When people talk about AI, they usually talk about software and licences. Whether AI gives your team energy or drains it depends mostly on the manager, according to research from 2025 and 2026.
Support from the manager goes together with engagement
In 2026, Gallup surveyed more than 43,000 American employees about AI and engagement. Among employees whose manager actively supports the use of AI, 48% are engaged. Without that support, it is 30%. A clear plan for AI in the organisation goes together with 15 percentage points more engagement. And where everything comes together, meaning frequent AI use, a clear plan and a supportive manager, 53% are engaged (Gallup, 2026).
One caveat: this is a connection, not proof that the support causes the engagement. Good managers may simply be better at many things. Even so, the manager is the best place to start.
Boston Consulting Group reaches the same picture in a survey of more than 10,000 employees in eleven countries. With strong support from leaders, 55% of employees feel positive about AI. Without that support, only 15% do. Yet only a quarter of frontline employees say they get that support (BCG, 2025).
Why the manager makes such a difference
Engagement grows when the work holds enough sources of energy to outweigh what the work demands. Support from your manager is one of those sources. With AI it counts for more, because the work is changing and people feel uncertain. The manager can make that uncertainty smaller, or let it grow.
A manager who makes room for learning stops AI from becoming an extra layer of work that wears people out. One who explains why AI is being introduced and what it brings gives the work direction. And one who allows mistakes while people learn gives them the calm to get absorbed in their work.
Involve your people and it works better
TNO, the Dutch research organisation, studied how organisations introduce AI and what that does to the quality of work. Their conclusion: organisations that involve their people from the start get more support and better results. Employees know best where AI really adds something. Yet only 45% of employees are consulted when new technology arrives (TNO, 2025).
Managers need support too
Meanwhile, according to Gallup, the engagement of managers themselves is falling (Gallup). The people who have to guide their team through the change are under pressure themselves. If you want AI to land well, start with the managers: give them time, knowledge and room to get a grip on it first.
Colleagues spark each other
Behavioural researchers at Irrational Labs asked 767 knowledge workers about their use of AI. People who knew at least one colleague or acquaintance using AI were three times as likely to have used it themselves in the previous week. The more users someone knows, the more likely they are to use it. The manager counts too: when the manager clearly supports AI, 79% use it. Without that support, it is 34% (Irrational Labs, 2025). So the manager creates the room, and colleagues show that it works.
Ronald: let the team lead the way
Ronald Warmerdam of IMPACT on the Job recently saw this at a company introducing AI. Everyone got a licence and was invited to start using it. The real investment went to the team members who already enjoyed it. They were given time to experiment. Only once it worked well for them did they tell their colleagues about it, with enthusiasm. That way the change came from inside the team.
The other way round works worse. “When the manager is very enthusiastic and mainly takes the stage themselves, you actually see more hesitation in the team,” says Ronald. People quickly suspect a hidden agenda: it must be about cutting costs. Colleagues from their own team who were already given room and tools to work with AI are often trusted more. “So as a manager, your most important task is to see whether your team can take the lead in using AI,” says Ronald. “You have to give them room for that.”
Ronald also advises making sure everyone understands what AI can and cannot do. So many new terms and so much new language are springing up around AI that it is worth creating clarity within your team, department or company. “Build a shared AI language together,” says Ronald. “Then everyone knows what you’re talking about.”
What a manager can do in practice
- Give the enthusiasts in your team room. Give colleagues who are keen time and tools to experiment. Then let them share what works, instead of taking the stage yourself.
- Build a shared AI language together. Agree what you mean by AI, what it can and cannot do, and which terms you use. That way nobody talks past each other.
- Make a clear plan. Explain why you use AI, what for and what not for. Lack of clarity feeds uncertainty.
- Make it a standing item in the team meeting. Let colleagues bring their own examples, including what didn’t work.
- Watch the energy as well as the speed. Ask how people are doing now that their work is changing.
See how your leadership is experienced
You only know how employees experience your support once you measure it. With the Employee Engagement Survey by Leiders.nl, you see per team how engaged people are and how they experience leadership. And if you want to get better at guiding change as a manager yourself, take a look at the Executive Leadership Programme.
Also read From fear to grip about uncertainty caused by AI.
