Photo / Courtesy of flyte new media
Rich Brooks
Updated: February 4, 2025
How To
How to introduce AI into your business (without scaring your team)
By Rich Brooks, flyte new media
Returning from an artificial intelligence conference in 2023, I was excited to implement AI at our company. I saw how it could help us streamline processes, save time and help us generate better results for our clients.
However, I knew not everyone on my team might agree. There was concern that AI will lead to job loss, and this was especially true in marketing since ChatGPT could generate a blog post in about 10 seconds. (Um, it didn’t write this column, in case you were wondering.)
As business owners we see the things AI could do for us, our business and our bottom line. But for our employees, they may only see the existential threat of something that could put them out of work. Although we’re still in the process of implementing AI fully into our workflow here at flyte, there are a few lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Start with conversation, not implementation
AI can’t replace employees, but it can help them work faster, better and smarter. But only if there’s buy-in. AI initially means more work, not less. It’s one more piece of technology your team needs to learn and master, so they need to understand the “why” of these changes.
Start with an open conversation about why you feel AI is important for you to stay competitive and how it can relieve your staff of repetitive, time-consuming tasks.
When I spoke to my team, I explained that no one was going to lose their jobs, but we couldn’t ignore this new technology. That I believed marketers won’t lose their jobs to AI, but marketers who don’t use AI will lose their jobs to those who do.
I listened to their concerns and answered their questions honestly. I suggested some ways they could use AI to free up their time for more valuable, more creative, more meaningful tasks.
Create an AI governance document
There are legitimate concerns around AI, including things like bias, hallucinations and deepfakes, to name a few. To address these concerns and keep everyone on the same page, we created an AI governance document that outlines how we will use AI. This is a living document that gets updated as AI evolves and new tools come to market.
For example, we won’t use AI to write a blog post for ourselves or our clients, but we will use it to conduct research, create an outline, and then to review and improve the completed document.
Keep your humans in the loop
Just like the early days of social media, there have been plenty of horror stories about AI-generated content that was tone-deaf or “hallucinated” false information. To avoid this, it’s critical to keep humans in the loop when it comes to AI.
AI is great for generating ideas, developing social media calendars, and providing first drafts, but it’s important that your team doesn’t become over-reliant on it. Teach your team to approach AI like it’s an over-eager intern: excited to help, but needing guidance, oversight and a final review of its work.
Encourage experimentation and feedback
The best way to get your team comfortable with AI is get them hands on with the technology. Encourage your team to experiment and share feedback on what they’ve learned. Weekly staff meetings can be the perfect platform for people sharing their wins and what they’ve discovered using AI.
Final thoughts
If you are like me, and believe that AI can enhance the work you and your team is doing, then you need them to embrace AI and get everyone rowing in the same direction.
The businesses that thrive because of AI are the ones who get buy-in from their team because they don’t see AI as a threat, but rather a tool that can help them be faster, better and smarter.
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