The results of the ‘2026 AI & Data Leadership Executive Benchmark Survey’ show that while 99 percent of survey participants believe AI is a top priority, the greatest challenges to AI adoption are people, culture and change issues. What’s the disconnect?
The current AI narrative overemphasizes what AI can eliminate, which sets organizations up to fail with AI integration. Executive teams who focus on what AI will eliminate and make more efficient send employees into survival mode.
Here’s what neuroscience tells us: when we perceive a threat, especially to our livelihood, our brains shift into protection mode and resistance. We lose access to our prefrontal cortex, where complex thinking and creativity occur. That means people don’t innovate, experiment or adopt new tools.
When executives ask: “What will AI eliminate?” They are asking the wrong question. A better question is: “How can AI enable workplace connection?”
Executives viewing AI from an ‘eliminate’ lens lead with cost-cutting measures and efficiencies. Everyone in the organization perceives it as a threat, which activates the amygdala, the fear center of the brain.
The current AI narrative overemphasizes what AI can eliminate, which sets organizations up to fail.
Alternatively, executives who frame AI as building capacity and providing support keep people’s prefrontal cortex engaged where learning, creativity and adoption actually occur.
Imagine what could be possible if leaders have more capacity to prioritize the human side of work by connecting, building relationships and collaborating. This is what happens when AI enables connection in organizations.
Through our recent research, we discovered connection is the ultimate competitive advantage. The strength of our relationships in the workplace create the foundation for team performance and thriving cultures.
As a public company CEO coach and positive organizational psychologist, I consistently see executives overlook connection as a business imperative. Executives tend to blame resources or processes for stalled results, when the root cause is often weak connection.
Key reasons for this include:
1. It can feel more tangible to focus on business processes and more elusive to focus on relationships.
2. Organizations overemphasize what they need to accomplish; this means relationships at work are considered secondary to results.
3. There haven’t been enough evidence-based tools to give a road map for measuring and improving connection.
These are based on the misperception that connection is separate from accomplishing work. However, work does not get completed in isolation. In a corporate environment, most work is accomplished through interconnection. It is very rare for an individual to execute against the entire deliverable or project by themselves.
Executives often make assumptions that if we set the goal and workers know the goal, then that’s enough. In truth, how people work together to attain the goal matters more.
Introducing the 5Cs model
The 5Cs is a scientifically validated model that captures the five critical elements to create high-performing teams and thriving cultures. Our organization developed the 5Cs model in partnership with experts at Principles based on extensive research and experience working with executive teams.
The elements are:
1. Connection: Trust and wellbeing
2. Candid Communication: Psychological safety, feedback and transparency
3. Clarity: Defined roles, processes and shared goals
4. Collaboration: Team support, accountability and collective excellence
5. Contribution: Purpose, values and meaningful impact at work
Connection reflects the level of bonds everyone feels with each other. It encompasses the subfactors of trust and wellbeing. Trust refers to the trustworthiness and deep sense of mutual trust that teams and organizations foster. Wellbeing emphasizes how much people feel their physical, mental and emotional health matters to the team and organization.
Connection is the heart of the model, because building trust and care within an organization is foundational to all other elements.
At its core, Connection starts with two critical questions:
1. Do you care about me?
2. Can I trust you?
Connection enables the next element, Candid Communication. Teams and organizations need to feel some level of connection with each other to communicate openly. The stronger our workplace relationships are, the more we can lean into Candid Communication.
Our research results reveal:
1. Connection is the superpower for improving team cohesion and culture.
2. Connection is the most significant element of the 5Cs and impacts every other element more significantly than the others.
3. Connection is the individual element of the 5Cs most predictive of job satisfaction, though all 5Cs combined are more predictive.
My book Connected Culture provides a road map for leaders to build high-performing teams and thriving cultures with the 5Cs model.
The difference between low and high connection environments
Low-connection environments don’t allow teams and organizations to produce the maximum level of results. People often feel isolated or disconnected from their peers or the organization’s culture. Overall, it creates an environment where all other elements of the 5Cs suffer.
Leaders can shift to intentionally cultivate relationships during every interaction.
The wonderful news is that environments of high trust and care create an upward spiral of openness and engagement. To outsiders, it can look like teams are accomplishing the impossible. Magic happens when teams and organizations achieve something much greater than the sum of their parts.
Where to start
There’s a misperception that cultivating connection at work will take too much focus or require team offsites. This isn’t the case. The truth is, leaders can shift to intentionally cultivate relationships during every interaction. This counterbalances the tendency to focus only on results.
Our relationships at work are often transactional. We’re all so busy going from meeting to meeting that when we interact with others, we focus on what work needs to get done. We tend to give less attention to work relationships. When you are at your maximum capacity, it’s hard to consider spending time to have deeper conversations with colleagues or team members.
When connection is at the center of the workplace, we can reimagine what leadership looks like with increased capacity for relationships, fulfillment and impact.
To start, shift your mindset when interacting with others from transactional to relational. Instead of focusing solely on getting work done, prioritize creating real connection and relationships.
Meetings are one place to start. Meetings are an existing, yet underutilized, opportunity for improving connection. Use the beginning of one-on-one or team meetings for a meaningful check-in. Ask questions such as:
1. How is everyone feeling on a scale of 1 to 10?
2. What brought you joy recently?
3. How are we caring for ourselves and each other as a team, as humans?
Reflection: What’s one way I could show up more relational and less transactional with others this week?
We’ve spent far too much time separating results from relationships. In truth, connection makes the highest results possible. How people work together is what determines whether the strategy drives the business forward. Recent research explores the potential for AI to enhance human wellbeing by functioning as an extension of human capabilities, rather than replacements.
The best leaders will be those who use AI to deepen human connection. When connection is at the center of the workplace, we can reimagine what leadership looks like with increased capacity for relationships, fulfillment and impact.
