AI has joined the Team

Listening to a presenter recently, they described AI as the junior who has just joined your organisation.

I thought it was a brilliant analogy.

They are in their probationary period. You don't want to share sensitive information with them yet. They don't understand how you work, the culture of the organisation, or its ethics and values.  So, you bring them up to speed gradually.  You give them a little more responsibility as their knowledge and capability develops. And, importantly, you keep checking their work.

Perhaps this is how we should think about AI.

AI can be incredibly useful, but it doesn't understand your organisation, your people or your context in the same way that you do.  It can free up mental space and time, allowing you to focus on higher-level thinking and strategy.

But it doesn't bring the human lens.

It doesn't replace empathy. It doesn't know that someone who seems unusually quiet in a meeting might have something going on outside work. It may not challenge an assumption in quite the same way a curious human would. And its judgement still needs to be questioned rather than automatically trusted.

AI can support our thinking. It shouldn't replace our thinking.

So, if AI is the newest member of the team, how do we give it a good induction?

7 steps to bringing AI into your organisation

1. Evaluate where you are now
Before rushing into AI, understand where you currently are. Where could AI genuinely add value? What problems are you trying to solve?

2. Set clear objectives
Once you've identified the opportunities, be clear about what you want AI to achieve. Is it saving time? Improving productivity? Supporting creativity? Reducing administration?

3. Get leadership on board
AI adoption needs more than enthusiastic individuals. Make sure leadership understands the opportunity, the risks and the resources required — including the right licences and tools.

4. Train your people
Don't assume people know how to use AI effectively just because they've used ChatGPT. Good AI adoption requires confidence, judgement and an understanding of what should — and shouldn't — be shared.

5. Introduce it in chunks
Don't try to transform everything overnight. Think about the new junior analogy. Give them one new area of responsibility at a time.

Perhaps one new AI application each month.

Learn. Experiment. Review. Then build on it.

6. Create AI Champions
Support your early adopters and give them a role in helping others. AI Champions can share ideas, encourage experimentation and, importantly, help surface concerns and questions.

7. Monitor, evaluate and measure
Keep asking: Is this actually making a difference?

Measure productivity, time saved, quality and user confidence. Don't just measure how much AI is being used — measure whether it is creating value.

Some estimates suggest AI could save employees significant amounts of time each week. But saving time isn't the same as creating value.

The real opportunity is what we do with that time.

And perhaps that's the point.

If AI takes away some of the repetitive work, what do we want humans to do with the space it creates?

• Think more strategically.
• Have better conversations.
• Be more curious.
• Coach our people.
• Build relationships.
• Make better judgements.
• And perhaps most importantly, be human.

AI may be the newest member of the team., but we are  still responsible for teaching it how to work with us.