• Internal AI champions play a vital role in helping teams explore and adopt new ways of working.
• But being a champion can be isolating, especially when everyone assumes you have the answers.
• Coaching provides a safe space for champions to reflect, navigate ambiguity, and build influence without needing to be “the expert.”
• Support isn’t just about skills — it’s about confidence, connection, and clarity.
• If you want adoption to spread, invest in the people carrying the message.

Who Are Your Internal AI Champions?

They’re usually the ones who lean in during early workshops. The ones who say:

“I gave it a go over the weekend and it worked!”
“Could we try this in our team?”
“I showed it to a colleague and they loved it.”

We’ve written before about what makes a great AI champion. They’re not always the most senior. They’re not always in tech.

But they’re often the spark that moves an organisation from talk to action.

Why Champions Need Coaching, Not Just Tools

Once a champion is identified, the temptation is to give them some training, access to AI tools and maybe a toolkit — and ask them to go forth and share what they know.

But here’s the thing:

They’re still figuring it out, too.

They often feel:

• Uncertain — “Am I doing this right?”
• Exposed — “Will people think I’m the expert now?”
• Stuck — “This would work, but we’d need buy-in from above.”
• Frustrated — “There’s interest, but no one is making space for it.”

Coaching gives them a space to say these things out loud — and work through them.

What Does Coaching Actually Offer?

It’s not about training. It’s about thinking.

A well-timed coaching conversation can help a champion:

• Reflect on what’s working (and what isn’t)
• Reframe challenges in a more constructive way
• Make sense of internal dynamics or politics
• Prepare for conversations with leaders or sceptics
• Stay connected to their own curiosity and motivation

And sometimes, it’s just a space to say:

“This is harder than I thought — and I’m not sure what to do next.”

That’s where confidence grows.

When Everyone’s Figuring It Out, Champions Feel the Pressure

One of the most common patterns we see?

Champions are excited at first — but after a while, they start to doubt themselves.

Why? Because as interest in AI grows, so do the questions… and expectations.

People start turning to the champion for answers. For reassurance. For direction.

And the champion’s internal voice often says:

“I was just experimenting. I don’t really know.”

Without support, that doubt can quietly shut things down.

Champions Don’t Need More Content — They Need Coaching

Of course they’ll benefit from shared resources, toolkits, or prompt guides.

But if you want them to grow as confident, influential enablers of change?

What they really need is:

• Space to reflect
• Somewhere to bring questions
• Encouragement to be curious, not certain
• A place to test ideas without the pressure to perform

That’s what coaching offers.

Why This Matters for the Whole Organisation

Supporting your champions isn’t just about them. It’s about momentum.

Because champions who feel:

• Heard → are more resilient
• Equipped → are more influential
• Supported → are more consistent
• Connected → are more likely to stay engaged

And champions who keep going help others keep going, too.

Let’s Explore AI Together

In our Explore AI Together programme, we coach internal champions through the messy middle — not just with tools, but with time to think.

We create space for reflection, support decision-making, and help build confidence in the face of uncertainty.

If you’re developing champions inside your organisation, let’s talk about how to support them in a way that lasts.

It probably had its origins in the military and wargaming but, in essence, it’s about having people play the role of a competitor to test your systems or plans.

Sort of like a devil’s advocate but a bit more rigorous. A proof-reader on steroids, maybe.

I found the concept interesting in terms of developing strategies and planning in business.

When working with teams on strategy development, it’s always important to probe and test the group’s thinking during the process.

Looking for data and ways to disprove key assumptions in a plan is essential as we can’t help but get caught up in our own world.

In fact, whenever we’ve invested time working on something, both individually or as a team, we’ve always embedded our own assumptions and unconscious biases in the output.

Have you ever worked hard on a project that you then show to someone else and their honest reaction isn’t what you expected?

They just don’t get it. Or maybe they quickly point out the obvious flaws in your thinking.

It’s easy to call this negativity.

Better to call it feedback.

But the reason I like the idea of the Red Team is that it goes beyond just feedback.

The Red Team’s job is to break your work.

They want to take your shiny business plan and deliberately pull it apart.

When you ask people for feedback their natural tendency is to be positive. OK, they may give some critical feedback, but seldom will they go to town.

