When giving your team access to AI, don’t wait until you have finalised every policy and governance detail. Like learning to drive, adopting AI works best when people get hands-on experience early. Bring your people along on the AI journey now, to ensure they build the skills, comfort, and understanding needed to integrate AI effectively into their work. Don’t wait for the perfect moment – start now.
Are you taking too long to get your people started on the AI journey?
My niece Abbey just turned 20 last week. I remember four years ago, when she was sixteen, I taught her how to drive. I didn’t do all the lessons, but I took her through the first ten or twelve hours of driving, and helped her become a competent driver.
The process of getting a licence now is rigorous, structured, and time-consuming. And it should be, because we’re letting teenagers operate heavy machinery in public for the first time! By the time Abbey had done her 50 hours of supervised driving, she was more than ready to take her test – which she passed first time – and then drive independently. When she then bought her first car, she was more than capable behind the wheel.
But imagine another scenario: if her parents had made her wait until she bought her first car before she could start driving lessons. Of course, that would be bizarre! And yet, I reckon that’s how many leaders use AI with their teams.
Almost every week, I get enquiries from leaders and teams asking me to come in and teach them about AI: what it means for them, their organisations, and their leadership.
But one mistake I see many leaders making is wanting to get everything right from a management, governance, and policy perspective before they let their people start using AI.
I think that’s a mistake – for two reasons.
First, like it or not, your people are already using AI! Some use it at home for personal tasks.If they are not allowed to use it at work, some are still using it to solve work problems, but without telling you! And of course, that creates risks.
Second, if you go back to the driving analogy, you don’t want to wait until you buy someone a car before they learn how to drive. You want them to learn first so that when they finally get behind the wheel, they are already a competent driver.
It’s the same with AI. You must bring your people along on the AI journey – even while you’re working on policy, investing in technology, and building your AI strategy. Don’t wait until this is perfect (whatever that means anyway!). Give them the confidence to use AI, feel comfortable using AI, and secure in knowing AI won’t replace them.
If you want to explore this further, I’m running an online presentation soon called People-Powered AI, where we will talk about bringing people along on this journey. The session is free, public, and open to everybody. I’ll see you there!
