4 Tips for Successful AI Change Management

Nobody wants disruptions — big or small — to how they work. Yet some level of disruption is inevitable when introducing new technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI).

As Booz Allen Hamilton reports, AI is a “much more fundamental and far less familiar shift from the status quo.” Thus, it’s no surprise that AI initiatives often receive a mixed reaction.

Some team members may be excited to try AI capabilities. Others may view AI as risky, too disruptive, and inefficient — even scary if they think it could make them obsolete. Without the right change processes in place, even the best AI solution can falter during rollout.

That’s why leaders must do more than drive interest and adoption. They need structured processes to guide their teams — step by step — through the transformation. That’s where AI change management comes in. Without it, your people are more likely to struggle, and your AI initiative is more likely to fall short.

The good news? We’re here to help. Below are four actionable ways to lead AI adoption in your financial institution and build a strategy that keeps your teams aligned, engaged, and confident.

1. Set a Good Communication Strategy

It may feel basic, but the right communication strategy helps you mitigate risk during change management while also creating buy-in and building excitement around the project. This is especially true when managing a digital transformation that involves AI algorithms, enterprise AI solutions, or other advanced AI tools. 

A communication strategy doesn’t merely inform people about changes — it invites people to participate and gives them a sense of ownership and community. Start your communications before your project launches so teams don’t feel blindsided by new information or workflows at the same time.

Think about your institution. Each team and stakeholder cares about different outcomes. For example, your call center team cares about answering questions quickly and correctly. Human resources focuses on successful onboarding and ongoing training activities. Your operations workers are plugged into regulatory compliance and risk management. So, when you think about how to message and talk about a new AI-supported workflow, process, or technology at your company, you can’t communicate to all of them with the same message.

Instead, craft a unique message for each impacted team. Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• Talk about the outcomes they care most about. Highlight features that directly impact their everyday work. The more specific you can get about how the solution improves their lives and why the implementation matters to them, the more likely they’ll get excited about the change. Emphasize that your AI deployment can uncover insights to help everyone make informed decisions.
• Don’t forget to quash anxieties. According to Forbes, plenty of people are scared of being replaced by AI. Regardless of which team you’re talking to, be explicit that AI is there to help people be better at their jobs or free them up for more impactful activities, not that AI will replace them. 
• Don’t limit these messages to email or intranet newsletters. Host lunches or town halls to explain what’s happening, why, and how it will make them more efficient and productive at their job. 
• Most importantly, don’t shy away from questions. This is especially important for workers who might feel uneasy or nervous about the disruption. Listening to and addressing their concerns will go a long way toward technology adoption. 

Ultimately, embracing a management strategy that prioritizes open communication paves the way for a smoother transition. Better yet, it builds a foundation for responsible AI practices within your organization long into the future. 

2. Establish AI Ambassadors

People will usually get excited about eliminating the mundane, stressful, or overly complicated parts of their job, even if it does mean changing their workflows. The right communications strategy will do a great job of telling people what to expect and start to create excitement. Once you’re ready to launch your new AI solution or workflows, show your teams how it will improve their lives in a way that reflects your initial communications strategy.

Here are some steps to get started:

• Run a Pilot Program: Booz Allen Hamilton recommends starting with a small-scale pilot program with a few volunteers. If you’ve been executing your communications well, you may already know who is most excited about the project and would serve as a good ambassador for the roll-out. Create a small group of AI ambassadors who represent different teams at your institution and ask them to try out some of the new workflows or solutions.
  
  
• Gather Data: Once the pilot is underway, ask for the participants’ feedback and apply it accordingly. Most importantly, encourage them to tell their colleagues about their experiences. Your biggest naysayers are more likely to trust their everyday colleagues who perform the same function they do, versus management, who “just don’t get it.” You may even ask the naysayers to join the AI ambassadors group so they get first-hand experience working with the solution (and more one-on-one attention from you and your vendor).

Establishing AI ambassadors accomplishes a few key things for you:

• First, it continues to generate excitement about the changes and continues the conversation around your implementation and new workflows. 
• Secondly, it proves to the folks who are most excited about the solution — or the ones that are most unhappy about change — that you trust their insight and opinions. You’re proving that you’re making concerted efforts that the solution actually solves their biggest challenges (not just what management perceives to be their biggest challenges). 
• Finally, you’re encouraging transparency and trust across the board. Your teams have more trust in the solution and in your leadership to execute the changes because you’ve been clear and straightforward with them, and that goes a long way in change management work.

When these ambassadors can demonstrate how agentic AI or AI-powered tools support everyday tasks, it fosters a more open mindset among team members who might be resistant. This ambassador program can also enhance your change management process by advocating for a cohesive approach to implementing AI, ensuring that change leaders and change practitioners are equipped with real-world feedback from pilot participants.

3. Train the Whole Team (Including Your Customers)

By this point, your teams know what to expect, and your AI ambassadors have already validated the value of the new workflows. That puts you in a strong position for rollout, but it’s still important to take a phased approach. 

Launching too quickly or all at once can overwhelm both employees and customers, increasing the risk of confusion or pushback. When executing in phases, your staff and customers are more likely to be comfortable and confident in the new workflows before moving on to the next. 

Be sure to align your new workflows with specific targets and key performance indicators. That way, you can point to real improvements and change so the next phase can be met with more excitement. This type of project management approach helps the change manager track progress, measure AI outputs, and maintain a steady path of continuous improvement.

The same goes for your customers. As you slowly introduce valuable changes that improve their experience, they won’t feel disrupted or averse to future change. Even the most change-averse on your team, or in your customer rolodex, will come to embrace change if they can see the proven improvements to back it up. By sharing the clear benefits of your AI system or enterprise AI platform, your organization can further ensure everyone feels the positive impacts.

4. Lean on Your Partner for Support

Not all AI solutions are built the same, and not all vendors provide the same level of support. If you’re partnering with the right vendor for your new AI-driven technology or workflow, you won’t be alone in change management. Ask your partner for best practices, recommendations, and guidance on the best way to roll out changes or which workflows make sense to start adapting. The right partner can help you with your communications strategy, working with your AI ambassadors, and onboarding strategies.

A trusted AI partner can also guide you through responsible AI practices and governance considerations, ensuring you adhere to compliance standards and ethical guidelines. With their expertise, you can better coordinate AI deployment, monitor AI-driven insights, and refine your change process over time. 

For example, Posh’s Partnership for Life Promise commits to ongoing support, continuously meeting with you to provide insights and consultative guidance on future optimizations and additional opportunities based on market developments. Together, we build out an AI roadmap that aligns to your unique needs and business goals – as well as adapting to changes in the financial industry, such as regulations or compliance. 

Ultimately, this collaborative management strategy sets the groundwork for AI transformation that benefits employees, customers, and stakeholders alike.

Ready to embrace change? Take a platform tour and see how Posh helps financial institutions implement AI with clarity, confidence, and real results.