Unless you ask them to deliberately find all the holes, they won’t do it.

Or, at least, won’t do it thoroughly.

Another important point, to me, is that the Red Team had no part in making it; they just want to break it.

What would happen if you took this approach in your organisation?

Imagine, you’ve just spent a month pulling together a 3-year strategy for growth. Your PowerPoint is polished and Spreadsheets are purring.

Then you purposely give it to someone and say “here, tell me how you would make this not happen?”

Really? Why would anyone do that?

Here’s two important reasons:

Firstly, if there are any big holes in your work – they should find them.

We’re not talking about rounding errors here. If you’ve baked-in something that everything else hangs around, they’ll see it.

Why? Because that’s the easiest way to break it.

So, putting your Red Team to work will force you to confront key assumptions (and risks) in your strategy or business plan.

Secondly, following on from this, uncovering these things will enable you to either fix them or mitigate against them.

Understanding the critical factors that will break your plan means you can choose the right metrics and measurements to ensure they don’t happen.

Or you may even rip it all up.

If what’s been uncovered is too big, too risky (and potentially too costly)… maybe you need to think again and go back to the drawing board.

This is definitely something that I’ll be advocating to my coaching clients and when I’m facilitating workshops on strategy development.

Even though, as a facilitator, my role at times is to be that challenging voice in the process, I still cannot remove myself from the process.

When my client has found a breakthrough in thinking and they’re all excited about having a new direction for the organisation, part of me will undoubtedly not want to burst their bubble.

And, having a Red Team doesn’t need to be an elaborate set-up.

Just find someone who you can say “here, tell me how you can make this all go wrong”.

It’s said that it’s sometimes lonely being the boss, and CEO/MDs will often confide in me that they don’t have anyone to talk with about challenges in their business.

You’d think that this isn’t a problem when there are Co-Founders or Directors working together, but it is.

Here are some real examples I’ve encountered over the years:

• Co-Directors not being aware of each other’s plan to retire, leading to significant succession issues.
• A Founder unable to speak openly with his investors about challenges for fear of not looking in control.
• Family members not communicating with each other about the future direction of the business.
• Decisions made solely by an entrepreneur which have resulted in costly problems to clear up.

The final example is something I’ve seen many times over.

When I’ve asked the entrepreneur why they made the decision and what advice they sought it becomes clear that they just decided on their own, often on a whim.

They were in a “silo of one”.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy facilitating peer-network sessions; sharing a challenge with others in a similar position can unlock new ways of thinking about a long-standing issue.

It’s also why having the support of an external advisor or coach can be so valuable.

Sometimes, the process of working through a specific challenge with a professional is all you need.

Or you may want a regular sounding-board; someone who you can bounce your thoughts off and talk through a challenge before acting.

Whether it’s a working with a trusted paid-for professional or a more informal peer-level relationship, getting outside our own “silo of one” is important for all of us.

The concept is an environment in which an individual only encounters beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that existing views are reinforced, and alternative ideas are not considered.

And it’s also something that occurs regularly in all organisations.

Good governance processes should always be in place to prevent groupthink, but the reality is that when I work with many enterprises, there can often be a real lack of diverse thinking in senior teams.

It’s only natural.

In many smaller organisations, where the founding team and/or a small group of leaders are steering the ship (often without the structure of a formal board) this is more likely to occur.

It’s not uncommon for there to be little or no change in the senior team within small entrepreneurial and family-run businesses over a period of decades.

Next time you are sat with your leadership team – look around.

How long has everyone been in their role? How diverse is the age/gender/ethnicity, etc of your senior team?

I’m not saying here that you must appoint different people; it’s just a reality check.

It’s somewhat inevitable that in many small organisations there will be less diversity in backgrounds as it’s a reflection of things like the founding team, family, local talent pool, etc.

But that shouldn’t mean less diverse thinking.

Bob Garratt, in his book The Fish Rots From The Head, writes about the need for Directors to be continuously scanning the “changing external political, trade and social environments, through travel, consulting, personal coaching and mentoring of top people”.

Increasing the diversity of your thinking when it comes to strategic planning and key decisions is essential.

