Are our managers ready?

AI projects often plan to train the teams who will use the tool. Managers are assumed to follow. Yet it is their role that changes the most.

They have to arbitrate between what the tool suggests and what their experience tells them, and explain those decisions to their teams. They reorganise work when some tasks disappear. They respond to worries, often without having all the answers themselves. And they remain responsible for results they now achieve with a tool they did not choose.

• Managers are often the last to be told.They discover the project at the same time as their teams, yet are expected to carry it.
• Their attitude drives adoption.A team takes ownership of a tool its manager understands and stands up for.
• Arbitrating with AI is a new skill.Knowing when to follow a recommendation and when to depart from it cannot be improvised.

1. 01Involve the managers concerned in the project before their teams, not at the same time.
2. 02Give them time to talk with their peers about the trade-offs they face.
3. 03Clarify what they remain responsible for when a decision relies on AI.

When tools do not take hold, we also look at how managers were involved.

• How do we stop our teams rejecting AI?→
• How do we keep human expertise when AI does the work?→
• Will AI cut jobs in our company?→
• Should everyone be trained before launching anything?→