“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan
The single largest barrier to implementing strategic change is ‘institutional inertia’. Organizations, like people, have ‘habits’, defined ways of doing things, and implicit cultural norms. Shifting practices, ways of working, and mindset requires significant, sustained energy and commitment. Below are Accelerated Innovations’ top 5 recommendations for building and sustaining energy for your GenAI adoption efforts.
Momentum starts with a compelling shared vision
Leaders need to define a clear and compelling ‘case for change’ when kicking off a strategic change effort of any kind, but particularly for GenAI adoption. Fear of GenAI’s impacts on jobs, the security of these new capabilities, and general ‘change fatigue’ all represent significant headwinds to rapid GenAI adoption. To push through these barriers, leaders need to craft a clear vision of how GenAI is going to help drive significant performance improvements, free workers from mundane tasks, and deliver compelling capabilities for their customers and their team.
Momentum builds with the delivery of high-visibility ‘Quick Wins’
One of the core challenges facing GenAI adoption is the need to train your workforce and scale new capabilities. While those needs don’t go away, delivery of a series of high-visibility ‘Quick Wins’ can build significant momentum for your adoption efforts while you’re establishing a solid foundation for sustained success. These Quick Wins often involve adoption of readily available 3rd party solutions and can have material impact in as little as 30 days.
Momentum is sustained by frequent delivery of value
You’ll want to give careful thought to how you sequence the delivery of your Quick Wins and first custom solutions. Bi-weekly or monthly delivery of new solutions is ideal in the first 1 – 2 quarters of adoption, as it helps bring these capabilities to life at a pace that your teams are more likely to be able to successfully adopt them.
Momentum is fueled by clear communication and adoption enablers
As the saying goes ‘Your team is only just getting it when you’re sick of talking about it…’. Most leadership teams underinvest in communications for their strategic change efforts. Others over communicate, but with little clarity. Crafting a clear, effective, multimodal communication strategy is critical for successful GenAI adoption. Leaning-in on adoption enablement is also a key differentiator for success. Team members are busy and foundational change is generally not easy for adults. Providing simple adoption enablers in the form of Job Aids, short videos, ‘Lunch & Learns’ and ‘Office Hours’ is critical for accelerated GenAI adoption.
Momentum dissipates significantly, it can be very difficult to ‘rekindle’
As most leaders have learned the hard way, if focus and momentum wane for a given strategic change effort, it’s extremely challenging to ‘jumpstart’ institutional focus again. There’s always a new ‘shiny penny’ and a nearly endless range of high-potential new initiatives. As a result, focusing on building and continually sustaining momentum around your GenAI adoption efforts should be a top priority for every GenAI journey.
What We’re Seeing in Practice
- Unclear ‘cases for change’: Far too many leaders are either unclear of the role that GenAI is going to play in their industry, haven’t defined a clear case for change for their business, or are ‘reacting to the board’. Regardless of the root cause, an unclear or ineffective case for change makes success with GenAI highly unlikely.
- Long lead-times to visible value are a killer: A traditional, linear approach to adopting GenAI starts with compliance, training, and small scale experimentation. While all of those are important, they typically translate into multiple quarters without visible value being delivered. Long lead times can ‘kill momentum’ for GenAI adoption and can represent significant risk to program sponsors.
- An increasing range of ‘Quick Wins’ are emerging: There are a wide range of GenAI-enabled solutions available today that offer opportunities for rapid adoption and clear ‘proof points’ of GenAI’s value. Whether it’s Microsoft 365 Copilot, Zoom’s AI functionality for increased meeting productivity, or ChatGPT’s ability to accelerate client communications, there are many options available to ‘hit the ground running’ on your GenAI adoption efforts.
- Underinvestment in communications and change management: GenAI is complex and can be intimidating for many. Leaders need to do more to enable their GenAI journey than provide updates in quarterly town halls. Instead, they need to develop and execute an integrated communications and change management plan that meets their teams where they are, reinforces commitment, simplifies adoption, and celebrates wins.
- We’re still in ‘early days’ so sustained commitment has yet to be tested: We’ve rarely seen an emerging business trend receive the attention GenAI garnered in 2023. The media coverage and general excitement provided a tremendous tailwind for adoption. The real work has yet to begin at scale for most companies, though, and 2024 will be a test of the sustained commitment and focus as we collectively institutionalize these capabilities.
“I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.” – Muhammad Ali
Sustaining strategic change is a lesson in Physics. Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object at rest will stay at rest, while an object in motion will stay in motion … unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Successful GenAI adoption requires a concerted ‘unbalanced force’ to achieve ‘Lift Off’ and accelerate the journey. Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation is equally relevant, as organizations have their own center of gravity, and sustained change requires enough ‘lift’ to break free from established patterns and change resistance. 2024 is likely to be a bumpy year for GenAI adoption, as best practices rapidly evolve and potential distractions mount. Those that are able to build and sustain momentum for their efforts, even when it ‘hurts’ a little, will be the ones that thrive in a GenAI-enabled operating environment moving forward.
This is the fourth blog of an integrated ‘Keys to Winning with GenAI’ series. Please click below to explore the remaining ‘deeper dive’ topics.
Previous Blogs in the series:
- Accelerated Innovations ‘Keys to Winning’ with GenAI
- Defining a Compelling GenAI ‘True North’ for Your Business
To learn more about Accelerated Innovation’s end-to-end GenAI enablement services, or specific topics of interest, please schedule a call to start your GenAI journey.
