AI-powered workplaces have a huge and often unmet need for the soft skills of communication, emotional intelligence, trust building and social awareness, say experts in the field.
A broad social disconnect and a fear of AI-driven job loss have driven the need for managers who can build trust, as well as communicate and support employees with empathy, says University of NSW Graduate School of Management adjunct associate professor Denise Weinreis.
Increasing numbers of her students in the university’s Executive MBA course now find they are mandated to increase workplace efficiency by introducing AI, she says, knowing this might mean their own positions are redundant. “They are distraught,” she adds. “They have to navigate both what they’ve been mandated to do, and their own reality with that mandate.”
Soft skills of active listening, behavioural flexibility, cognitive and social empathy and compassion are needed to build trust and to help employees at all levels feel connected, she says. “Leaders need to foster an environment of psychological safety where people can voice concerns,” she says, adding that developing that environment is much more difficult online.
There is also the problem of understanding the limits and capabilities of AI, including generative AI, in various workplaces and how to carve out a place in the new company culture. The time and efficiency performance metrics in some companies mean that employees have to choose between spending time with an unsettled colleague or getting the best productivity outcome as soon as possible, Weinreis says.
The world’s 24/7 media feed inundates people with so much information that if they can’t compartmentalise and take time out, change fatigue can take hold, she says, adding that being “on” for so long increases anxiety and subsequent mental health issues.
“The course I am facilitating is really about social awareness, being present and being mindful,” she adds. “It’s not just about others: it’s about your own mental wellbeing.”
The introduction of AI should be a people-led change, rather than one driven by the technology, says Avani Prabhakar, who is in charge of technology giant Atlassian’s transformation into an AI-native company. As chief people and AI enablement officer, she leads the company’s internal AI shift – shaping how the company hires, operates, and builds AI-fluent teams.
Atlassian emphasises the importance of judgment and critical thinking, emotional intelligence, creativity and adaptability, Prabhakar says. She thinks it’s important to deploy AI as a tool for teams to work with, rather than for individuals to use on their own.
“To play any team sport, you need to have all the human skills,” she says. “That’s where the magic happens.”
Business leaders with soft skills understand the broader context of how AI can be introduced and the benefits it can offer, she adds. “They will be the real winners here,” she says, noting that employing a largely technology-driven view of AI as a productivity booster will miss some of the many potential advantages.
“Building trust, reading the room, coaching people through change is how you sustain performance, and AI can’t do that,” she adds.
Atlassian has multiple resources for employees who want to further understand the soft skills needed in the new age of AI. A 2025 Atlassian website blog – “5 skills teams need to thrive in the age of AI (and how to build them)” lists some of these important human skills and describes how to build them.
To hone critical thinking, it says, AI should be treated as a sparring partner, not an oracle, and it should be asked to list sources and come up with counter-arguments. To boost creativity, AI can be used to spark different ways of thinking, or to offer leads in different disciplines.
Emotional intelligence is another important soft skill in the AI workplace, the blog adds, noting that the ability to recognise emotions, both one’s own and other people’s, is a strong predictor of job performance. AI can be used as a safe place to boost the skill of emotional intelligence by practising tricky conversations with imaginary irate clients or difficult bosses.
Prabhakar says AI is an intuitive technology and should no longer be seen as simply a useful tool that needs end-to-end deployment. “It’s about how you drive that change, leading with people,” she adds.
The AI boom has shone a spotlight on the need for human skills such as critical thinking, creativity, communications, and public speaking, says Nic Mason, operations manager at non-government distance education provider ACS.
As well as specific soft skill courses, such as certificate courses in managing change, emotional intelligence and motivation, he adds, these human skills are taught within all ACS courses in the form of experiential learning or problem-based learning.
Repetition and reflection and the actual learned experience foster these skills, he says, pointing to an ACS computer servicing course. Students are asked to disassemble and reassemble a computer and then explain the process in layman’s terms.
“It seems like a simple enough thing on the surface, but you’re actually having to engage the problem,” Mason says, adding this develops problem-solving skills. “And furthermore, you’re developing your communication soft skills by having to consider the audience that you’re writing it for. You’re developing your creativity and pragmatism.”
Emotional intelligence, critical thinking and communication skills are needed to utilise AI well, he adds, and to avoid what he calls “AI psychosis” – the belief that AI knows everything and can answer every question.
Most online searches are driven by AI prompts, he adds, and many AI users never go beyond the search to the sources. “They’re just taking whatever’s said there in the AI box as the definitive truth,” he says. “The problem is that ethics haven’t been considered in the development and the implementation of all of these different AI programs.”
Technologist Renata Sguario, CEO and founder of Australian human skills development company Maxme, says the increasing AI introduction in many technical areas has boosted the importance of soft skills such as problem-solving and innovation. “That’s where these human skills come in: teamwork, having difficult conversations, working with people who think differently,” she says.
As a technologist, she understands the emphasis has shifted, and that to add value in the new technologically boosted workplace employees need to communicate well, influence people, listen to ideas, and empathise.
Most people can quickly learn how to use simple AI, she says, but they usually need more time to learn how to be effective in the new AI-driven workplace, how to lean on soft skills such as critical thinking and empathy. Ideally, human skills should be taught in school, college and university before careers begin, Sguario says, otherwise employees will need specific upskilling.
Companies need to take care with AI, to consider the way they operate, redesign ways of working and embed new systems carefully and responsibly, she adds, noting it can be expensive, but it shouldn’t be skimped.
In too many cases, she says, AI has been introduced and staff have been let go and rehired when difficulties arise. “Job safety, the effectiveness, the efficiency – all of that goes into the toilet because staff lose trust,” Sguario says.
Australian businesses often grapple with AI fallout, she adds, because leaders assumed the rapid introduction of AI would lift productivity without considering the potential of adverse consequences. “What we’re seeing is another wave of business transformation that’s been badly implemented,” she says, “because we’re taking a tech-first approach, we’re not taking a people-first approach.”