Have you ever walked into a room and flipped the light switch, only for nothing to happen? We have an implicit trust in this repetitive behavior from performing this task thousands of times. This wasn’t always the case. From the invention of the light bulb in 1879 it would take 60 years for 85% adoption and another 20 years would pass before 98% of houses had electric lights in the United States[1]. Now, we have dimmer switches, motion sensor lights, LED lights, Smart lights, and more. The benefits of flipping a switch to illuminate a room are enormous. So, what were the factors that contributed to such a long adoption period?

The adoption of electricity in homes faced several significant barriers: Costs: initial and ongoing; Infrastructure; Safety Concerns; Knowledge and Skills: lack of understanding, need for electricians; Cultural and Social Factors: resistance to change, misinformation; Regulatory and Legal Issues: lack of standards; Trust and Security: fear of the unknown.

Do these sound familiar? Applying these ideas to AI adoption, let’s focus in on the barriers of “cultural and social factors” and “trust and security”. These are the foundational challenges faced when trying to gain adoption of AI tools for individuals and organizations.

Five Crucial Steps to Build Trust and Transform your Culture:

Give Permission: 80% of workers use an AI tool without permission from their leader.[2] Organizations can’t leverage AI tools properly if employees hide what they are doing. This behavior puts companies at risk of data and privacy breaches and can lead to reputation damage and a lack of customer trust.

- What to do: Communicate early and often with employees incorporating your established company values to channel energy and engagement with AI while explicitly stating your stance on AI usage. Invest in AI governance.

Show Empathy: According to a Microsoft poll[3], “68% of people say they struggle with the pace and volume of work, and 46% feel burned out.” Workers face unprecedented pressure from all sides to produce, procure, reduce, and improve.

- What to do for individual users: Use emotional intelligence tools like empathy, to understand your employee’s perspective. Initiate conversations in a safe space to gain insights into struggles and fears. Involve employees in testing potential AI tools ensuring the tool is fit-for-purpose and intuitive to use. Encourage managers to stay curious and use active listening around AI topics with their employees.

When asked, “How concerned are you about the possibility of AI resulting in your losing your job, or having your hours or salary cut?” 36% said they were somewhat or very concerned.[4]

- What to do for organizational changes: If your company is planning to implement an AI tool to improve operations, streamline warehouse processes, interact with customers, or any other function not related to individual employee use, be aware of the impact these solutions will have on your employees. Stop the rumor mills, be open and honest about your intentions with AI. Communicate early and often.

Equip Your Team: 45% of US executives are not currently investing in AI tools or products for employees[5].

- What to do: Consider conducting a survey to understand what needs employees have. Use the survey results to investigate potential AI tools. Pilot a low-cost/no-cost AI tool with a small group of employees who are motivated to experiment with AI. Get their feedback and demonstrate a desire to respond to it.

Educate: Only 39% of people globally who use AI at work have gotten AI training from their company. Only 25% of companies are planning to offer training on generative AI this year, further cementing this training deficit .

- What to do for individual users: Employees aren’t waiting around for their employers. The use of LinkedIn Learning courses designed to build AI aptitude has spiked 160% among non-technical professionals . Proper training is crucial for adoption. Ask employees how they want to be trained and what they want to train on.

Research shows that 25% of tech projects fail outright, 20% to 50% show no ROI, and up to 50% need massive reworking when finished.[6]

- What to do for organizational changes: consider hiring or upskilling a current employee to implement Organization Change Management. This will mitigate the risks of a failed AI adoption. Try sending a few employees to an AI conference and ask them to report back on relevant AI topics.

Ongoing Support: For the vast majority of people, AI isn’t replacing their job but transforming it, and their next job might be a role that doesn’t exist yet. Globally, skills are projected to change by 50% by 2030 (from 2016)—and generative AI is expected to accelerate this change to 68% .

- What to do: A culture of continuous learning and adaptability will be crucial for organizations to stay relevant and competitive[7]. Establish a roadmap of reinforcement initiatives. Be intentional about soliciting feedback and responding to concerns. Celebrate wins, recognize achievements, express gratitude. Create a Teams channel for AI innovation and potential use cases to stay current on AI trends. Identify an employee that has already adopted AI tools and empower them to start a community of practice around AI.

Conclusion

To stay competitive in today’s unprecedented times, we know that waiting years for AI tools to be fully adopted is not an option. We all want safe, secure, accurate, transparent AI tools that enhance productivity and minimize effort. Most organizations are setting aside budget investments for organizational AI tools that will streamline workflows, reduce costs, and help them accomplish their goals. Transforming your culture to build trust, satisfy skeptics, improve morale and productivity, ultimately improving AI adoption rates will pay off exponentially.

About Lorraine Smart

Lorraine Smart is a seasoned project and team leader with proven track record for guiding cross-functional teams through complex technical implementations and cultural transformations. She specializes in AI strategy and all things Data. She is an expert at developing and executing comprehensive and systemic strategies and concepts, ensuring alignment with your business goals and long-term sustainability. She would love to connect with you to advance your AI strategy and cultural transformation. You can reach Lorraine at lorraine.smart@fishermp.com.