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AI-driven reorganizations are proving harder to execute than other types of organizational change. The problem is not that employees don’t understand the change. It’s that leaders aren’t helping them work differently.
Bain’s Live the Model survey finds that AI-related reorganizations underperform other types of organizational change—and that companies undergoing AI transformation deploy fewer of the enablers that help people adapt to the new model.
Fewer than 40% of respondents felt the scope and rationale of their AI transformation were clear, and only one in three felt personally motivated to adopt the new structure. These rates are well behind those for other transformations. There is a similar gap in transformation enablers; while 70% of general change efforts include targeted support and coaching for those most impacted, only 59% of AI transformations do.
How AI will change day-to-day work
Too often, leaders assume adoption lags due to a lack of awareness and respond with more communication or basic training on new tools. But the evidence points to a different problem. Employees generally understand the change and why it is happening. What they struggle with is how their day-to-day work should change.
Humans make AI systems work
AI transformations arrive quickly, reshape work deeply, and create uncertainty about the future of roles. What people need most is help learning how to work differently.
That requires a shift in mindset. Instead of designing transformations as if people were simply resources to rearrange across boxes and lines on an org chart, leaders should start with the understanding that, in an AI-enabled enterprise, humans remain the central force that makes the system work. They do that by exercising judgment, building relationships, applying context, and making decisions where automation cannot.
The most effective organizations approach AI transformations as strategy driven, tech forward, and human centered. They redesign workflows and workforce capabilities in parallel and equip employees to operate differently.
Leadership cascade
One practical way to do this is through the 20/200/2,000 leadership cascade.
AI transformations succeed and businesses flourish when organizations focus on ensuring humans thrive.
About the research
Bain’s Live the Model market survey, conducted from September to October 2025, covers 976 executives, managers, and employees whose roles have been impacted by a new organizational structure. Respondents came from nine nations representing a full range of regions, industries, company sizes, job functions, tenures, and ages.
First published in abril 2026