Self-Efficacy in the Age of AI: Building Confidence, Preventing Burnout

When we introduce major change in organisations, especially tech-driven change. Burnout often isn’t the result of workload alone. It’s about psychological destabilisation. Or put simply: the emotional fallout of not knowing, not understanding, and not being able to influence what’s happening.

That’s where I’ve been applying a model of human response to change. It consists of three factors:

Lack of clarity – I don’t know what’s coming

Lack of information – I don’t understand what’s happening

Lack of control – I can’t influence the outcome

And at the intersections of these?

Confusion
Helplessness
Anxiety

The best protective factor we have? Self-efficacy. The belief that “I can figure this out,” even in the midst of uncertainty.

The research backs this: A 2023 Nature study showed that burnout during AI adoption spikes when self-efficacy is low, but improves dramatically when employees feel supported and competent.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Teams know why change is happening (clarity)

They’re given transparent explanations (information)

And they’re involved in co-creating the solution (control)

I help teams and leaders build cultures where self-efficacy and psychological safety coexist.

One tool I use and it comes from clinical background in treating overwhelm and anxiety: “Name it, Frame it, Tame it” – a three-step process to reduce distress during transformation:

Name the emotion (“This is uncertainty, not failure.”)

Frame the context (“We’re learning something new together.”)

Tame the reaction (“Here’s what we can control right now.”)

When your team feels like change is happening with them, not to them, everything shifts.

Let’s co-create clarity, capability and care during disruption.

Book a conversation if you'd like to explore how.