AI Odyssey: Learning Through Play

Would you believe it if we said that Artificial Intelligence is making us more human? Think about it: AI cuts down time spent on tedious, easily automated tasks and creates the capacity for us to be more innovative, bold, original. This transformative potential is within reach, but only if organizations are prepared to capitalize on these emerging capabilities.

The key is maintaining a people-first approach in the journey to AI adoption—something that’s useful across the spectrum of AI users, from skeptics to enthusiasts. This strategy helps assuage workforce fears by effectively addressing concerns, upskilling teams, and encouraging apprehensive users to embrace new ways of working with AI. It’s also the best way to harness the creativity, energy, and ideas of team members who are enthusiastic about the possibilities of working with AI.

And without a people-first approach, you may be underutilizing the trailblazers of your organization and missing valuable (AKA value-delivering) opportunities.

“An important consideration when designing your people strategy is the distinction of adoption versus value-delivery. Adoption, for adoption’s sake, doesn’t necessarily result in positive impact. It’s important to understand what value looks like for you – whether that’s time savings, efficiencies, ROI etc. and how to measure these, and focus on adoption efforts that will result in value for your people and your organization.”

Ella Smith, CoE Behavioral Science Lead

In three upcoming installments of our AI Odyssey series, we’re unveiling three pillars of a people-first approach to AI transformation. And as we do, we’re divulging how our Center of Excellence (CoE) team and other leaders in our firm are keeping our most valuable asset—our people—at the heart of our journey to unlock unprecedented value.

Pillar 1: Empowerment through education

Empowerment is the hallmark of an effective people-first approach to AI adoption. This first pillar is about achieving that through continuous learning, upskilling, and reskilling. In the AI landscape, this means more than just giving teams access to new tools, knowledge, and training. It’s about creating an environment where teams have the time, space, and freedom to explore and innovate with AI. Think: Testing new use cases and capabilities and giving people the opportunity to answer, “what’s in it for me?” The goal is to encourage teams to boldly experiment with and adopt AI into everything they do to uncover its full potential.

This first pillar has been central to our own AI strategy from the start, gaining even more significance as we roll out firm-wide solutions. We know that true AI ROI hinges on two critical factors:

1. Equipping our teams with the skills to work effectively with the technology, and
2. Instilling the confidence to integrate AI into daily operations and ways of working.

And we’ve attacked this pillar of empowerment from two angles:

1. Top-down training strategies
2. Peer-led initiatives
   
   

Top-down training strategies

This is exactly as it sounds: Members of our CoE have teamed up with our behavioral change experts and learning and development (L&D) leaders to define where to begin, what needs to be learned, best ways to engage the firm, and criteria for effective learning programs. The CoE has also been hosting highly interactive upskilling workshop sessions bi-monthly to support members as they adopt our newly integrated solution.

Incorporating top-down training tactics helps empower employees by providing them with a clear development roadmap, hands-on experience, and continuous learning opportunities. This helps foster a sense of ownership and confidence among employees as they adopt new technologies and skills.

Peer-led knowledge transfer

The second angle—peer-led knowledge transfer—has been equally central to the CoE’s strategy for empowerment and engagement. In fact, it’s where the magic happens. Top-down planning is crucial for crafting a training roadmap that meets the diverse needs of the organization. But peer-led learning is vital for creating a relatable and open environment, where new-to-AI users can learn from experiences and expertise of trusted coworkers, often with similar skillsets and needs. This approach also makes learning more immersive, which has been shown to increase knowledge retention by 72 percent.

By combining structured learning resources with opportunities for experiential, peer-to-peer learning, the CoE is fostering an environment where our people feel both equipped and inspired to embrace AI. Because a people-first approach to AI education is not just about imparting knowledge—it’s also about cultivating a workforce that is adaptable, forward-thinking, and primed to thrive in an AI-enhanced future.

AI Pilots and Champions

A cornerstone of our people-first approach to AI has been establishing our AI Pilot Program and Champions teams—which combine top-down and peer-led approaches. These initiatives serve a dual purpose:

1. Harnessing the enthusiasm of AI advocates by engaging them in innovative, inaugural projects
2. Creating a supportive environment that gently motivates employees who are hesitant to take full advantage of AI
   
   

AI Pilot (Late 2023)

Launched in late 2023, our AI Pilot Program saw 300 Microsoft CoPilot licenses distributed to employees across various functions in the firm, from business development to human resources.

The mission? To explore how Microsoft Copilot could revolutionize some of our high-value, time-intensive tasks. But what emerged was something even more transformative: An early blueprint for educating teams and empowering them to integrate AI into role-specific use cases.

Because while the Pilot Program was spotlighting areas where AI could have the most heavy-hitting impact, it was simultaneously uncovering gaps in our initial training approach.

The Pilot Program began with structured sessions, but the rapid pace of discovery and adoption among participants highlighted the need for a more dynamic, continuous learning model—one that ensured employees not only understood how to use the tools, but importantly, how to identify opportunities for their application in their daily work.

The feedback loop we established—through surveys, office hours, and dedicated communication channels—proved crucial in refining both our value measurement strategy and our learning approach. It allowed us to rapidly iterate, addressing challenges and capitalizing on unexpected opportunities as they arose.

And as the Pilot Program concluded, we found ourselves equipped with more than just a new tool. We had developed:

1. A robust methodology for quantifying the impact of AI.
2. A culture of continuous improvement and innovation with AI at its core.
3. Higher levels of confidence in AI.

