What AI Can Teach Us About Being Better Collaborators

In my business, I’ve spent a lot of time collaborating with people and watching others collaborate.  Lately, we’ve added AI into the mix.  And here’s the surprising thing: as a collaborator, AI is… kind of amazing.

Not because it’s brilliant (though it often is).  Not because it’s always right (it’s not).  But because of how it collaborates.  In fact, if most human teams behaved the way AI does in a working session, our meetings would be shorter, safer, more productive…and a lot less exhausting.  Let me explain:

No Eye-Rolling Allowed.  When you float an idea to AI, it doesn’t sigh audibly.  It doesn’t glance sideways at the “smartest person in the room.”  It doesn’t immediately point out the twelve reasons your idea will never work.  Instead, it does something deceptively simple: it engages.  It starts with something like, “That’s an interesting approach,” or “There’s potential here.” Even when the idea is half-baked. Even when it’s objectively… not great.  Is that flattery? Maybe.  Is it effective? Absolutely.  Because collaboration doesn’t die when ideas are bad.  It dies when ideas are punished.

“Yes, And” Is the Default Setting.  AI has clearly internalized the first rule of improv: Yes, and…  Instead of shutting ideas down, it builds on them. It reframes. It connects dots you didn’t know were there. It takes your rough thinking and massages it into something more usable.  Even when an idea is flawed, AI doesn’t embarrass you for it. It might say, “One way to strengthen this would be…” or “You could also look at it from this angle.”  Notice what’s missing:  No superiority.  No one-upmanship.  No subtle (or not-so-subtle) signals that you should have known better.  Just forward motion.

Not Attached to the Ideas.  If you say, “That’s not what I meant,” it adjusts.  If you say, “I don’t like that direction,” it pivots.  If you say, “Let’s try something completely different,” it’s all in.  There’s no ego to protect. No invisible scoreboard. No need to “win” the discussion.  The goal is simply to be useful.  On human teams, that’s a radical concept to many who come in with a preconceived notion about what needs to be done/have happen.

Psychological Safety By Design.  We spend a lot of time talking about the importance of “psychological safety” on teams. People don’t contribute their best thinking when they’re bracing for judgment.  What AI offers, almost by accident, is a master class in psychological safety:  You can ask a “dumb” question.  You can think out loud.  You can change your mind mid-sentence.  You can be unfinished.  And none of it costs you status.

Imagine if more meetings felt like that.  AI’s goal isn’t to be right; it is to be useful as a co-collaborator.

So… What If We Acted More Like AI?

To be clear, I’m not suggesting we replace collaboration with machines. (Please no.)  But I am suggesting we steal a few behaviors:

• Acknowledge ideas before evaluating them
• Build before we critique
• Assume positive intent
• Focus on progress, not perfection
• Treat half-formed ideas as raw material, not liabilities

Ironically, the more “human” we want our collaboration to feel, the more we might learn from a machine.  The real question is. “Which of these behaviors will you model in your next meeting?”

Related Articles:

How AI is Transforming Meetings & How to Capture Its Potential

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