Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:00:05] Are your people excited about AI, or quietly anxious about what it means for their jobs? And how psychologically safe is your workplace culture when it comes to dealing with that uncertainty? On this week’s episode, we explore how leaders can help teams navigate rapid change without losing trust or momentum. First up, HR expert Suhini Wijayasinghe shares new research on why many workers feel unprepared for an AI driven future. Then leadership consultant Sue Barrett explains why psychological safety and clear communication matter so much during times of uncertainty. From SoundCartel. I’m Grace Jennings-Edquist, and this is Business Essentials.
Are you preparing your employees for an AI-driven future?
Our first guest is Suhini Wijayasinghe, the head of HR solutions at People to People Recruitment. With AI’s rapid fire adoption within the workplace, many employees still feel their organizations aren’t keeping pace. New research shows uncertainty and fear are widespread, often driven by confusion about what AI actually means for people’s jobs. In this conversation, Suhini joins me to unpack what’s going on and how employers can respond. She begins by talking me through people to people’s recent polls about AI in the workplace. I asked her, what did these polls find and why do they matter?
Suhini Wijayasinghe: [00:01:25] We had lots of interesting feedback from all of the generations that are present in the workforce at the moment. Some of it was around, you know, their fear of being replaced by AI in the workforce. And we found that, you know, 3 in 10 Australian workers believe that AI will eventually replace their role entirely, and a further 30% think parts of their role will be replaced to a certain degree, if not all. And I think there was also, you know, a sense of not understanding and a lack of support of how to use AI and what is AI. So baby boomers feel the least supported, with 76% of them saying that they don’t understand. You know what this tool is and how it’s going to impact the workplace. And that was closely followed by 71% for millennials and Gen Z and 58% for Gen X. And I think that is reflective of, I guess, each of those generations perception towards technology in general. But I did find it interesting that Gen X actually felt less supported than millennials and Gen Z. And I think millennials and Gen Z have a different approach to that, just because they want to know everything about their technology, I think they have a deeper understanding that they need to be aware of the technology rather than being indifferent to it. So it’s interesting to see those stats come through.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:02:40] I’d love to ask about these recent people to people polls. They found that 7 in 10 workers feel their employer isn’t preparing them for an AI driven future. What are some of the key findings around generational differences in concerns about AI in the workplace?
Suhini Wijayasinghe: [00:02:54] I think there’s varying levels of hesitation depending on the generation that you’re in. And it’s more about, I think the reasons behind it are pretty consistent. It’s just more about how many people within that specific generation is succumbing to that particular assumption. And a lot of it revolves around that uncertainty around, is this a piece of technology going to replace me? What does it actually mean? Is it going to replace a decision maker? Where does the control lie? And I think those are all really natural questions for people to ask and be concerned about. And I think it’s reflected in each generation with their historical adaptivity to technology in general. So we know that millennials are, you know, quite, you know, children of two worlds essentially. Gen Z are very much about everything being tech and automated. And boomers obviously have a large hesitation towards it as well as Gen X in terms of kind of relinquishing that control of like, where do I fit into this chain of events in terms of a new piece of technology? And so I think that underpins a lot of the hesitation around AI in general, but also, crucially, not understanding exactly what AI is.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:04:07] That’s a really good point, actually. And I might let that bring me to my next question, which is about, I suppose, upskilling employees. So they do understand this a lot more so with AI moving so fast, many workers do fear being left behind. To avoid this, what kind of meaningful upskilling do employees need and how can employers help bridge that gap?