There are many practical ways that you can do this without replacing people at the top:

• Encourage your leaders to serve on a Trustee board; working with other trustees is an excellent way to develop more diverse thinking. Check out Reach Volunteering or LinkedIn for trustee roles in your area.
• Consciously network more widely than your own current sector or social circle. Think about attending a conference looking at future trends and wider issues beyond your business, such as environmental impact.
• Look at joining a Peer Network where you can draw on external viewpoints and ideas to solve specific challenges.
• Use specialists to facilitate development sessions, since they can create a space for more creative thinking.
• Hire an external coach to work with the senior team.
• Consider volunteering as a mentor to entrepreneurs or individuals (there are many non-profit organisations looking for mentors).

This is not an exhaustive list and some of these ideas require no investment other than time.

All these ideas are either about bringing in different viewpoints from the outside or seeking to develop your own thinking through exposure to new environments.

Having to provide governance, advice and support to people and organisations that are different to your own and, importantly, where you no longer have established authority, can be a great learning experience.

The programmes are offered on a fully-funded basis, available to eligible charities, social enterprises, CICs and SMEs based in rural locations to support their leadership and organisational development.

Through diverse cohort groups, business leaders and managers collaboratively work through common business issues. This interactive action learning approach enables you to discuss your own challenges, gain and reflect on valuable feedback and implement practical solutions to overcome them.

Each Peer Networks includes

• 6 virtual learning sessions – delivered in a practical, engaging, action learning style around topics that focus on the current opportunities and challenges faced by the participants. This could include: Mitigating covid impact : Income Generation: Virtual Leadership and team management : Best application of digital technologies : Leader as Coach :  etc. etc.

•  Tailored one-to-one support – provided by a coach or specialist to work with you on a topic of your choice.

This will be a powerful, friendly, positive development opportunity – no assignments or assessments! – just ‘action’ and improvement.

David Regler from Maine Associates will be supporting SkillsReach to deliver this exciting programme of learning and business development.

We often think of breakthroughs happening in areas such as scientific research or in athletic endeavours, but breakthroughs in performance can happen to all of us in our business, professional and personal lives.

In business terms, we typically refer to a breakthrough as a significant positive change or shift in performance, in whatever way we decide to measure it. It could a breakthrough in sales or operational performance, for example.

The key concept is that it’s a rapid and significant advance in performance, rather than an incremental change. So, if that’s what it is, how can you achieve it?

Well, the thing is… it’s not where you think it is.

Where you’re looking isn’t where you’ll find it

You see, if you’re like most businesses you’re already focused on performance. You set goals and targets, measure what you do and then manage the outputs against target to deliver results.

This is all good, and it’s at the heart of good management for any business.

But that’s not where you’re going to find breakthrough performance.

Real breakthroughs come from what you don’t know. They come from what you’re not doing.

Think of it like this: you already know what you are doing. You are also aware of what you should be doing (even if you are not currently doing it right now).

So our focus is “how can I improve X” or “I need to start doing Y”.

This all comes from a frame of awareness.

However, the potential for breakthroughs coming from your current awareness is limited.

Breakthroughs come from what you don’t know

Real breakthroughs, that is a rapid and significant advance in performance, come from what you don’t know.

The illustration above is useful to keep track of this as it can become a bit of a mind-bender.

Stop it now!

Often, the quickest wins will come from what you don’t know that you are doing.

An example in business might be that you are giving away (or more often undervaluing) an element of your product or service which you could be charging for (because “it’s always been that way”).

Or, as a business leader, you’re behaviour is negatively impacting on your team and holding back greater performance levels, but you’re just not aware of it.

These example are all things that, if you stopped doing them, you would see a significant and rapid advance in performance.

Why? Because stopping doing something will have an immediate impact.

In many ways it’s far easier to stop doing something that’s negatively impacting performance than it is to try to improve on the positive things that you are doing.

Think about it. Removing something that negatively hits yours performance has to be easier than trying to squeeze the last few drops of performance out of something that you’re already measuring the heck out of.

Here’s an example from a client that shows how this can be a powerful area for breakthrough performance.

My client was struggling to get traction in a new market that was of strategic importance to the business. Despite a significant investment in marketing the results were non-existent. This was even though they were having great success with the same service proposition in an adjacent market. Clearly, something was wrong.

