Globally, AI systems have permeated every industry. Executives see a future of streamlined processes, unprecedented growth and trillions in efficiency gains. Leaders, however, report that as the strategy filters down through the organisation, it hits a plateau.
Leaders can often place blame on a resistant middle management. At Breakthrough, we know that to solve the AI disconnect, your people cannot be viewed as an obstacle. Start seeing them as the exhausted, squeezed yet vital bridge to your future.
Does AI Add to the Burden?
In the UK, the average manager is juggling between 5 and 12 direct reports while absorbing nearly 20% more activity than in previous cycles. Research from Gartner and Fortune, suggests that far from saving time, AI is actually doubling the immediate workload for these individuals.
The “Mega-Manager”, as some are coining it, describe the overworked, stretched thin middle management layer. While the C-suite sees the strategic advantage AI offers, managers experience it as a flawed operational burden added to an already full plate. And leaders are either not speaking to their people or are not understanding them. Writer’s 2026 Enterprise Survey found that 54% of C-suite executives admit AI adoption is actually "tearing their company apart" due to internal friction.
It’s never been due to incompetence, but inadequate investment into the development of people alongside AI.
Can You Spot the Signs of a Stalling AI Strategy?
Yes. While vocal pushback is the easiest to notice, there are multiple ways people resist that can be a real threat to your AI strategy. If you see these behaviours, your transformation efforts are at risk of breaking down:
- Analysis Paralysis: It is not uncommon for people to hide behind data when they feel uncertain. They become super granular, needing endless proofs of concepts as a defence mechanism against the risk of failure.
- Knowledge Hoarding: Middle managers are often promoted because they are experts in the current process and AI can feel like a threat to this. In response, they may behave in knowledge hoarding behaviours.
- Malicious Compliance: Here they are implementing a tool because they are told to but aren’t integrating it into the team culture. Ultimately this is rooted in a mindset that AI is another trend.
- Change Fatigue: Many leaders have seen transformative projects come and go. To a manager who has survived five restructures in five years, AI looks like another flavour of the month. Instead of fighting it, they are waiting for the executive focus to shift elsewhere.
Can This Be Fixed?
Yes, with a people-first approach. To bridge the gap between executive ambition and operational reality, we must reshape your AI strategy to be collaborative.
- Communicate Through Co-Creation: Successful AI adoption starts with a conversation. Before designing and implementing the AI ‘solution’, speak with your people and understand what their actual pain points are. Now you are including them in the designing process, know where additional training may be needed and reassuring them that AI isn’t to eliminate their role but to support them.
Key Insight: You don't need a team of AI experts overnight. Encourage your people to show up Full On to each task and aim for One Degree Shifts in how they use AI. These small, incremental changes gradually build the collective knowledge, confidence, and capability needed for a massive transformation.
- Fix the Incentives: If AI reduces the need for a large team or cuts billable hours, you are effectively asking them to work against their own incentives. Leading firms are reevaluating the value their managers are providing from traditional scale metrics to capacity created.
Key Insight: Make sure to Gossip Success your teams wins with using AI. Host tips and trick meetings where you share your knowledge. This turns individual experiments into collective progress. - AI as an Assistant: Leading telecommunications firms have found a lot of success positioning AI agents as an assistive tool on the org chart. This reframes their role in the new ways of working. AI agents are there to handle the drudgery and augment their capacity, while your team can focus on higher value work.
Key Insight: While some people may feel resigned about AI, reframing it as an opportunity could be powerful. Rather than seeing AI as a threat, leaders can leverage it as an assistant that frees up capacity for more creative, strategic and human-centred thinking. This is where Blue Train thinking becomes important, encouraging people to imagine new possibilities. Taking practical steps to experiment, adapt and lead differently.
Is Your AI Strategy Stuck Forever?
No, not if you prioritise your people first. Any transformation strategy that forgets the people element will always dismantle it. Leaders must stop looking at middle managers as a layer to be managed but as agents and engines for transformation.
Are you ready to bridge the gap? At Breakthrough Global, we help leaders grow their business and align their people.
Contact us today to learn more about our Breakthrough Programmes.
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