Suhini Wijayasinghe: [00:04:26] Yeah, that’s a great question. And I think before we even dive into that, well, actually part of it is, you know, that first step is building AI literacy. And part of that is, like I mentioned, you know, understanding exactly what AI is. And the name is quite deceptive. I think people think artificial intelligence. You immediately think of movies and Steven Spielberg and everything else, and you kind of go, oh my God, is this thing, you know, sentient and thinking for itself. But really, what you should be doing is sort of flipping that acronym around and it’s sort of, you know, it’s not artificial intelligence. It’s iterative. Automation is the better way of thinking about it. So you have a tool here where it can automate so much of what you’re doing in your business to free you up for time to do other, more important and exciting things. It’s not there to replace you. It’s there to help you. And I think part of that process is building people’s AI literacy, which is starting small. Don’t overwhelm people with, oh my God, these are all these new fantastic tools and bot agents and and you know, that can get really complex really quickly. Just talk to them about what is AI, how is it being used at the moment just out in the world and then specifically to the workplace, because it’s very easy to be fearful of something that you are not comprehensive about in terms of what it does. That is the first step for employers build some AI literacy in terms of people’s understanding. And then from that, people are naturally going to start thinking about, okay, how can I participate within this automated world in a day to day perspective, and you’d be amazed at how many people actually come to you with ideas of going, hey, can we not automate this? Or can we get rid of this little thing? Or this is really bothering me and takes me to take so much time. What can we do to get around it and use AI for it? That’s the critical step.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:06:11] That sounds great and sounds really timely, given that this research also found that I believe it was only 17% of employers are currently offering AI related training or support. So thank you for those really practical steps. Look, my last question is kind of looking to the future. So looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, I wonder what skills or mindsets do you believe will be most essential for employees navigating an AI enhanced workplace?
Suhini Wijayasinghe: [00:06:35] I think the reality is, and I don’t want to sugarcoat this in any way, we are on the precipice of something really amazing, and I don’t think any of us can soundly go. This is what the landscape is going to look like in a year’s time. We are sitting around circa 2003 2004 of when social media came out, and nobody in their wildest dreams could have even begin to explain what social media meant five years, ten years down the line. And now, in hindsight, look at where we’re at, right? So I don’t think it’s helpful to kind of go, you know, it could be here, it could be there. We don’t know. That’s the answer. So if you go with that mindset of going, look, we don’t know. There has to be an element of caution and responsibility in terms of okay, what are we doing with AI and how does that, you know, affect our data or affect our people? So as long as you’re going into it with that mindset, but also with curiosity, because I think we don’t know what we don’t know at this point. And so no question is a dumb question, whether that be about the safety parameters of using AI or how creative we can be with AI.
Suhini Wijayasinghe: [00:07:43] So I think businesses as a whole and employees need to look at this tool and go, okay, what can I do with it? Could this be possible? Can I? And it can be as simple as you know what? I need two systems to talk together. And I just want to see if it’s possible. Going in with that curious mindset with a healthy dose of caution, of going. We need to protect our privacy. We need to protect our people. And this isn’t about replacing the human element. This is about how can I free up time so my employees can do the things that they want to do, rather than I’ve got to, you know, do 10,000 administrative tasks at the end of the month. How can we get rid of those sorts of things and help build something, and a community and a culture of a workforce that’s being strategic and doing exciting work, rather than the menial tasks that we’d like to get rid of? It’s a broad mindset, I’m not going to lie. There’s lots of things to encompass there, but I think all facets of it are important considering it’s it’s a whole new world.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:08:40] That was Suhini Wijayasinghe, head of HR solutions at People to People Recruitment.
Leading teams through uncertainty with communication, trust and psychological safety
Now to leading teams through uncertainty while safeguarding their psychological well-being. Sue Barrett, founder and CEO of Barrett Consulting Group and the Selling Better Movement, joined us to outline this essential concept. She explains how trust and clear communication can help teams stay collaborative rather than fearful. She also shares the most common mistakes leaders must avoid during change. Sue starts by telling me what psychological safety actually looks like in small to medium businesses in SMEs.
Sue Barrett: [00:09:21] Psychological safety isn’t some fancy Google HR program with beanbags and meditation rooms, just so you know. It’s much more tangible and immediate. So what psychological safety looks like. This is what we want to do. It looks like a junior admin person feeling comfortable correcting the founder on a fact in a meeting without repercussions. Alright, they’re able to speak up. It’s a salesperson admitting that they lost a big deal without fear of being shamed or sidelined, so that people are there to work out what happened and help them move forward. And you know, from my working with, you know, my little small but mighty team at Barrett, but also then working across SMEs and larger corporations, you can see psychological safety in what I would call tight knit teams. So there’s this palpable feeling in the room. You know, you can sense it when you walk in that it’s something that people feel safe to speak up. It shows in casual moments. You know, post-meeting debrief. You know, someone saying, I don’t know is actually celebrated and it’s actually looked at. The thing about psychological safety is no one and I mean no one wants to feel humiliated, degraded, belittled, no one. It’s part of human conditioning. If we feel shamed or treated badly, we retreat. Now, some might fight it, but most people will retreat.
