Want to Bridge the AI Training Gap? Enlist Your Executives.

What if I told you we’ve seen a 2000% growth in job postings requiring AI skills? Or that 4 in 5 employees want to learn how to use AI in their profession because they believe it will help them get ahead in their careers??

If you’re like me, you probably see these numbers and immediately think of how important it is for organizations to offer generative AI training.??

But here’s the thing: Very few are doing that.?

Consider these additional statistics:

• 38% of executives say that they're currently helping workers become AI literate, but only 14% of frontline employees are receiving any upskilling training.?
• Only 1 in 10 workers has been offered any AI-specific training.?
• Executive education is non-existent.?

I've been on the road for the past couple of weeks, speaking about generative AI. In almost all of my conversations with organizations, I notice a big difference between what people want from AI training and what they’re actually receiving from their employers.?

How can companies narrow that gap?

Get Started with Your Executives

As I discussed in my last livestream, preparing your organization for generative AI hinges—at least in part—on getting your top two executive levels on board. This has a trickle down effect: If leaders understand the strategic use and power of AI, then they can accelerate company-wide learning that much faster.?

Training your executives can be difficult because they’re often strapped for time. Consider the following tips for getting them on board:

1. Tie AI to one of their top strategic objectives.?

I recently spoke with an executive who shared that one of his company’s key goals is to move into new markets. My response? AI can help with that! Throughout our conversation, I could just see the gears turning as he imagined the possibilities.?

The key is to show your executives how AI can support the accomplishment of their objectives.?

2.? Show them how they can do things they already know how to do.?

AI is great at completing tasks fast—and with minimal effort. It can streamline tedious, time-consuming processes or speed up more labor-intensive tasks like writing, researching, or even thinking. Give your executives the chance to have an “a ha!” moment when they see what AI can do for them. (Hat tip to Darryl Davis for this!)??

3. Choose exercises that don’t require sharing any confidential company information.?

If you don’t have a secure environment, find and identify tasks that do not compromise any confidential company information. Let your executives get their hands dirty with the tools. There are so many things they can do with publicly available information—even about the company.

Show, Don’t Tell: Executive AI Exercises?

Get leaders’ feet wet by showing them how much AI can do to streamline processes while maximizing outcomes. Consider the following three exercises to get your teams on board:?

1. Use AI to draft content.?

This is a great place to start. Let AI streamline the drafting process:?

• Identify content to write. Consider crafting an invitation, a sympathy note, a presentation, a speech, or an email (one that doesn’t share confidential information, of course!).?
• Identify your audience. Clarify for whom the content is intended—what are their concerns or questions?
• Input into generative AI. Tell AI what you need. Specify the content type and audience, along with the tone. Include any key phrases or terminology. Then, ask AI to generate the content.?
• Review and personalize. Carefully review the draft and make adjustments to ensure it aligns with your voice and addresses your needs. Ask it to revise until you get what you want. Make additions (greetings, etc.) as needed.?
• Feedback loop. Optionally, share the draft with a trusted colleague for feedback. Does it sound like you? Does it read well? Use this feedback to refine the content further.

The goal here is to get familiar and comfortable with AI capturing your ideas and style. Certainly it takes some fine tuning, but the process helps give you the confidence that AI can do this in a fairly reliable way.

2. Use AI to prepare for a prospective customer meeting.?

Finding new customers is really important, especially if your company or organization is in the business of selling a product or service. Let AI ease this process:?

• Define the Customer: Identify the customer or industry you want to learn more about.
• Ask for a Summary: Ask AI to create a summary, including revenues, top strategic objectives, major news, and competitors.
• Refine your Request: What additional information do you want to dig into about the customer or industry? Have a conversation with AI to get the information you need.
• Input Your Offerings: Input publicly available information about your offerings. This might be a product or marketing sales sheet, information from a website, etc. Ask AI to summarize the information so you are sure it understands what you provided. If it doesn’t, give it more.
• Generative Talking Points: Ask AI to identify 3-5 points you can bring up to the prospect about your offerings that align with their needs.
• Refine and Review: Ask AI if it needs more information about your offerings to make a more informed recommendation on talking points. Dig deeper into the recommendations as needed.

The goal here is to see how AI can merge research with specific product and service information to make it relevant to the organization.

3. Use AI as a thought partner.

This is my favorite way to use AI! Leverage its power to refine and expand on ideas:?

• Draft an Initial Outline: Write a brief outline or summary of your current thinking on a topic. Include any hypotheses, goals, and potential challenges. Or upload a recent article or report that you are interested in learning more about.
• Engage with the AI: Request insights, expansions, or challenges to the idea. You can use prompts like, “What are the pros and cons of this idea?” or "Suggest ways to improve it to make the argument stronger.”?
• Analyze the AI outputs: Review AI's suggestions carefully. Identify insights that challenge your assumptions, offer new perspectives, or validate your strategy.
• Incorporate and Refine: Use AIs feedback to refine the idea. This might involve adjusting your goals, rethinking your approach to challenges, or exploring new opportunities AI identified. You can continue to converse with AI to explore these areas.

The goal here is to use and trust AI to challenge or pressure test an idea. Let it help you problem solve. Ask it for feedback—you can even specify how you’d like to receive that feedback!?

Above all, center this: AI is a tool to help us achieve our goals in a better, faster way.?

Looking For More??

I’ve compiled some additional resources to support you as you work to get your teams on board:?

• Coursera’s “Navigating Generative AI: The CEO Playbook.” If you saw my livestream with Jeff Maggioncalda, you’ll know I love this course!??
• LinkedIn’s 250 Top Generative AI Courses (for free through April 5th)?
• My course, “Generative AI and Workforce Transformation”?
• Getting Started with Generative AI: Exercises?
• Generative AI Use Policy Resources

If this information was helpful, there’s plenty more! Sign up to get updates and early access for my upcoming book, all about how to create a winning generative AI strategy.

Your Turn

What are you doing to prepare your organization for generative AI? How and where did you get started??