Leadership Spice

Employee engagement in India is under visible strain.

According to ADP, engagement levels have dropped to 19% in 2025 from 24% in 2024, marking one of the steepest declines globally. Alongside this, 30% of employees report daily stress, and nearly half the workforce is actively considering a job switch.

These are not just workforce statistics. They are signals. Signals that something in the way work is experienced is no longer working.

Employees today are asking for more than compensation and process. They are asking for flexibility, meaning, and more importantly – human connection at work. Yet, many organizations are still operating with structures that haven’t evolved at the same pace.

This is where the pressure on leadership has fundamentally changed. It is no longer just about delivering results. It is about restoring engagement through human leadership.

The IDP Paradox: Good Intent, Incomplete Impact

What I find that in response to growing disengagement, many organizations have doubled down on structured development interventions such as Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

On paper, this is a strong system. It brings structure to growth conversations. It creates visibility of aspirations. It encourages alignment between employee goals and organizational needs.

But somewhere between design and experience, a gap appears.

A significant amount of effort goes into creating templates, running development discussions, and documenting outcomes. Yet when employees move through these cycles, a recurring feedback is that they don’t feel any different. Though the intent exists and the process exists – the impact often does not land. The key reason for this is simple, yet uncomfortable – Leadership involvement is inconsistent, fragmented, or overly transactional. This again goes to show that development does not fail in HR systems but it fails in everyday leadership moments.

Why Leadership Behaviour Is the Real Intervention

At the heart of any development conversation are three critical leadership behaviours – authenticity, courage and empathy. When these are missing, even the best-designed IDP becomes a formality and when they are present, even a simple conversation can become transformational. The real opportunity lies not only in redesigning the system further, but in strengthening how leaders show up within it. This is also where AI can enter the picture.

AI as a Leadership Enabler, Not a Replacement

AI is already embedded in leadership workflows today without being explicitly named as such.

Leaders use AI to draft communication, summarize information, structure their thinking, prepare for conversations, and generate ideas. In many ways, it has become a silent thinking partner – helping leaders process complexity faster and work more efficiently.

Yet, amidst all these applications, one powerful use remains underexplored: using AI as a tool for reflection, self-awareness, and deeper leadership growth.

However, the one principle that must remain non-negotiable is that AI can support leadership but it cannot substitute it. Because the moment leadership becomes automated, development loses its human depth.

The value lies in the combination: AI for clarity. Leadership for connection.

The Deep Layer: Self-Awareness

Before AI can be used to support employee development, it must first be used to support something even more fundamental and that is Leader self-awareness. Because the quality of any development conversation is directly shaped by the internal patterns of the person leading it.

• How quickly do they listen vs. respond?
• What kinds of feedback do they resist?
• What situations trigger defensiveness?
• Where do they unconsciously avoid discomfort?

These patterns often operate below the surface of awareness. This is where AI, interestingly, can act as a mirror.

Using AI as a Reflection Partner

Unlike human interactions, AI does not adjust for hierarchy, emotion, or social pressure. It responds directly and without filtering intent based on what is shared with it. But when leaders begin to reflect on situations using AI, something subtle starts to happen.

A leader may describe a difficult conversation in detail, explain their response and interpretation, and then ask, “What might I not be seeing here?”

At first, the responses may feel generic. But over time, as the inputs become more honest and specific, patterns begin to emerge. It could be a tendency to close conversations too quickly. A discomfort with disagreement. A habit of interpreting questions as challenges. A need to solve before fully listening.

And this is where AI becomes interesting. It is not as a replacement for leadership wisdom, coaching, or human connection, but as a mirror that quietly reflects recurring tendencies leaders may not always notice in themselves.

The more authentic the reflection, the clearer the patterns become. Nothing entirely new but something newly visible and that’s where awareness begins.

From Self-Awareness to System Impact

When leaders begin to see themselves more clearly, something shifts externally as well. The IDP conversations become more present and meaningful. Feedback becomes less procedural and more developmental and employees feel seen, not just assessed. And when employees feel seen, engagement begins to rebuild.

Closing Thought: AI Is Not the Story – Leadership Is

AI will continue to evolve. Engagement metrics will continue to fluctuate. HR systems will continue to be refined. But the core truth of leadership remains unchanged. People do not disengage from work first. They disengage from how they are led. AI, when used thoughtfully, does not replace that responsibility but it amplifies it. It helps leaders see more clearly – but the choice of how to show up remains entirely human.

Thai Curry with AI touch

As always, love to end these blogs with a recipe. This time there’s a touch of AI to this. When I asked AI what to do differently with the curry, it suggested replacing coconut milk with vegetable stock, adding peanut butter for depth and finishing with lime to preserve freshness.

Then came the interesting part. As I cooked, I realized AI could suggest combinations…but it could not taste. It could recommend balance. But I had to feel when the balance was right. The curry needed slightly more warmth, less sweetness, more basil and less lime.

This is exactly what leadership with AI looks like. AI can accelerate clarity. It can widen perspective.
It can offer possibilities we may not immediately see. But leadership, like cooking, still depends on human judgment. Because people are not data points. Teams are not recipes. And culture cannot be automated.

The best leaders will not be those who reject AI. Nor those who blindly depend on it. They will be the ones who learn how to blend technological intelligence with human sensitivity.

Just like a good Thai curry. The recipe may come from AI. But the final flavour still depends on the person holding the ladle.

AI-Enhanced Thai Curry Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp red curry paste
• 1 cup coconut milk (can be replaced or decreased)
• ½ cup vegetable stock
• 1 tsp peanut butter
• Mixed vegetables (bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms)
• Tofu or chicken
• 1 tsp jaggery
• Soy sauce
• Thai basil
• Lime juice

Method

1. Sauté curry paste in oil.
2. Add coconut milk and stock.
3. Stir in peanut butter for depth.
4. Add vegetables in stages based on cooking time.
5. Add tofu or chicken.
6. Balance with jaggery and soy sauce.
7. Finish with basil and fresh lime juice.

Serve hot with jasmine rice.