Sue Barrett: [00:10:43] And then trust is broken. So the world is messy. Business can be messy. Humans are definitely messy. So when we create safe space for people to be able to speak up and share things with clear intent and help, then everyone feels safe to contribute. And I think that’s what’s really important. So, for example, practically, when we actually open any workshop with new participants and any program, we always create a safe space for people to work with us. So we position ourselves not as experts but as tour guides. You know, we’re not going to tell them how to live their lives and manage their careers or run the business. That’s for them to decide. Instead, what we do is we invite them to be a bit adventurous. We always lead with curiosity, helpfulness, and fairness, which is actually core to being human beings. And then we have fun, and we make it safe to ask silly questions and share stories. And and we laugh and I laugh at myself. You know, that kind of stuff. So I invite people to become pioneers on an adventure where everyone can have a say about how we’re going. And then that’s where you actually unlock beautiful ideas and information and stuff like that.
Sue Barrett: [00:11:52] And not that business is serious. We’ve still got to produce results and things like that. But if everyone’s too scared and they come back, you know, nodding heads or whatever, then we definitely don’t have psychological safety. So the other thing I think that I’ve learnt over the years, because I’m quite a fast paced person and look, I’ve been told all my life I think too much and all that kind of stuff. So I’ve probably thought about it 58,000 ways, right? But most people haven’t. Or, you know, they’re not necessarily ready to jump into change. So if we’ve already thought about this and we’re way down the track and you’re with a group of people who haven’t been given enough space or time to think about this, you cannot expect them to catch up to you. So you’ve got to go back, create the conditions that are safe for them to feel adventurous enough to enter on the journey with you. So you’ve always got to constantly calibrate where people are at, But nonetheless, you come in peace. I come in peace. I’m here to be of support and help. And we’re on this little pioneering journey together. Let’s see how we go. That’s the sort of stuff. If you can create that, then the magic happens.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:13:00] So why is psychological safety important during times of change of uncertainty?
Sue Barrett: [00:13:05] All right. So the brain is wired for risk and we’re constantly looking out for danger. And so of course uncertainty triggers our primal threat response. So our brains go into survival mode. And when that happens people become risk averse. Most people okay. And they’ll hoard information. They often retreat into silos. So what we’ve got to do, as I said, is help them be a bit more adventurous. And psychological safety can actually help keep people open. So at the front of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, that’s where your executive function is. It’s where your problem solving is your empathy. It’s the executive part of the brain, and it’s really good at solving problems and building empathy and things like that. But when you’re frightened, you lose access to that and you retreat to more primitive part of your brain where you’re reacting to the world. So by creating psychological safety and actually even in times of challenge, we can actually help people stay in this prefrontal cortex, part of their brain to help them actually think of and work with better solutions. So, for example, you know, when I’m sort of thinking about when Covid hit and everyone went into lockdown and what happened was that a lot of people went, you know, like, what are we going to do now? I mean, I went, eek, we all should go eek! It was quite dramatic. However, as a team, what we did is we reassured each other that we’re going to have each other’s back and we’re going to get our way through this, and then we build a communications plan back out to our client base and to our broader community to help them navigate their way forward in terms of good strategy and sales opportunities and client engagement and things like that.
Sue Barrett: [00:14:49] And we use the metaphor of flying a plane, and particularly that story about the plane that landed on the Hudson River and the drama that that created. So what we did is we helped people shift away from just going into reacting, sort of freaking out mode and actually helping people find courage and confidence to be able to know what to do, to move forward. And I think that’s incredibly important. When we go through economic downturns or crises like Covid, we have to help people find solid ground that they can work on, that they can perform to, and keep reminding them that we’ve got each other’s back and we’re going to navigate our way through this, and that will help people feel less stressed. They know it’s serious, but they also know we’re not just all flailing about and, you know, going, oh my God, what are we going to do? That kind of stuff. So it’s really important that with psychological safety during times of uncertainty, we can unlock our collective intelligence and our agility, and we can actually help teams shift from being paralyzed to being problem solving and move from competing to collaborating. That is the key.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:15:58] So we were talking about times of uncertainty and maintaining communication during these times. How can leaders balance the need to sort of be transparent with their team, with the reality that often some information simply can’t be shared?
