For years, the team leader was the one who distributed the work and checked that it was done. AI is hollowing out that function; what used to require supervision today accelerates, is documented, and is verified with tools. We should not focus on which tasks can be automated, but on what managers do with the time they reclaim.
For TIMIA, this transformation also requires rethinking the role of team leaders. In an environment where technology enables automating more tasks, quickly accessing information and speeding up certain processes, the value of leadership shifts from supervising execution to helping professionals grow, develop judgment, and take on greater responsibilities.
The company believes AI is thus fostering a new relationship between leaders and teams, based on greater autonomy and collaboration. The objective is no longer merely having professionals who can execute tasks, but developing people with judgment and the capacity to take on new responsibilities and lead others.
“Artificial intelligence also forces us to rethink how we lead. When a portion of tasks can be accelerated or supported by technology, the role of the team leader becomes less about control and more about ensuring people grow, learn, and are capable of making better decisions on their own. We will evolve from managing tasks to orchestrating agents and governing the knowledge that underpins them,” explains Alexander Gómez, TIMIA’s Country Manager in Spain.
Training to Multiply Knowledge
This evolution makes continuous learning a central pillar of business strategy. The speed at which AI tools and capabilities evolve compels ongoing learning to become part of the job itself. Yet the goal isn’t solely to improve technical abilities. For TIMIA, training also means preparing professionals to lead projects, share knowledge, mentor other team members, and progressively assume greater decision-making power.
“We don’t want knowledge to be concentrated in just a few people. The more capable we are of training someone who can teach, make decisions and mentor other colleagues, the stronger the organization becomes. A company’s growth should not depend on a handful of leaders, but on its ability to develop new role models throughout the organization,” Gómez notes.
The adoption of artificial intelligence is also helping to remove certain barriers within organizations, especially by speeding access to information, documentation, and knowledge. This allows professionals with varying levels of experience to participate more actively in projects and contribute value from earlier stages.
This favors flatter structures, where decisions can be made closer to where knowledge is generated and teams gain greater autonomy.
This flatness does not mean eliminating leadership, but changing its nature. Managers still play a fundamental role in setting direction, prioritizing, and ensuring quality, but must increasingly act as facilitators of their teams’ growth.
Technology can accelerate access to knowledge, but it remains people who must interpret the information, challenge it, and turn it into decisions. Therefore, capabilities such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and business understanding are gaining importance alongside purely technical competencies.
AI as a Catalyst for Professional Growth
This shift also has implications for career progression. Rather than viewing development solely as a sequence of hierarchical promotions, TIMIA aims for professionals to progressively amplify their impact: tackling more complex projects, specializing, mentoring other colleagues, or becoming thought leaders in particular areas. The sector’s rapid pace of change makes this capacity for lifelong learning especially crucial.
“AI isn’t measured only in hours saved. If that productivity doesn’t translate into more capable people, we will have automated tasks, but we won’t have improved the organization. Returning to teams, in the form of training and judgment, what technology frees up is a responsibility of companies, not an optional benefit,” Gómez concludes.
