The Evolving Role of the Manager: Navigating Change with AI as an Ally
Humancore Team
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May 28, 2025
As technology reshapes workplaces and economic pressures demand more with less, the evolving role of the manager has become both more challenging and more vital to organizational success.
Stretched thin between operational demands and people development, today's managers find themselves in an impossible bind. They currently devote nearly 40% of their time to problem-solving and administrative tasks, while a mere 13% goes toward developing the people who work for them. This stark imbalance isn't just a scheduling issue—it represents a fundamental dilemma about what managers should be in our rapidly transforming world.
"We may indeed have fewer managers in the future," Deloitte's 2025 Global Human Capital Trends research notes, "but what and how they do their work will need to evolve for the new world of work." This evolution is already underway, as organizations increasingly favor flatter hierarchies and "zero distance" to customers, challenging conventional management structures.
Companies like UPS, Citigroup, and Google have dramatically reduced managerial headcounts, cutting thousands of supervisory roles. In many cases, these cuts are being made preemptively on the expectation that AI and automation will deliver the necessary scale and efficiency, even before the supporting infrastructure or tools are fully in place. Yet paradoxically, effective management has never been more important: Employees working under ineffective managers are 15 times more likely to become low performers and three times more likely to leave their organizations.
This creates the central paradox of modern management: just as organizations are reducing managerial ranks and questioning their traditional roles, the human development aspects of management are becoming increasingly critical to success.
The path forward isn't about preserving management as we know it, nor is it about eliminating the role entirely. Rather, organizations must fundamentally reimagine what managers do and how they do it.
Part of the challenge is that managers themselves feel unprepared—over a third admit feeling insufficiently equipped for people management responsibilities, with 40% reporting declined mental health after assuming these roles.
Fortunately, AI has started to play a more meaningful support role for today’s managers. As Harvard Business Review's 2025 research reveals, managers are increasingly looking to artificial intelligence not just as a productivity tool but as a thought partner that can provide fresh perspectives and enhance strategic thinking.
AI isn't threatening to replace managers—it's offering to transform them into something more effective and sustainable. By handling administrative work, providing real-time advice, and supporting managers’ ongoing development, AI creates space for the human-centered aspects of management that technologies cannot replicate: empathy, coaching, strategic thinking, and cultural development.
The most successful managers of the next decade will be those who effectively partner with AI to amplify their capabilities. This isn't about managers simply learning to "use AI tools"—it's about developing a fundamentally different relationship with technology.
Effective AI solutions for managers go far beyond generic productivity tools. They offer:
The result is an augmented manager with enhanced capabilities to fulfill both operational demands and human development needs—someone who can successfully balance competing priorities without being crushed beneath them.
This enhanced managerial capability becomes especially important in addressing what Deloitte terms the "stagility" challenge—the disconnect between leaders pushing for greater agility and workers craving stability. Modern managers must serve as bridges between these competing needs, translating organizational change imperatives into human-centered approaches that build trust and engagement.
AI-augmented managers can navigate this divide more effectively, not by imposing change from above but by fostering the conditions that make change possible from within. By reducing administrative burdens, AI creates space for the human connections that build trust during transitions. By offering data-driven insights, it helps managers identify where resistance stems from legitimate concerns versus simple inertia.
For organizations looking to support this managerial evolution, success requires more than simply purchasing AI tools. It demands a comprehensive approach:
The organizations that embrace what Harvard Business calls "AI-first leadership" will gain significant competitive advantages through stronger teams, greater innovation, and more resilient cultures. As management evolves from a primarily administrative function to a truly strategic one, the humans and machines working in partnership will redefine what leadership means for the next generation.
In this new era, managers won't just survive despite technological change—they'll thrive because of it, creating sustainable value for their organizations by focusing on the uniquely human aspects of leadership that no algorithm can replicate.
Ready to transform how your managers perform and grow? Humancore has created the first AI-powered advisor for managers. To learn more about how an AI-powered advisor can transform your organization's approach to manager development, contact us today at [email protected].