Sue Barrett: [00:16:11] Well, I mean, the thing is that you have to keep people informed about the process of what’s happening. You may not be able to give them the content specifically, but you do need to reassure them that you’re working on this and you keep them up to date with where it’s heading. And then you reassure them that when you can share specific information that you will. I mean, that’s basically it. So they need context and purpose and process. So keeping people up to date. The problem is if you create a vacuum. People fill it with stuff. And so you need to be the boss of this communication plan. And if people have issues with it or are concerned that there’s an open door, they can come and speak to you about it, that’s what I would say.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:16:54] So during times of uncertainty, what are some of the most common communication mistakes leaders make during these times of uncertainty, and how can they avoid them?
Sue Barrett: [00:17:03] Right. Three big mistakes come up time and time again. The first one is, as I just mentioned before, radio silence. So leaders retreating and sort of going dark. That is terrible, because the vacuum that this creates will be filled with rumors and worst case scenarios, and people will get conspiratorial about it. So what we need to be able to do is have communication rhythm that is regularly connecting with people. The second problem is overpromising certainty. So you do not want to say, well, this will be the last round of changes. And then change comes six weeks later. So you’ve got to be really careful about your credibility, and you’ve got to be able to communicate that. You can’t promise that this will be the last change, but you can promise you’ll be the first to know if more shifts or changes are coming. So again, don’t over promise certainty. And the third thing is focusing on only what. And forgetting the who. So if there are changes like the businesses, you know had to let staff go and things like that, you can get very perfunctory about it and sort of be more numbers oriented. But don’t forget that these relationships that people have had have now ended or have been changed fundamentally. So we do need to acknowledge that people’s emotions and feelings are real, and that if my friend, you know, who’s become one of my dear friends is my work colleague is leaving, there’s grieving going to happen. You know, that person’s leaving. It’s going to be distressing. It’s not just a numbers game. It’s a human business. We are there in relationships. So I think that’s really important to be aware of that and how you actually manage that.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:18:37] As a leader, how do you build trust through communication when you don’t have all the answers yet?
Sue Barrett: [00:18:43] So you need to shift from being an answer giver to being a leader who has got certainty of process. So instead of pretending to know everything you know, you can say, look, I don’t have all the answers right now, but here’s what I can promise you, okay? I will be back to you on Thursday with what we know or you know, what we don’t know, etc. so you don’t want to leave people guessing. So I think what’s really important is for people not to try to be perfect. There’s no such thing as perfection anyway. It’s the enemy of progress. And just be real and realistic. Be authentic. And, you know, make sure you have these little micro commitments that you can work to, that people then go, okay, that makes me feel safe. I see where that’s going. Yes, it’s disappointing, but I understand the logic, that kind of thing, because we’re dealing with cognitive complexity here. There’s all sorts of thoughts and feelings and emotions swirling around for people. And you’ve got to be able to acknowledge that if times are tough, that we are a resilient team and we have a strong foundation and we’re going to get through this, and I know we’re going to work together. So I spend, you know, when I’ve done community groups and volunteer work and things like this through really tough campaigns or stuff like that.
Sue Barrett: [00:19:56] And also when I’m working with leaders, I constantly say we’re a team, and I remind them of the movie Gladiator. And I know this might be a bit sort of mad, but if you remember Gladiator, when they’re all out in the middle of the Colosseum and they’re waiting for whatever horrors were going to emerge from the tunnels to attack them, they all stood in a circle with their back to each other, because that’s the way they could have each other’s back. And they were there together to fight together to help each other. I constantly remind people that we’ve got each other’s back. We’re here to make it work, and we’re going to help each other navigate our Ford. Safety is our number one priority. We protect each other. We help each other. But we’re actually going to get through this. And I just find people’s inner curiosity and courage comes through when you create conditions like that. So that’s how I like to lead. That’s how I encourage others to lead. And I think that helps us get through really tough situations and build great teams.
Host – Grace Jennings-Edquist: [00:20:50] That was Sue Barrett, founder and CEO of Barrett Consulting Group and the Selling Better Movement. Thanks for joining us for this week’s episode. Follow Business Essentials Podcast across social media and head to www.BusinessEssentialsPodcast.au for more. Business Essentials is a SoundCartel podcast. Producers are Nick Schildberger, Nicole Goodman and myself. Technical production is by Pete Letts. I’m Grace Jennings-Edquist thanks for listening. We’ll bring you more business essentials next week.