AI Champions (2024)

Building on the Pilot Program’s momentum, our leaders established a team of AI Champions in early 2024. They are our clear-the-trail team: The pioneers and influencers within our firm covering all our business units at various levels—natural leaders who are eager to step into AI-led ways of working and help their peers do the same. Like those who participated in the AI Pilot Program, Champions have been experimenting with AI in their daily roles to uncover use cases and test solutions against existing processes and responsibilities. But the role of our Champions goes a bit further by:

• Evaluating solutions on performance and whether they align with firm needs and providing regular feedback to CoE members.
• Laying the foundation for early adoption by generating peer interest and engagement in AI initiatives.
• Sharing positive experiences with AI solutions and relaying first-hand expertise to create a smoother transition for their peers.
• Acting as role models and subject matter experts within their teams, on call for basic questions about new tools.

As our AI strategy evolved, so did our approach. The CoE knew that—in addition to North Highland’s custom large language model(s) (LLM)—the firm would need to have a suite of tools. No single tool can solve every problem. So, we expanded from testing a single commercial solution (Copilot) to exploring an array of AI solutions, including Claude, Beautiful.ai, Runway, Synthesia, Descript, Perplexity and more. This list continues to expand and evolve today.

Recognizing the need for specialized insights and targeted feedback on the tools, our CoE team also shifted its testing approach. We have tailored AI solution evaluations to align with specific functions across the organization. For instance, content marketing team members are evaluating blog-writing tools, while graphic designers are assessing AI-image generators. By empowering employees to explore, test, and champion AI solutions within their specific functions, it improves the quality of our AI tool assessment and increases employee engagement. This helps:

• Ensure that feedback is accurate and relevant,
• Evaluate AI tools in the context of real-world applications,
• Employees envision how AI will integrate into their daily ways of working, and
• Identify the most effective AI solutions for each department's unique needs.

And by using these firsthand insights to shape our AI roadmap, the CoE is ensuring that our transformation remains grounded in the needs and expertise of our greatest asset—our people.

From concept to impact: What our Pilot Program revealed

Let’s break down why these initiatives are helping us empower our people and keep them at the heart of our AI journey.

Learn through play.Starting in infancy, people are wired to learn through play. The AI Pilot Program has allowed us to create a sandbox environment that fosters a culture of curiosity and encourages this natural method of upskilling. This approach allows employees to safely experiment with the tools, engage in out-of-the-box thinking, and uncover innovative use cases that might have gone unnoticed. And these test-and-learn behaviors also help teams to become more confident and fluent in AI. It’s like learning a new language: You can study vocabulary and syntax all day, but you won’t truly become fluent until you actively practice speaking.

The benefits of learning through play extend beyond higher adoption rates and our own AI ROI. Becoming fluent in AI sets firm members up for long-term success, whether that is with or without North Highland. It’s not just a way of enhancing current capabilities, but also investing in and futureproofing their skill sets—a key part of our core values.

Setting the standard.People also learn by observing. And our Champions and Pilot Program teams act as role models who set the standard in two ways:

#1. Peer-led knowledge transfer: When the workforce encounters unprecedented technological capability, the peer-led approach offers a supportive environment where employees can learn from the practical experiences and insights of trusted peers. And as a bonus, these experiences and insights are contextually unique to our firm’s processes, culture, and standards.

Beyond firsthand expertise, our peer-led approach has also created a conduit for sharing official training materials and instilling best practices throughout the organization. The Champions are meant to be seen as influencers, leaders, trailblazers—they set the standard. Meaning that the value of this program is not solely in testing and experimentation; it’s also in the increased accessibility of AI-related knowledge. The CoE understood early on that employees may feel more comfortable “phoning a friend” when it comes to AI—the Champions are that friend who can answer questions, direct them to materials, and facilitate adoption.

We mentioned earlier that empowering through education should be top-down and peer-led. But the magic of peer-led is that it fortifies standards coming from leadership.

#2. Generating engagement: For those in our firm who may still feel wary of AI, our Champions and Pilot Program teams demonstrate how AI is opportunistic for employees, not threatening, by modeling benefits like:

• Increasing bandwidth.
• Streamlining work processes.
• Automating tedious manual tasks.
• Enhancing quality of work.
• Unlocking new capabilities and strengthening existing ones.
• Uncovering new ways of thinking.

Observing these benefits has a gradual ripple effect that encourages more apprehensive employees to explore AI as we roll out tools across the firm.

Fine-tuned feedback.It goes without saying that a primary objective of testing is obtaining feedback. And the nature of the pilots and champions program has leveled up the quality, context, and usefulness of our insights on how new tools fit into our firm. The CoE has set up protocols ranging from the informal (virtual touchpoints and office hours) to the more formal (value tracking tools and surveys). Both quantitative and qualitative, this intel helps the CoE to modify and continuously improve AI initiatives across the firm—including upskilling and reskilling strategies. The experiences of our Champions offer critical context that is helping the CoE design and deliver a more relevant training roadmap, rather than something generic.

While the strategic benefits are immense, Champion reporting is also serving to empower novice users via role-specific insights for getting the most out of AI and tips for learning on the go. Not to mention trust-building, real-world statistics demonstrating how AI is already driving value within their teams.

Embracing AI, enhancing human talent

AI adoption isn’t about replacing human potential—it's about unlocking it. And as we press forward in our own transformation, we’re focused on more than implementing new tools. Our people-first approach is enabling our CoE to prioritize needs, understand perspectives, and create an environment that boosts creativity and enhances unique talents.

Because when people have the opportunity to play and learn, coupled with the support they need, they’re more likely to...

• Embrace AI with confidence and curiosity.
• Uncover innovative use cases in their daily work.
• Leverage both human insight and AI capabilities.
• Drive meaningful change and value creation across the organization.
• Become ambassadors for responsible AI use within their teams.

Our blog, “AI Odyssey: Diverse Voices, Smarter Solutions,” builds on this thinking and introduces the second pillar of our approach: Inclusive decision making. You can read it here.