Skip NavigationManagers can better support their employees in the AI era by coaching them to develop and retain skills, rather than simply directing their work, says IBM’s chief talent officer, Aparna Nair.VioletaStoimenova
Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of many jobs, including management.
As more employees use AI in their day-to-day, bosses need to change their approach to managing given this new means of work, says Aparna Nair, IBM’s chief talent, leadership & culture officer.
One issue they can help tackle is employees’ concern about their skills atrophying because of their AI use at work. In an IBM survey of 1,500 chief human resources officers and 8,800 employees worldwide published in September, 3 in 4 concerned employees said AI had already begun eroding some of their skills, most often critical thinking.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania coined the term “cognitive surrender” in a paper published in February to warn of “uncritical acceptance of AI’s answers in place of one’s own reasoning.” Deferring to AI not only to complete certain tasks but to make decisions, instead of making them yourself, can contribute to skill erosion. This could, in turn, negatively affect workers’ autonomy, confidence and reasoning abilities, which could hurt their career prospects and growth.
“This is where the management teams, because they know the work, they know the individuals, can be more targeted in how individuals are developing their skills,” Nair tells CNBC Make It.
One challenge, of course, is that many employers have culled middle management jobs in recent years.
In 2025, roughly four in 10 employees said their companies reduced layers of management, according to a survey of 15,000 professionals worldwide from organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry. Through 2026, one in five organizations is expected to flatten their org charts with the help of AI, cutting more than half of existing middle management roles, according to an October 2024 Gartner report.
Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, is reportedly considering cutting some layers of management in the hopes of speeding up product development. The move would follow in the footsteps of companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon that have also slashed thousands of middle management roles with the stated aim of cutting organizational bloat to become leaner and faster.
While management has historically been more focused on “closely directing work,” Nair says, bosses managing in the age of AI should instead focus on “coaching for impact” to help their employees build and retain relevant skills, she says.
IBM’s survey suggests a few ways managers, and CHROs, can help their employees guard against skill erosion: They should preserve important early-career learning pathways; identify where skills are shifting and recommend personalized learning and practice accordingly; and support continued skill use through avenues like internal opportunities, stretch assignments or rotations.
A manager’s time is better-spent keeping their team motivated and supported, not juggling administrative tasks like organizing meetings or tracking employees, C-suite advisor Deborah Lovich told CNBC Make It in December.
That’s because “the manager is the only person who sees the individual day to day,” Nair says, noting that this makes managers well-positioned to identify an employee’s strengths and weaknesses. “They have to guide where individuals are spending time and what skills they are building.”
While AI may be able to help with more straightforward responsibilities, nurturing talent is still best left to people, she adds: “Human coaching doesn’t scale at the level at which AI can scale.”
