With AI, You’re Efficient. But Are You Effective?

Something’s breaking in the way we work.

Output is skyrocketing. Alignment is plummeting.

AI can generate a strategy deck in seconds, but it can’t tell you if it’s the right approach or whether it’s truly executable inside your organization, given your people, politics, timing, readiness, and culture.

We have more tools than ever to make work “efficient”… yet teams are feeling more overwhelmed, less connected, and thinking less strategically — perhaps more than at any point in the last decade.

Leaders keep telling me the same thing: “We’re moving faster, but not smarter.”

And that’s exactly where the trap begins.

The Productivity Paradox We’re All Living In

Let’s be honest: for years, many of us have equated excellence with producing more, faster.

But we’re in a new productivity loop — one fueled by generative AI that provides instant answers and analysis, and endless new tech solutions offering dashboards that create the illusion of progress.

The problem is, we’re optimizing our workflows while eroding our judgment.

We’re producing more while saying less.

We have more data than ever, but we aren’t making better decisions.

Sure, we’re more efficient, but at what cost?

And leaders feel the tension: How do I help my team stay efficient without sliding into AI slop? How do I embrace new tools without becoming too dependent on them — and losing my edge? How do I stay connected and competitive in a world demanding outputs at machine speed?

This is the leadership challenge of the AI era — and most leaders were never trained for it.

Where are you seeing the productivity trap show up in your organization?

Three Patterns I Keep Seeing Inside Organizations

You might be seeing these patterns on your own teams (or in yourself):

1. The capable manager who becomes an AI power-user… then stops thinking

A VP recently told me one of her managers, who’d always been reliable and thorough, was suddenly producing work even faster than usual.

There’d been no problem with his work before, but now he was crushing deadlines left and right.

When she sat down to review the latest deliverables, the content lacked the depth she’d come to expect from her top-performer.

During an alignment call, he proudly shared that he was using AI to “optimize” his work — but seemingly without the judgment to step back and ask: Is this actually good?

Productivity: high.

Impact: low.

2. The team that communicates constantly… without ever aligning

Another leader shared that her team was running faster than ever — but decisions were stalling.

Everyone was working hard. Slack was buzzing. Meeting summaries were flying. But no one was actually integrating the information or using it to drive decisions.

Each person kept generating more “answers” using their endless box of efficiency tools, hoping someone else would make sense of it all.

The leader acknowledged, “I thought we were moving fast. But we were really just moving a lot.”

3. The senior leader who’s more efficient than ever… and more disconnected than ever

A CEO confided in me that, although AI had automated much of her communication with her direct reports, the shift came at a cost: she felt increasingly distant from her team.

The work was getting done… but no real communication was happening.

• Asana kept track of the to-do list.

• Google Analytics would track the data.

• ChatGPT would explain any variances.

Meanwhile, she had delegated so much to her productivity tools that she’d become disconnected from the work — updates kept rolling in from her AI notetaker, but without being in the room, she missed the context, nuance, and energy that shape real understanding.

These examples aren’t failures; they’re symptoms of a system that values speed more than impact, output more than insight.

And efficiency culture has a way of burning out the people who keep everything afloat.

When speed becomes the standard, your best people stop thinking strategically and start running triage.

High performers absorb the gap between “fast” and “effective.”

Over time, that gap becomes exhaustion.

And it’s time for high-performing teams in the age of AI to take a different path.

Ask yourself: Am I rewarding speed or substance? Is my team structured for deep thinking or constant output? Have I unintentionally delegated too much of my leadership to tools that can’t think for me?

The Shift Great Leaders Are Making Right Now

High-performing teams aren’t the ones who use the most AI, just the ones who use it well.

Here’s what they do differently:

1. They protect deep thinking like a strategic asset

• They treat focus as the real currency.

• They build uninterrupted time into calendars — and protect it.

• They use AI to clear noise, not to replace judgment.

Because thinking is not optional. It’s the job.

2. They set “quality standards” for AI use

If you’ve seen any jokes about consulting slop recently, you know not all AI outputs are equal. High-performing teams create guidelines around:

• Where AI is best suited

• What requires human evaluation

• What must be done by a real person

• What “good” looks like

Guardrails help prevent the trap of speed without substance.

3. They double down on interpersonal connection

Good leaders recognize that the more we automate, the more human connection matters.

When tools handle tasks, they create space for leaders to cultivate relationships — the work only humans can do, but often slides down the priority list.

I’m seeing leaders carve out more time for coaching, feedback, and conversations about goals, motivation, and priorities.

Because dialogue — not a document — builds trust.

4. They elevate managers — not just tools

• AI doesn’t fix burned-out managers.

• It doesn’t motivate teams.

• It doesn’t create clarity.

• It doesn’t rebuild trust.

If managers aren’t supported, trained, and empowered, no tool can save a team’s performance.

This is especially true during times of transformation, when humans — not algorithms — determine whether change sticks.

Ask your team: What does “good” look like — beyond “fast”? When does AI deepen insight — and when does it dilute it? Where are we losing alignment? How is AI shaping the way you think, not just the way you produce?

A New Era of Leadership: Human First, Tech-Enabled

The leaders who will thrive in the next decade share a mindset:

They embrace efficiency — but they refuse to sacrifice clarity, critical thinking, or relationships.

They know productivity isn’t the goal. Impact is.

They know AI is a tool. Judgment is the differentiator.

And they understand that in a world where anyone can create content, speed, or a slide deck…the leaders who win will be the ones who think deeply, connect meaningfully, and lead intentionally.

Let’s build teams that do more than move fast.

Let’s build teams that move forward.