British business is using AI to survive, not grow
British businesses cannot simply endure AI, they must find a way to positively embrace it, writes Adaora Geiger
British businesses are bracing for change like nowhere else. We asked 600 senior leaders in seven markets around the globe and UK leaders expect more intense change than those from other major economies: 88 per cent see organisational change fuelled by AI accelerating in the year ahead. Not one UK leader expects it to slow down.
But while UK leaders see AI technology as the primary driver of this change – more so than their counterparts in the US, Germany or France – they’re not using it to innovate. They’re using it to cut costs.
When asked about their organisation’s priorities, UK leaders ranked “cost efficiency” third. Globally, it ranked eighth. Meanwhile, “innovation and R&D” – which ranks joint-third worldwide – falls to seventh place in the UK. There is a clear pattern: British business is using AI to survive, not to lead. Technology is a defensive play, not a growth one.
Employees see it, too. When asked what concerns their staff most during periods of change, 45 per cent of UK leaders pointed to job security, which is nearly double the level in France and way higher than Germany or the US. Whether this reflects how employees feel or how leaders interpret the mood, the signal is the same: UK executives believe their transformation agenda is a threat, not an opportunity.
Now this feeling of job insecurity could partly stem from broader economic conditions or media headlines. But in our work advising organisations through complex change, we see how readily a cost-focused transformation story fuels disquiet. When efficiency is the dominating message, people hear redundancy. When technology is framed as optimisation, employees wonder what’s being optimised away. This is not a story that builds motivation or trust.
Corporate culture is the real barrier to AI transformation
Interestingly, UK leaders know the problem isn’t their people. While globally, “lack of employee buy-in” and “middle management resistance” rank high as barriers to change, here in the UK, they are much further down the list. Instead, UK respondents point to “organisational culture resistant to change” and “lack of leadership alignment” as the real obstacles. Bosses – and the culture they shape – are seen as a greater risk to successful transformation than employee behaviour. This is a more honest diagnosis than we see elsewhere.
The question is whether leaders will act on what they see. Because right now, the UK risks a dangerous combination: a workforce that’s anxious about its future, a leadership cadre that needs to change and a strategic agenda focused on efficiency rather than growth. Transformation that’s done to people rather than with them doesn’t stick. Organisations that change without a compelling story about where they’re going – and why their people matter in getting there – will find themselves leaner but not stronger.
Competitors in the US and Asia are investing in AI, automation and new business models not just to reduce costs, but to create new areas of customer value. British pragmatism is an asset, but only if it’s channelled into building something, not just into trimming what’s already there.
The good news is that UK leaders appear more willing than their global peers to take responsibility for the challenge. That self-awareness is a starting point. But it needs to translate into action: clearer strategy, more visible leadership and a commitment to bringing people along rather than optimising them out. Organisations that transform well use communicating with their people as the main mechanism by which the new strategy becomes real.
No one in the UK expects the pace of change to slow down. British businesses cannot simply endure it – they can find a way to lead through it.
Adaora Geiger is a partner at H/Advisors. H/Advisors’ global study, Leading Without a Landing: How Organisations Are Navigating the Era of Continuous Change, was conducted in partnership with YouGov