[00:00:00] Hi there friends, and welcome to another episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, the communications podcast. This is episode 103, which is our last topic in our Topic in 10 series for now. My name is Mel Loy, and I'm recording this on the lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people here in Meanjin, Brisbane.

[00:00:20] This week, the question from one of your fellow listeners is, what is a quick framework for companies to adopt AI into the workforce? And it's an excellent and very pertinent question. Now, the Australian Government National AI Centre is actually monitoring the adoption of AI among small and medium sized businesses in this country.

[00:00:40] And as of December 2024, so just a month or so ago, Only 35 percent of small to medium enterprises were adopting AI. 23 percent say they don't know how to use it. And 42 percent say they are not planning to adopt AI at all. Now some [00:01:00] of the barriers to adoption tend to be skills or lack thereof. Funding, again, or lack thereof.

[00:01:06] And also just how hard it is to keep up. Because it is rapidly evolving every day it feels like. Interestingly, a survey of more than 1300 people worldwide by McKinsey showed 65 percent of respondents reported their organisations were regularly using Gen AI in at least one business function. But realistically, given the opportunity AI presents, that's still a very small adoption rate.

[00:01:32] So if you are looking to adopt AI in your workplace, where do you even start? Well, the good part is that if you are in communications, you are probably best placed to lead the charge. And you might be asking why? Well, it's because we are all about risk, reward and reputation. So we don't need to be technical experts, but we can be the experts in identifying potential opportunities.

[00:01:55] So how do we do it? I'm going to share six guidelines to help you [00:02:00] develop your own framework for adoption. And remember, this is a topic in 10, so it's going to be quick. You will need to delve into these in more detail. Those six elements can be loosely grouped into what I'm calling a three P framework for AI adoption.

[00:02:13] And those three P's are positioning, people and processes. So positioning refers to your organisation's policy on a I and the road map. People refers to culture and training and processes refers to your procedures and how you will actually go about managing the change. So let's look at the first step, which is the most important, and that is having clear ownership of AI adoption in your business.

[00:02:40] One person needs to own it and drive it, or you will get decision by committee, which will slow everything down. And when it's everyone's job, it's nobody's job. It's like in your home when it's everybody's job to take the rubbish out, which means nobody takes the rubbish out. Ownership means stakeholder engagement, bringing the experts in and so on.

[00:02:59] [00:03:00] It means having one point of contact for decisions. The person who owns this role needs to be given the mandate to make decisions and also needs to be both curious and cautious. So choose widely. This person is also responsible for developing your AI strategy roadmap by bringing in the experts and doing that.

[00:03:19] So they are the point of contact and again, one person for this one big role. The next step is to get the foundations right. And part of those foundations is your policy. So this is still part of the positioning. Part of the 3P framework. What is your position on people using AI in your business? If you're comfortable with it being used in general, get more specific.

[00:03:42] So what kinds of AI can people use and how do you expect people to use it? The policy should include references to responsible AI and what that means. So, for example, not putting confidential company information into ChatGPT, um, making sure that when you do create images with [00:04:00] AI that they're done, uh, ethically, so they're not plagiarizing, but also that you credit that those images are created by AI, and so on.

[00:04:07] Now, once you've got agreement on that policy, please make sure you create simpler guidelines, a document that, your whole organisation can use, as well as a quick guide. Typically just a one pager with the do's and don'ts. Because let's face it, few people are actually going to read the whole policy. Sorry.

[00:04:25] Okay, so let me get to the next P, which is about people. This is another foundational piece. It's your culture. It's all well and good to have a few pieces of paper that says, this is what you can and can't do with AI. But having a culture that adopts AI is a whole other thing. A culture that adopts to and adapts to AI is one that's rooted in innovation, creative thinking and a continuous improvement mindset.

[00:04:54] If you have a culture that's quite old school and stuck in the status quo, then it's going to be very hard [00:05:00] to shift the thinking so that people are curious about AI and its potential applications. Shifting culture is hard work. There are no two ways about it. So this is where you're going to need some really strong leadership, people who role model this kind of thinking, where innovation and creativity is rewarded, not treated with suspicion or layering on too much risk aversion.

[00:05:21] Culture doesn't just come from the top, however, although that does help, but if you get enough willing participants within the tribe, you can help shift the thinking upwards and outwards. So from a comms perspective, you might be thinking, well, how do we do this? Well, really simply share stories, share stories that show this kind of thinking in action, make it look like this is the norm in your organisation and celebrate those people and the work they do.

