Implementing Gen AI Takes a Dream Team. Here’s How to Build Yours.

If your business’ generative AI implementation looks like a series of small, scattershot projects, it may already be doomed to fail. You don’t need a big, disparate spread of small projects; you need a small team that thinks big.

Choosing the right team members from the outset is critical. Many companies invest heavily in their AI strategy but need help due to the composition of their core team. Today, I'll discuss creating your core generative AI team, who will be responsible for developing your generative AI strategy and overseeing execution.?

The Problems with Most Gen AI Efforts

Most dysfunctional generative AI efforts share these three traits:

1. Technology-focused instead of transformation-focused

While it's crucial to consider technological aspects, solely focusing on them neglects valuable input from the business and strategic perspectives. Consequently, keeping the leadership primarily within IT can be a mistake, as it overlooks essential insights from other areas. Of course, IT should play a part, but your team needs to think bigger than nuts and bolts.?

2. Feasibility instead of future?

There's a strong emphasis on what can be achieved with existing technology and its immediate productivity and product development applications. Those pieces are essential, but they’re often overemphasized at the expense of considering AI’s potential to transform the business more profoundly.

3. Tactical instead of strategic?

Instead of considering future possibilities and strategic benefits, efforts tend to be narrowly focused on immediate, feasible activities. However, the tactical capabilities of AI change constantly. It’s crucial to consider present-day applications and long-term strategic possibilities.?

Build Your Gen AI MVT (Minimum-viable team)

Your MVT serves as the strategic hub, setting the overarching direction of your business’ AI initiatives. It should be small, agile, and forward-thinking. Too much bloat derails progress. Your MVT should be built with a focus on:

1. Cross-Departmental Collaboration: The core team comprises members from diverse departments, ensuring a holistic perspective.

2. Strategic Focus from Inception: From the outset, the team is geared towards strategic and transformational thinking, avoiding siloed approaches.

3. Setting High-Level Strategy: Rather than diving into detailed execution plans, the core team focuses on establishing the organization's broad strategic direction.

4. Transition to AI Council: Once the strategy is in place, the core team expands into an AI Council, overseeing implementation.

Just because your core team is small doesn’t mean they should think small. Many AI efforts today start with small, isolated projects and goals due to AI's novelty and perceived risks. However, starting small may limit growth.?

The core team focuses on thinking big and eventually identifying specific actions for quick implementation. This approach allows for rapid scaling while maintaining a bold vision. Think big, start small, scale fast.

Critical Qualities of Core Team Members

So before we get into the team members themselves, here are some characteristics to look for.?

1. Strategic insight: They should have an understanding of your organization’s strategic goals and be able to discern new opportunities to contribute to them.?

2. Curiosity for change: They have an abundance and growth mindset. Change isn’t scary to them; they run right towards it.?

3. Open-minded: The possible applications of generative AI are vast. You need someone who can think laterally about new opportunities.?

4. Collaborative spirit: They should be able to work well with others, contribute ideas, and actively listen.?

5. Ethical mindset: Gen AI will bring up issues around ethics. You need someone concerned with doing right, not only by the company but also by your employees, customers, and society.?

Each member of your team doesn’t necessarily need to embody all of these characteristics (though it would be a plus if they did). The goal is to assemble a core team that collectively brings these five key characteristics.?

Who Should Fill Those Seats?

Now, who should be on the team? There are four crucial roles.?

1. Executive Oversight: The executive role on the core AI team is crucial but challenging to fill. It requires strategic insight and credibility to align AI initiatives with overall company strategy. Ideally filled by a CEO or high-level proxy, this individual ensures that AI efforts complement and enhance the organization's overarching goals.

2. IT Integration: An IT representative is essential for understanding how AI fits into existing technological infrastructure. They navigate data systems and architecture, assessing feasibility and strategic alignment beyond technical details.?

3. Business Perspective: A business lead brings a customer-centric focus, anticipating how AI will reshape customer expectations. They bridge the gap between current and future customer needs, guiding short-term actions to meet evolving demands.

4. HR Inclusion: Often overlooked, HR's presence on the core team is vital for addressing the workforce implications of AI implementation. They assess talent needs, skills development, and organizational transformation, ensuring alignment with company values and long-term strategic goals.

When Should Legal Get Involved?

Legal, risk, and security are crucial, but their direct involvement in the core team's early stages can hinder creativity. While their input is valuable, it's best to excuse them from initial early meetings to allow uninhibited exploration of possibilities. Imagination is critical in developing a robust strategy, and too much focus on feasibility too soon can stifle innovation.

It’s crucial to keep them informed and involved about the broad parameters of your explorations. Ensure that the MVT team understands their concerns by establishing clear guidelines and involving them as strategic options become more apparent.??

Next Steps for the Core Team

After assembling your core team, ensure they receive proper training in using AI tools and technologies to understand their transformative potential. Provide hands-on experience through exercises to grasp the impact on their work and the business. Establish a Slack or team channel for asynchronous collaboration to facilitate continuous sharing of ideas and experiences.?

Eventually, they can plan for the transition of this core team into an AI Council, responsible for detailed execution planning and implementation across the organization. Keep the core team small to maintain agility and speed in strategic thinking. While additional expertise can be brought in as needed, prioritize diversity of thought and focus on key strategic roles to prevent team bloat and maintain efficiency.?

If this information was helpful, you may be interested in attending one or both of my upcoming (free!) webinars. Each hour-long session promises to be packed with hands-on exercises and best practices to propel your AI prowess to the next level:

• April 24: Unlocking the Power of Generative AI: A Leader’s Guide to Getting Started . A hands-on introduction to using generative AI as a leader. We’ll move from knowing about generative AI to using it.?
• May 8: Developing a Winning Generative AI Strategy for Competitive Advantage . Wondering how to get started with generative AI? We’ll walk step-by-step through how to create a coherent generative AI strategy that supports your business objectives.??

Your Turn

What questions do you have about assembling the core team for your organization’s generative AI strategy? What other roles or qualities would you include?