning from experience, and then reallocating resources. Employers can create weekly forums where employees can share AI successes and failures without judgment, and then reallocate budgets from low-performing AI experiments to pilots that show success.
When people see concrete evidence that management is investing in their capabilities—rather than just deploying technology for themselves—they move from feeling threatened to feeling empowered.
Companies should not rush through the chaotic middle; those who will win the AI race in the long run may not be those who deploy the technology first, but those who build the strongest collaboration between humans and AI. The advantage of the company will be how well its employees will work with this technology.
Leaders need to be transparent about where they will use AI, where it falls short, and when human judgment remains paramount. Employees need to see their leaders learning alongside them: This builds the trust needed for meaningful transformation.
Opinions expressed in Fortune.com comments are solely those of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Luck.
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