AI Implementation: Three Keys to Success

Organizations today are faced with the need to do more with less. They are being asked to be more efficient with their time and more flexible in how they address challenges. In the face of these challenges, organizations are turning to technological tools like AI to evolve with the changing times. Along with identifying ways to use AI to increase efficiency, your organization needs to think about and develop robust change management, communications, and training programs to help ensure your employees understand why AI is being introduced, how these tools impact their day-to-day work, and how to use them safely.

Change Management

Change management provides a structured approach to preparing, equipping, and supporting individuals through change. By intentionally focusing on adoption and long-term usage, this process enables organizations to navigate the complexities of transformation effectively, ensuring that the change process is holistic and successful.

To increase AI adoption within your organization, a well-crafted change management strategy is essential. Studies show that 70% of change initiatives fail, often not because the solution was poorly designed or delivered, but because the people affected by the change did not fully embrace it. In our blog, Systems Don’t Make Change. People Do, we emphasize that while systems and processes are critical, the true success of change initiatives lies in how well organizations manage the human aspects of the transition. By acknowledging and addressing employees’ emotional responses, resistance, and varying levels of engagement, organizations can ensure that changes are not only implemented, but also accepted and sustained over time.

Your strategy should define success, identify impact, and outline your approach, including your process to capture leadership and manager buy-in, address resistance, and outline your communication and training plans.

Communications

Though AI might be exciting and a great opportunity to improve employee productivity and efficiency, you can’t necessarily trust that the old adage, “if you build it, they will come” will hold true. Employees might have too much on their plates to figure out how to use AI in their role. Employees may also face challenges in understanding the purpose and benefits of using AI, resulting in confusion, fear, skepticism, and even active resistance. This lack of awareness and buy-in can hinder the successful implementation and utilization of AI, making it important to provide targeted, transparent communication that highlights both the practical advantages and the broader organizational goal that using AI aims to achieve. Developing a communications plan that identifies your audiences, key messages, channels, and cadence is essential for fostering understanding, addressing concerns, and driving thoughtful adoption of AI across your organization. It also allows you to create a feedback loop to better understand your employees’ concerns and address them. 

Training

Ensuring your employees have the knowledge and experience to use AI tools in their work is an ongoing process, but consider some of the training topics below as you begin to build your organization’s AI training plan:

• Literacy Training: AI Literacy Training is an important first step in helping to demystify AI for your organization. This training focuses on AI literacy and provides an opportunity for your organization to discuss what AI is, how it works, how it can be applied to employees’ work, what its strengths and limitations are, and its potential impacts.
• Safety Training: AI Safety Training teaches employees how to review and evaluate the information generated by AI tools, how to refrain from sharing proprietary or sensitive information, how to recognize and mitigate the risks associated with these tools, and how to use AI tools responsibly. This training is a crucial part of an organization’s adoption of AI.
• Readiness Training: AI Readiness Training provides your employees with practical information on using AI tools, such as understanding how to develop a strong prompt which provides them with the most useful and relevant information. This training is an opportunity to give employees hands-on practice using AI, which helps build their confidence with these tools. The more exposure your employees have to AI, the more comfortable and confident they will be in using it.
• Resources: Along with creating organizational training, developing additional resources for employees is a crucial part of helping them incorporate AI into their work. One such resource is a “prompt library,” which is a collection of best-practice prompts used for specific tasks or projects. These prompts can be customized as needed. Consider crafting one-pagers that highlight tips, tricks, or best practices for using AI tools or outline your organization’s AI use policies. These additional resources help to support your employees’ understanding of how to use AI tools in their work long after they have completed their training.

The adoption of any new technology brings uncertainty, change, and resistance, so it’s important that your organization proactively plans how to address and overcome these feelings and reactions. Developing strong change management, communications, and training plans now will help set your organization up for success as you begin to incorporate AI into your work.

Meg Duffy is a Senior Consultant who has experience with training development and facilitation, managing and supporting employees, and program management and development. Meg is a member of FMP’s Learning and Development Community of Practice (CoP) and the Project Management Community of Practice (CoP). For fun, she likes to bake, run, travel, and try out all the great restaurants in the DMV.

Jacob Flinck is a Managing Consultant with a focus on emerging technology, strategic communications and change management, learning and development, and organization effectiveness. Jacob co-leads our Strategic Communications Community of Practice (CoP), leads internal special projects focused on IT, security, and operations – including AI – as well as works to expand our intelligence community (IC) practice. Jacob is a Prosci Certified Change Practitioner. For fun, he likes to cook, bake, read, and travel.