Leading in the AI Green Room: learning to learn faster

Uncertainly during Renaissance period (AI generated)

We Are Already in the Green Room - Whether you like it or not, leaders and teams are already in the green room of AI and ongoing disruption. Unlearning is emotionally challenging because the old ways brought us success, confidence, and even a sense of identity, so letting go can feel like losing part of ourselves. However, those past successes only suffice for a time; when AI, restructuring, or new strategies emerge, the only way to regain confidence is to unlearn and learn anew.

What Schein Adds: Learning and Two Anxieties - In 1992, Edgar Schein argued that the real challenge is not managing change but managing surprise, and that learning is not a single concept. He outlined three types of learning:

• Knowledge acquisition and insight learning (new ideas, visions, strategies)

• Habit and skill learning (slow practice in safe “fields”)

• Emotional conditioning and learned anxiety (the deep fear of the “green room”)

Real learning occurs only when Anxiety 2 (the cost of remaining the same) surpasses Anxiety 1 (the fear of learning), and a leader's role is to manage this balance rather than deny it. Schein also identified two types of anxiety:

• Anxiety 1: the fear of trying something new, being incompetent, making mistakes, or losing face when attempting change.

  
  

• Anxiety 2: the fear of the consequences of not changing—failing to meet our goals, losing relevance, or risking our jobs and organisations.

Culture, New Leaders, and Realistic Influence - As a corporate trainer and knowledge worker, entering a client organisation always begins with culture: “How do they do things here?” Phrases like “that’s how we do things here” surface most clearly when there is cultural conflict, such as a new manager being corrected by experienced staff, as I frequently observed.

In my early view, it is easy to position an agile, conscious leader who can single-handedly change culture; Schein’s work challenges this assumption. In many situations—especially for new leaders—their actual influence over deep corporate culture is limited, even though they were hired “to make change.” This paradox points to a more realistic strategy: instead of trying to “change the culture” directly, new leaders can focus on

• Building strong engagement with staff

• Influencing decision-making processes

• Role-modelling learning behaviours that gradually shift norms over time

Practical AI-Era Leadership: Making the Green Room Safer - In an AI-driven “green room,” the goal is not to eliminate anxiety, but to reduce AI-induced Anxiety 1 while constructively increasing Anxiety 2 so people perceive the costs of standing still.

Leaders can achieve this by:

• Providing ongoing training and practical experience with AI tools

• Inviting coaching (internal or external) to support leaders and teams as they unlearn and relearn.

• Celebrating and rewarding effort and experimentation, not just perfect outcomes.

• Establishing norms of psychological safety that explicitly legitimise:

  
  

• Mistakes made during experimentation with AI.

• Rewards for innovative thinking and AI-enabled experimentation.

  
  

In this sense, the green room is not a trap but a training ground: with the right psychological safety, AI becomes a space for quicker learning rather than a source of silent fear. What is one ‘green room’ you know your organisation needs to enter — but anxiety is holding you back? ...... I am excited to know if you are a healthcare or MedTech leader navigating AI, market shocks, or new geographies. Message me to explore how to create psychological safety and speed up learning in your teams. Let’s connect to discuss learning opportunities.

 Reference:

Schein, E.H., 1992. How can organizations learn faster? The problem of entering the green room. MIT Sloan School of Management, Working Paper No. 3409–92.