26/08/2026
74% of CEOs believe their managers are "very confident" handling tough conversations.
Then you look at what those managers are quietly doing the night before a hard conversation.
A new study by The Predictive Index (surveying 399 managers and 208 CEOs) revealed a startling disconnect:
• 42% of managers know what they want to say in a hard conversation, but struggle with how to say it.
• 44% admit they have entered real employee names and performance details into public AI tools to help them prepare.
• Yet only 45% of organizations have a formal policy governing that use.
Managers aren't turning to chatbots because they are careless with data.
They are turning to them because they have nowhere else to go.
The knee-jerk reaction is to ban AI from performance conversations outright.
That misses the real problem.
Putting sensitive employee data into a public model is a genuine compliance and privacy risk — no question. But banning the tool without providing real support just pushes the behavior further into the shadows.
Managers are walking into high-stakes, emotionally charged conversations alone, with zero rehearsal.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘊𝘌𝘖𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.
And right now, that gap is being filled by whatever chatbot is closest at hand.
Where would your managers turn tonight if they had a difficult conversation tomorrow and no one to rehearse it with?