Human Judgment: Five Leadership Skills for Project Delivery in an AI-Enabled Workforce
- Giana Lawrence-Primus
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Project management as we know it has changed and will continue to change due to technological advancements and the implementation of generative artificial intelligence and AI-powered tools.
Emerging and experienced project professionals are no longer afforded the ease of managing only supportive project tasks. Project coordination tasks such as reporting, scheduling, calendar management, note-taking, and emailing meeting notes are increasingly being supported or completed by AI tools.
I had the opportunity as a guest on Projectified® , produced by Project Management Institute, for the episode “Build Career Momentum Where You Are.” During the conversation, I raised the concern that project professionals must sharpen an array of leadership skills to remain relevant and add value to projects, teams, and their organizations.
We are in an AI-enabled work environment, and that means project management and project delivery processes are evolving, whether we like it or not and whether we are prepared or not. As such, there must be depth and breadth of our human intelligence and intrinsic leadership skills on projects.
Human Judgement
Human judgement should never be sourced to AI. After all it is us humans that input data into AI tools and platforms to assist us with project work. It is the project professional that understands the nuances in relationship building and sustainability, managing conflicts and stakeholder expectations.
The real asset in an AI-enabled workplace is human judgement.
Five of the human leadership skills I mentioned in the Projectified® episode are:
Critical Thinking
Emotional Intelligence
Strategic Thinking
Problem Solving
Innovative Thinking
Five Human Leadership Skills for Project Delivery in an AI-Enabled Workforce
Critical Thinking
What it is: The ability to examine information, question assumptions, evaluate evidence, and determine what is relevant before reaching a conclusion.
Why it matters: AI can rapidly produce information, analysis, and recommendations, but project professionals remain responsible for determining what is accurate, relevant, and appropriate for the project context. Critical thinking allows us to question what is presented rather than simply accept it.
Emotional Intelligence
What it is: The ability to understand and manage your own emotions while recognizing and responding effectively to the emotions, perspectives, and needs of others.
Why it matters: Projects are delivered through people. As AI changes how work is performed, project professionals still need to build trust, navigate conflict, communicate through uncertainty, and understand how change affects the people responsible for delivery.
Strategic Thinking
What it is: The ability to look beyond the immediate task or decision and understand how individual actions connect to broader goals, priorities, and outcomes.
Why it matters: AI can help project professionals work faster, but speed does not determine whether we are working toward the right outcome. Strategic thinking keeps project delivery connected to purpose and helps professionals consider the longer-term implications of the decisions being made today.
Problem Solving
What it is: The ability to identify what is actually causing a problem, explore possible responses, and determine an appropriate path forward.
Why it matters: AI can generate possible solutions within seconds. The project professional must still understand the problem, consider the context and constraints, evaluate alternatives, and decide which response makes sense. Effective problem solving begins with solving the right problem.
Innovative Thinking
What it is: The ability to explore new possibilities, challenge established ways of working, and imagine different approaches to achieving an outcome.
Why it matters: An AI-enabled workforce creates opportunities to rethink how projects are planned, led, and delivered—not simply perform existing practices faster. Innovative thinking enables project professionals to experiment, adapt, and recognize possibilities that may not have existed before.
These leadership skills are not new to us. They are human skills we already have. The work before us is to broaden them, deepen them, and sharpen how we use them as project delivery continues to evolve.
Listen to the Projectified® episode “Build Career Momentum Where You Are” to hear more about the leadership skills project professionals need and how we can prepare for what comes next.
Special thanks to the Projectified team, Melissa Khan-Blackmore and Andrew Seaman.
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