We decided to investigate and conducted a rapid audit of perceptions with key stakeholders and influencers in the target market. Of the insights we uncovered, one was that the description used for the service has a negative impact with the target audience – it basically turned them off completely.

Armed with this new information, we ran a new marketing campaign with a subtle shift in the description and copy used by omitting the negatively perceived wording.

Where previously there was not traction over months, we now saw positive results within days, which subsequently turned into a significant pipeline of opportunities in the new market. A true breakthrough in performance – by just stopping using a few words.

What do you need to start doing?

Another area where opportunities for breakthrough performance are hidden is in the things that you don’t know that you’re not doing (I know, I did say it was a mind-bender).

Of course, this can sometimes be the flip-side of the things that you are unaware you are doing.

An example, again from sales, to illustrate this could be something as simple as agreeing the next stage in the sales process when you are at the first stage.

I cannot tell you how many salespeople (and entrepreneurs) I have met who don’t do this simple step.

So, let’s say that your sales process typically involves an initial meeting (needs analysis) and then a second meeting to present a proposal. If you know you will need to have a second meeting with a prospect then agree a date and time while you are in the first meeting.

Taking this simple extra step builds commitment (or uncovers early resistance) as well as saving a heap of time chasing a prospect for a date and time. In short, if you know what the second step is – agree it when you are at the first step. Sell the next step of your sales process first.

I remember mentoring a client (the owner of a boutique consulting firm) who they had a huge opportunity to pitch a whale of a prospect that they had been pursuing for over 6 months.

We sat down afterwards to review how things had gone and my client was telling me about how it was an excellent meeting, how she had all the key players in a room and they were really excited about the presentation she gave.

“Great”, I said, “so what’s next?”

Suddenly a blank look came over her face as she realised that she simply left the meeting on a high and forgot to agree with the prospect what the next steps were.

Opportunities such as that can be huge breakthroughs, with a major client win having the potential to transform a business.

There are many other examples of businesses and people not doing something that would have a significant impact on their performance just because they didn’t know they were not doing it.

Start doing the things you should do and stop the things you shouldn’t

So, there you have it. The secret to creating breakthrough performance is simply becoming aware of:

• things you are not doing that will improve performance
• things that you are doing that impact negatively on performance

Once you’ve brought them into awareness it’s just a matter of focusing your attention on starting doing the things you should do and stopping the things you shouldn’t.

Simple, right?

Of course, the difficulty for all of us is becoming aware of these things. As they say, “you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Time to get an external perspective

If you find yourself struggling with performance in any area of your business, professional or personal life then its time to get an external perspective.

If you find yourself revisiting the same issue or are aware of the same patterns returning then something is happening that you’re not aware of. It could be an unconscious behaviour or a step in a process that’s missing or just not working.

Either way, get an external perspective.

That could be through hiring a business coach or mentor, or just sharing ideas with a colleague. It could be from reading articles in your sector for best practice as well as insights from outside your own industry or domain of expertise (which can be a fertile ground for huge breakthroughs).

From a personal development perspective, 360° surveys can be useful for uncovering negative behaviours you are unaware of. And a similar approach with customers will uncover blind-spots in your organisation where great gains can be made.

It’s not to say that it’s impossible to “figure it out” on your own. It’s just that more often than not an external perspective can get you there so much faster.

Often, when someone points out what’s missing or shines a light on what you’re doing, it’s when we all have that “a-ha” moment.

Recently I was in a meeting with an entrepreneur talking about his strategy for growth. He had been going around in circles for several months trying to reconcile a couple of conflicting visions for his business. The problem was in the level he was thinking about his business, which wasn’t helping him visualise how he could solve the dilemma.

Very quickly it was clear to me what was happening and I gave him a new perspective on how to approach the problem.

The entrepreneur went quiet and then said “You know, what you’ve just said in the last 2 minutes has summed up to me exactly what we need to do. It’s a challenge that I’ve been getting nowhere with and wasting time on for too long.”

In the end, breakthrough performance doesn’t have to be hard. Often, the little things have the biggest impact.

It’s just that you probably don’t know what they are… yet.

If you’re currently stuck or unsatisfied with current performance – contact us to find out how we can help.