[00:05:47] Tell stories of experimentation. I personally, I hate the phrase safe to fail because even if something doesn't work, but you learned from it, then it is not a failure. It is an experiment. So think about [00:06:00] focusing on experimentation. Now, the next two steps will also help with shifting culture and tip number four is like any change, having a group of excited and committed change champions will help.

[00:06:14] So these are your early adopters. They get involved in piloting new AI. They provide feedback. They come up with other ideas for how the technology might be used. They even help to identify potential use cases. They are great for experimenting, but they're also great for shifting the thinking about AI among their peers.

[00:06:34] So apart from asking them to test the tech and identify potential uses also gather their stories and share them widely. Remember that people are more likely to trust something that's come from a peer or a coworker rather than senior management. So your early adopters or change champions are going to be very powerful voices that you can leverage to shift culture and drive adoption.

[00:06:58] Step number five. [00:07:00] Well. Once you've got the policies and guidelines in place, you've got that cultural shift starting, you can start to build confidence and capability in using AI. And you do that by starting with baby steps. Start with the small, low risk, tedious, repetitive tasks that currently take up a lot of time or are a real pain point for your people.

[00:07:21] So in behavioral science, it's called the foot in the door technique. Basically, you start with a small ask and then, because it's small, people are likely to take it up.

[00:07:30] Then you come back later with a bigger ask. Now this is when people start to tap into their consistency bias. We really love to be consistent with things that we've done or said publicly. And so people are more likely to agree to a bigger ask than if you'd requested that in the first place. So for example, it might be using AI to go through a gazillion spreadsheets worth of data in just a few hours, a task that would have taken somebody weeks on top of their day job. Or it's using AI tools like [00:08:00] ChatGPT or Google, uh, Gemini or Microsoft Copilot to help people write their first drafts of emails, come up with ideas for team meetings, and so on.

[00:08:10] When you start with the baby steps, you build certainty. And that's what we want because uncertainty breeds fear and fear will breed avoidance. Now, speaking of certainty, step number six, a big part of certainty is education. We can't assume that everyone knows the same amount of information about AI as we do, especially in large organisations or geographically dispersed organisations.

[00:08:37] The reality is you're going to have a wide spectrum of knowledge from people who know absolutely nothing through the people who know a little. So part of your framework absolutely has to be around education. I would build this into the processes, right? So apart from the baby steps that I spoke about earlier, you are going to have to put in place more structured education sessions. These sessions [00:09:00] should not only introduce AI, what it's useful for, along with what's in your policy, but also talk about responsible AI.

[00:09:07] These sessions are going to be an integral part of your risk management process. They will reiterate what's in your policy and guidelines, which is a great way also to communicate for those people who won't read the policy or the guidelines, who are more visual or auditory learners, perhaps. There's already a great bunch of AI learning content out there that you could really repurpose or just point people to.

[00:09:29] So Microsoft, for example, has a great AI learning hub. Just give that a quick Google and you'll see all the content they have available. So you don't need to reinvent the wheel, but think about having a variety of education sessions available for people along that whole spectrum of knowledge. So for example, you'll just need the basics for people who are just starting out.

[00:09:50] But you might have some more advanced modules for people who are already embracing AI and want to build more of it into their everyday work. Okay, so that's our topic in 10. To [00:10:00] reiterate the key points. Number one, it is helpful to think of the AI framework as the three P's, positioning, people, and processes.

[00:10:08] And I shared six elements that appear within this framework. Number one, clear ownership. Make sure there is one person who is the clear owner and who has the mandate to drive AI forward in your organisation. Number two, policies and guidelines. Get the foundations right by having a clear AI policy and a set of guidelines for use.

[00:10:28] Number three, culture. You need to foster a culture of continuous improvement. That continuous improvement fosters and celebrates and rewards people who demonstrate innovative and creative thinking and who aren't afraid to experiment within boundaries, of course. Number four, early adopters. These will be your change champions.

[00:10:48] So apart from being integral to the testing process of your AI tools, making sure your policies and guidelines are fit for purpose, there will also be a trusted voice among their peers to [00:11:00] help drive adoption. Number five, baby steps. Start with small AI projects that can demonstrate value with very little risk.

[00:11:08] This will help build confidence, certainty, and capability that you can then build upon. And the final one, educate. You need to educate your people, not only in the contents for your, of your policies and guidelines, but also in AI in general. We can't assume knowledge. We need to build that through targeted and useful education sessions.

[00:11:31] All right. So that's our topic in 10 and the last one for a while, but keep your ideas coming in because there's been some awesome ideas that we will turn into podcast episodes, of course, this year. And we're back into our regular programming from next week with a really great interview on personal brand, which I really think you will get a lot of benefit from in the meantime, keep doing amazing things and bye for now.