Before comms teams scale AI, they need to know whether their people, policies and culture are ready.
AI adoption can look a bit uneven inside comms teams.
One team may have strong training but no clear governance while another may encourage employees to use new tools without explaining why AI fits into their work.
Samantha Stark, chief strategist and founder of Phyusion, said this is a stalling point many organizations are now grappling with.
“One of the biggest barriers to people being successful, and more importantly, teams being successful, is that they’re not looking at (AI) holistically,” Stark said.
AI adoption changes how people work so it needs to be examined from all sides.
“We haven’t seen a technology shift like this within our lifetime,” Stark said. “The normal playbooks of change management and how you roll out a technology do not apply.”
Why does AI adoption need a holistic approach?
A holistic approach is necessary because AI adoption changes more than the tools people use. It affects skills, governance, culture, leadership and expectations, Stark said.
Some teams that Stark advises are finding issues after quickly adopting AI in one area and more slowly in another.
For example, Stark said employees may be trained on prompts but not told what data can be entered into that tool. Other organizations may invest in a platform without checking whether it matches the work employees actually need to do.
“One team might have done really great training. So the skills of the teams are better, but they have very weak governance,” Stark said. “And so people don’t know what they’re allowed to do.”
Uncertainty can push employees in opposite directions and cause confusion. It also puts their efforts at a disadvantage, Stark said. To build useful, safe AI habits, it’s important to approach AI considering several factors.
What should comms leaders be asking before AI adoption?
Stark said teams need to look at the full environment around AI adoption.
Start with these questions:
- Do employees know why the organization is using AI?
- Have leaders explained what AI is supposed to change?
- Do employees know which tools are approved?
- Is it clear what data can and cannot be entered into AI tools?
- Is there guidance on privacy, accuracy, risk and human review?
- Does the team have enough training to use AI well?
- Are employees given time to test AI in realistic workflows?
These questions help determine whether there’s a tool problem, a training problem, a governance problem or a culture problem, Stark said.
“You need to essentially have a moment where you step back and share the vision and why we’re supporting,” Stark said.
How can my organization improve?
Not every organization needs the same AI plan, Stark said.
A team just beginning to explore AI could improve with more foundational training, while a more advanced team may be experimenting with synthetic audiences or more sophisticated workflows, Stark said. Find out where your team stands, then look for opportunities to adapt and learn, she said.
“If you take the time to do the diagnostics and find the insights, then you can be very successful,” Stark said.
What is the AI Team Readiness Assessment?
To help teams identify gaps in their AI practices, Phyusion created an AI Team Readiness Assessment with Ragan’s Center for AI Strategy. Any organization can try it here for free.
The assessment evaluates eight dimensions of AI adoption, which includes skills and training, technology, leadership, risk and governance, culture, talent management, internal narrative and teamwide adoption strategy.
It also places teams into one of four maturity stages: exploring, scaling, operationalizing or leading. Teams receive a score along with recommendations they can use to improve their own practices.
“AI adoption is really about whether the organization has created the conditions for people to use AI clearly, safely and effectively,” Stark said.
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