• Great AI champions are curious, trusted, and connected—not just technical

• Champions act as guides, helping teams explore, learn, and apply AI meaningfully

• Influence, empathy and sharing are more powerful than formal expertise

• Some of the best champions come from unexpected places in the organisation

When organisations start thinking seriously about adopting AI, one of the first questions is:

“Who’s going to lead this internally?”

Too often, the assumption is: find the techiest person in the room. But while technical skills are helpful, they’re far from the whole story.

To drive meaningful adoption, you need champions—not just coders. And the best AI champions? They often surprise you.

Why Do You Need AI Champions in the First Place?

An AI champion is someone inside the organisation who:

• Builds confidence and curiosity among peers

• Spotlights early wins (and learns from missteps)

• Connects AI experiments to real business needs

• Acts as a bridge between teams, not a bottleneck

Think of them as a guide, not a guru.

What Qualities Make an AI Champion Stand Out?

1. Are They Curious, Not Just Clever?

The best champions ask good questions:

• “Could this help us save time?”

• “What if we tested it with that repetitive report?”

• “How could we make this easier for the team?”

They don’t need all the answers. But they do need the willingness to explore.

2. Are They Trusted by Others?

Trust gives champions influence.

They might be a team leader, a well-liked peer, or simply the person others turn to when they’re stuck. What matters is:

• They surface concerns without shutting things down

• They invite others to experiment without pressure

• They model safe learning, not performative expertise

3. Can They Connect AI to the Bigger Picture?

A good AI champion looks beyond tools. They’re asking:

• How does this support our strategic goals?

• Could this reduce workload stress?

• What’s the impact on employee experience or customers?

This helps prevent AI from becoming a shiny distraction and instead frames it as a genuine enabler.

4. Do They Share What They’re Learning?

Champions aren’t just early adopters—they’re generous ones.

If they’ve found an amazing prompt to summarise meetings or automate tasks, the win is in sharing it.

This mindset builds momentum and fosters a culture of peer learning.

5. Do They Need to Work in Tech?

Not at all. In fact, some of your most effective champions might be:

• The operations manager who improved scheduling

• The HR advisor who built an onboarding chatbot

• The PA who saved hours with a simple email workflow

What they all had in common? They understood their team’s context—and were willing to try.

Final Thought: Are You Choosing for Mindset First?

You can always teach someone prompt design or AI tools. But curiosity, empathy, and influence? Those are harder to train.

So when you’re looking for your AI champions, ask:

“Who’s trusted? Who’s curious? Who helps others learn?”

That’s your starting point.

Want to Find Your AI Champions?

It’s probably not who you think—and that’s exactly the opportunity.

Our Explore AI Together programme helps you identify and support the right people to lead meaningful AI adoption from the inside. Let’s talk.

• AI readiness is as much about culture and trust as it is about skills and tools
• Readiness assessments should spark dialogue, not deliver verdicts
• Open, honest conversations help surface real opportunities and risks
• Leaders must create safe spaces where curiosity and challenge are welcomed

Many organisations begin their AI journey with an assessment—often a survey or digital maturity diagnostic.

Which makes sense. A survey offers a neat snapshot of where things stand.

But here’s the catch: a snapshot doesn’t tell the whole story.

Too often, assessments become tick-box exercises: a score to achieve, a benchmark to beat. What gets missed is the nuance—the why behind the numbers, the context around the gaps, and most importantly, the concerns that may not show up in a form.

If your organisation is serious about adopting AI in a meaningful and sustainable way, then the real work starts after the survey—in the conversations you create.

1. Why Is AI Readiness About More Than Just Skills?

Sure, it’s useful to know how many people have tried ChatGPT or feel confident using digital tools. But AI readiness also includes:

• Curiosity and openness to change
• Trust in leadership and transparency
• Psychological safety to experiment (and fail)
• A shared understanding of why AI matters to this organisation, right now

These qualities don’t always surface in a diagnostic. They show up in what people say (and don’t say) in team meetings, lunchroom chats, and informal conversations.

2. What Should You Ask Beyond the Survey Results?

To move from data to insight, shift from static reports to facilitated conversations. Try asking:

• What excites you most (and worries you most) about AI at work?
• Where do you already see inefficiencies AI might help with?
• Who do you go to when you’re stuck with a digital tool or process?
• What would success look like for your team in six months?

These questions go beyond skills—they reveal alignment, readiness, and inclusion. They give people a voice in shaping what happens next.

3. How Can You Use the Survey as a Starting Point for Dialogue?

A well-designed diagnostic is a spark, not a scorecard. It gives you a starting point—not an answer sheet.

Use it to frame team reflections and spark real dialogue:

• What surprises you about the results?
• Where do we agree or disagree?
• What feels missing from this picture?

This kind of group reflection builds shared ownership and trust. It helps teams move from passive recipients of change to active participants.

You can also use AI tools themselves to explore these conversations:

• What might the survey be missing?
• Are there biases in the questions you asked?
• What patterns are emerging in your data?

Let AI prompt the team to go deeper—not replace the conversation.

4. How Do You Make It Safe for People to Be Honest?

One of the biggest barriers to genuine AI readiness is fear. Fear of being left behind. Fear of not sounding “technical enough.” Fear of judgment.

To overcome that, create safe spaces where people can speak freely. You might use:

• Small-group discussions or 1-to-1s
• Anonymous polls
• Story-based exercises exploring past change experiences

When people feel safe, they’re more likely to speak up—and what they share will often highlight the real enablers or blockers to AI adoption.

Final Thought: Why Dialogue Is the Real Foundation of AI Readiness

The real opportunity in early-stage AI adoption doesn’t lie in the tools—it lies in the talks.

The richer your conversations, the better your organisation will be at choosing the right tools, designing meaningful use cases, and experimenting responsibly.

So yes, run your survey. But then take a step back and ask:

“What are we hearing—and what are we missing?”

That’s where your best thinking (and best adoption decisions) will come from.

Interested in starting the conversation in your organisation?

Our Explore AI Together programme begins with thoughtful dialogue—not just diagnostics. Let’s talk about how to spark the right conversations in your team