Vanessa Druskat, author and professor at New Hampshire University, explains why we’re so bad at building teams and why technology might not solve our biggest problems.
Many leaders assume that new AI technology will improve their teams: increased productivity, fresh and innovative ideas, everything faster and better.
However, some thinkers are questioning if AI can actually solve some of the most entrenched people problems in the workplace. Will AI solve the workplace loneliness crisis? Will it increase levels of trust?
It might not even make your team that much more innovative.
The real problems holding back innovation in your workplace? It’s not a technology thing.
“There’s always been some form of technology that leaders have counted on to improve teams and to satisfy their workers or make things easier and faster and more efficient,” says Vanessa Druskat, author of “The Emotionally Intelligent Team” and professor at the University of New Hampshire.
“You can’t skirt the people issues,” she says. “It’s people that make or break your team. It’s people that make or break your organization’s performance.”
More managers are relying on AI
Leaders are already turning to AI technology to guide management decisions, according to recent surveys. In an online poll of 1,342 managers, one report found that 64% of managers report using AI at work, and for those that do use AI, 94% say they look to AI tools to “make decisions about the people who report to them.”
This trend is likely to increase as a smaller pool of managers becomes responsible for increasingly large cohorts of direct reports. People managers now oversee twice as many employees as they did five years ago.
While AI can enhance the work of a team, Druskat warns that companies will miss the mark if they don’t consider human connection and interaction.
“It’s the integration of our skills and our talents and our ideas that produce responses to complex problems or that produce innovation,” Druskat says. “Innovation has always been about people coming together and talking and arguing.”
AI can help you be productive, but it can’t replace human connection. It’s a member of the team — but not having access to your people leader will be a problem for innovation.
What drives high-performance teams?
“Leaders don’t really know how to build teams,” Druskat says. Too often, they focus on the individual skills or personalities, which are not good predictors of future behavior. Instead of trying to remove bad apples from the team to improve performance, Druskat’s 30 years of research suggests that environmental and structural factors are much more important.
“People predictably behave badly in certain situations, and those situations are where they don’t feel like they’re accepted and understood,” she says.
For leaders who want to create high-performance teams, the answer is to build an environment where employees’ experiences inspire the right outcomes. Druskat gives the example of her research in the 90s at a biopharma organization where top-performing teams were generating $9.8 million more per year in revenue compared to average teams.
The difference? How employees felt heard, valued, and respected.
Great Place To Work research also finds these experiences in the top-performing companies like the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®, with 8.5 times higher revenue per employee than the market.
3 sets of behaviors that build better teams
Here are the norms and experiences that allow teams to dramatically outperform their peers, from Druskat’s research:
1. How employees help one another succeed
The first step is to ensure that employees can get to know each other. This shared knowledge allows team members to play to the strengths of others on the team and builds a shared sense of respect.
“Getting to know people is irreplaceable,” Druskat says. “Once you get to know one another, you can start giving one another feedback. The No. 1 norm in my model — it’s linked to performance in every team I’ve ever studied — is getting to know one another.
2. Involve everyone in conversations about improvement
“The important thing is that everyone feels they have a sense of influence,” Druskat says. Team members want to have a sense of control, to feel that they are part of the conversation.
When feedback is collected from every part of the team, the whole group can take ownership of the final outcome.
3. Recognize that you lack the information you need
The highest performing teams have the humility to ask for ideas from outside the team. Can you use the expertise of others and have the emotional intelligence to navigate those requests?
“Every time we enter a team, social needs are activated,” Druskat explains. “It’s not rocket science.”
How you can use AI to improve teams
What are some good uses of AI to improve connection on your teams? It might help you design an activity that gets your team to talk to each other, Druskat says.
“AI can be used to come up with ideas: ‘What should we do in our meeting? Let’s just do whatever AI says,’” Druskat says. AI might also make it easier for teams to embrace an activity that feels silly or embarrassing at the outset.
AI can also be a skills builder, Druskat suggests. Leaders can practice a conversation with AI first or run ideas past an AI tool to help make them better or anticipate criticism. What won’t work is using AI as a replacement for your own skills.
“I look at people right now who are relying on technology and aren’t building those interpersonal skills,” she says. “Collaboration requires conflict — and that requires a solid relationship where your ideas bump against mine — not my AI bumping against your AI.”
Among the companies featured on the Best Workplaces in Asia™ 2025 List, many are already harnessing AI to elevate both business outcomes and employee experiences:
- IHG developed Juno, its own secure, internal version of ChatGPT. Created through collaboration between its Tech, Privacy, and Strategy teams, Juno empowers colleagues to generate IHG-specific content safely, enabling personalized guest experiences while protecting sensitive data.
- Micron leverages AI to strengthen career development by optimizing the frequency and quality of 1:1 meetings between team members and leaders. It’s also enhancing its recognition platform with AI tools to help leaders ensure fair and equitable recognition across the organization.
- Visa launched Ask People Team, an AI-powered portal designed to streamline access to HR information and support strategic decision-making. By identifying common pain points through a series of interviews, the team built a hub that now saves around 1,700 hours per month, freeing up time for more meaningful work.
A true culture of innovation can only thrive when psychological safety is woven into the fabric of daily work life. Leading organizations understand that breakthroughs and continuous improvement depend on an environment where everyone feels safe to share ideas, challenge norms, and take risks without fear. That’s why the Best Workplaces make deliberate, ongoing efforts to embed psychological safety into their everyday operations and practices—ensuring that innovation and improvement are encouraged at every level of the company.
- At Schneider Electric, inclusive policies remove the personal risks of speaking up, while a clear Trust Charter and Inclusion & Care agenda make it expected for people to share ideas and challenge status quo. Formal listening mechanisms such as its OneVoice survey (with manager‑owned action plans), employee resource groups, and small group Connexion Sessions with leaders, turn employee voice into visible change. This sense of safety fuels innovation at scale. For example, its Open Talent Market lets employees spend time on stretch projects and mentorships without career penalty, while the Electrifier Program and Step Up recognition celebrate experimentation and expertise. Furthermore, its practice of continuous coaching and 360° feedback normalize learning loops. Schneider Electric’s efforts to convert inclusion into ingenuity have created the conditions where curiosity compounds, mastery grows, and bold ideas move from the edges into the business.
- At AbbVie, clear “speak‑up” pathways take a strong stance against harassment and bias, and well‑being support like its EAP and AbbVie Vitality remove the personal risk from telling the truth or asking for help. It scales safety through rituals: Ways We Work behaviors make candid dialogue and learning‑from‑ mistakes explicit expectations, while Time to Talk check‑ins and pulse‑backed action plans keep feedback flowing. These are complemented by facilitated forums like its New Leader Assimilation and AbbVie Team Alignment programs to give teams a safe space to surface expectations and resolve friction. This foundation directly powers innovation. When it’s safe to experiment, people try bolder ideas; and AbbVie amplifies that with its AbbVie Excellence Awards to encourage behaviors like Make Possibilities Real. Unsurprisingly, AbbVie reports strong innovation sentiment and real improvements based on ground feedback, because psychological safety isn’t a side program; it’s how work gets done.
AI is opening new doors for leaders to build stronger, more innovative teams—but it works best when paired with the right behaviors. By fostering trust and psychological safety, creating a sense of belonging, and encouraging collaboration, leaders can unlock the full potential of their people. When these foundations are in place, AI becomes a powerful tool to personalize growth, streamline processes, and drive fairness. The future of great workplaces lies in blending smart technology with even smarter leadership.
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