Agentic Workplaces, Human KPIs
Why Human Qualities Will Be the Last Competitive Edge
I’m starting to believe we’re about to witness a radical reversal in how we measure value at work. For decades, the safe bet was to manage what you could measure and KPIs were king. Revenue per headcount, projects delivered, hours billed. These were the numbers we staked our careers on.
But that is ending. AI is automating every metric that can be captured, calculated, or compared. I’m already seeing teams being trimmed, roles rewritten, entire job descriptions collapsed into a line of code or an autonomous agent. The dashboards that once guaranteed our relevance? They’re starting to look like invitations for automation.
What comes next is a test of everything that AI can’t count.
The Hard-to-Measure Becomes the Hard-to-Replace
There’s a split emerging in what matters at work.
On one side, the table stakes have changed. You now need to be entrepreneurial, a problem-solver, and comfortable managing AI agents. That means designing processes, handling error rates, and knowing how to get the best from a system that includes both people and machines. These are now the baseline skills for anyone who wants to stay relevant.
On the other side, something deeper is coming to the surface. We’ve always talked about hiring for culture, resilience, creativity, and emotional intelligence so the so-called “soft” skills that don’t fit neatly on a spreadsheet. In reality, though, they often took a back seat to the classic KPIs: output, speed, margin.
But as AI takes over those metrics, human and entrepreneurial qualities are being forced into the spotlight. And that’s not all. The real differentiator? The thing that will set apart tomorrow’s leaders and teams? Will be the ability to orchestrate both people and agents.
How to Future-Proof Your Value in an AI World
If the old KPIs are being automated away, the question is “How do I make sure I’m not left behind?”
1. Make the Invisible Visible
List the skills and habits you rely on that no AI can replicate like creative problem-solving, entrepreneurial thinking, orchestrating a mix of people and agents, coaching others, handling difficult clients, or nudging a stuck project forward. Document these as real value drivers.
2. Prove Human Impact
Turn “soft” skills into stories, evidence, and case studies. Show how your judgement, trust-building, or creative solutions moved the needle and especially in scenarios where AI or data alone couldn’t.
3. Redesign Your KPIs
If you manage a team, start measuring and rewarding what AI can’t do: leading through ambiguity, spotting unseen risks, solving novel problems, or orchestrating agent workflows to get the best out of both humans and machines.
4. Develop Agent Orchestration Skills
Learn how to design, manage, and optimise workflows where AI agents play a central role. The future belongs to people who can choreograph.
5. Stay Entrepreneurial
Don’t just wait for new roles to appear. Experiment, prototype, and suggest new ways to use AI in your work. Spot problems and use technology to solve them. The value shifts to those who can turn uncertainty and change into opportunity.
6. Be the Glue, Not Just the Cog
Connect people, bridge gaps, keep culture strong, and lead through transitions. When the landscape keeps shifting, the people who create momentum and cohesion become indispensable.
Here’s my challenge for you:
What’s one workflow, project, or decision you’re facing right now where you could run a “human–agent orchestration” test?
Pick it.
Sketch out where an AI agent could take over the routine or analysis and where your uniquely human touch makes the difference (empathy, judgment, creative leap, trust).
Run the experiment this week.
Write down the outcome. Did you save time? Spot a risk? Build a better relationship?
Because the future of work is about knowing where only you can change the outcome.
All the zest, 🍋
Cien