Whether you like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is now part of everyday organizational life. Companies use it to analyze data, generate insights, automate tasks, and take advantage of the promise of efficiency at scale. Given all that AI does, conversations frequently focus on how ubiquitous and powerful AI has become.
But here’s the reality many organizations are running into: AI alone doesn’t create value. It doesn’t align people around shared goals, build trust across teams, or turn insight into commitment or action.
The truth is that technology can enable preliminary progress—but only relationships make sustainable, meaningful progress possible.
The Problem: AI Implemented Without Relationships
In many organizations, when AI replaces interaction rather supports it, dashboards replace dialogue, automated insights replace conversation, and decisions are made faster, but often in isolation.
The result is predictable: teams gather more information but have less alignment; they receive answers without context. Leaders see data but miss the story behind it. People feel disconnected from decisions that affect their work. Work speeds up, yet collaboration weakens.
This isn’t a technology problem.
It’s a relationship problem.
What Research Tells Us About Connection
A growing body of research reinforces what many leaders intuitively know: human connection is essential for effectiveness and well-being.
Research from UC Berkeley indicates that strong social connections are critical to overall well-being, resilience, and how people experience meaning in their work and lives. Relationships are not a “soft” factor; they are foundational.
Workplace research shows that positive relationships improve engagement, collaboration, and performance. When people feel connected, they are more willing to share ideas, navigate challenges together, and commit to outcomes. This has a broader implication for the organization’s success; they experience lower employee turnover, fewer days missed due to illness, and a diminished loss of intellectual property.
Studies on psychological safety further show that strong interpersonal connections enable learning and innovation. People contribute more effectively when trust and openness are present.
On the flip side, the U.S. Surgeon General has found that the lack of social connection is increasingly recognized as a risk factor—not just for health, but for engagement and effectiveness at work.
Why AI Feels Powerful—Yet Unsatisfying
AI often feels both impressive and unsatisfying at the same time. You can get an astounding amount of information at the click of a few keys, but people don’t experience value through outputs alone. They experience value through interaction—conversation, context, and collaboration. Without those elements, even the best technology struggles to deliver meaningful results.
The Real Solution: Building Relationships with Technology
The answer isn’t less AI. It’s better integration of technology and human relationships.
AI can surface patterns, automate routine work, and support decision-making. But people still need to:
- Interpret insights together
- Align priorities across teams
- Make trade-offs
- Commit to shared outcomes
Organizations that succeed with AI are the ones that invest just as much in relationships as they do in tools.
What Leaders Must Focus On
For AI to deliver value, leaders need to strengthen the foundations of social connection:
- Trust and psychological safety
- Clear roles and expectations
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Ongoing dialogue, not just data flow
These are the essential skills needed to turn technology into impact.
Where Our Workshops Fit
This is why our workshops focus on business relationship management (BRM) skills.
We help leaders and teams build the relationship capabilities needed to:
- Collaborate effectively across boundaries
- Connect technology initiatives to real outcomes
- Turn insights into shared understanding
- Translate conversations into results
AI may accelerate the work, but relationships determine whether the work actually moves forward.
Leadership Education, BRM Training, Courses, Coaching and Consulting
Lead the Pack Consulting specializes in business relationship management (BRM) leadership development. Our years of experience in Leadership Management Education, Training, Courses, Coaching and Consulting help us support business relationship management teams and provide them with the leadership skills needed to overcome their challenges. We have provided leadership coaching to business relationship managers, leaders, and teams in a variety of organizations and industries. Since 2013, we have been a registered provider of business relationship management certification workshops and coaching.
Lead and Succeed
Our coaches, Elka Schrijver and Peter Lijnse, have both won the prestigious Arnie Award from the Business Relationship Management (BRM) Institute for their work to embody, enhance, and promote business relationship management knowledge throughout the global BRM community. They have been actively involved in the BRM Institute since it was founded in 2013 and have been contributing authors for several components of the BRM Body of Knowledge and certification courses. They are currently writing a series of practical, user-friendly books about mastering business relationship management leadership skills.