Hybrid Teams in the Age of AI: Why Human Energy, Not AI Efficiency, Drives Performance

Neaman explores the balance between AI efficiency and human vitality. While AI removes friction and optimizes schedules, it cannot create meaning. The author warns against "deskilling" and encourages leaders to preserve "unoptimized time" for spontaneous human connection. She presents eight commitments for managing hybrid teams, emphasizing that leaders must guard human priorities like trust and creativity. Reinvesting efficiency gains into relationships ensures organizational energy remains sustainable, rather than just mechanically productive. Leaders must defend the human qualities that make work worth doing for every single employee.