8| Rejects AI to stick with the team

What’s happening?

Teams build trust through routines. When AI shakes up workflows, it can feel like breaking an unspoken rule. Even if AI could help, no one wants to be the first to disrupt the way things have always been done.

A sales team sticks with their current CRM, avoiding an AI-powered CRM. “This is how we work,” they say. But their preference is not about AI, it’s about keeping the highly tuned team dynamic intact.

How to Spot It

What people say:

"We’ve always done it this way."
"If I start using AI, it’ll mess up our process."
"AI might be great, but our team’s flow works fine."
"I’d use AI if the whole team was on board."

Other signs:

AI tools exist but go untouched, everyone sticks to familiar methods.
Using AI tools feels like going rogue.
AI talk is about team impact, not whether it works.
The team defaults to familiar methods to stay aligned.

AI Hesitation Profile Finder

Who’s hesitating?

Find the mindset holding your team back, and how to fix it.

Answer two quick questions to identify the profile driving AI resistance in your team.

🅰 What’s happening?

Which best describes your team?

Loyal to the team, not the tech. Changing how they work feels like breaking trust. AI feels like stepping away from the group.
Worries about messing up. Avoids AI to stay safe. If no one else is using it, why take the risk?

Your hesitation profile

What's driving them?

[Short explanation]

Try today:

[Tactical action to take immediately]

Quick wins – Pick one & take action!

Quick wins

Choose one quick win to start breaking the wait-and-see cycle.

📍 For managers & teams

Pick one simple AI use case the whole team can test.
Time-box it: "For two weeks, we’ll all use AI for [X task] and compare results."
End with a team debrief: What worked? What felt different? What should we keep?

Try this prompt:
"We’re a [team/department] testing AI for [specific task, e.g., summarising reports, drafting emails].
We need a simple 2-week trial plan with:
1️⃣ A daily/weekly task using AI.
2️⃣ A way to compare AI results with our usual process.
3️⃣ 3 reflection questions for a team debrief."

📍 For teams & individuals

Pick one recurring routine (team meetings, reports, status updates).
Use AI as a support tool, not a replacement. E.g., Let AI pre-fill reports or suggest talking points, but keep human refinement.

Run this prompt before your next meeting:
"Our team holds [type of meeting] every [day/time] to [goal: e.g., review progress].
We want AI to assist, not replace this process.
Can you:
1️⃣ Suggest 3 ways AI could streamline this routine?
2️⃣ Provide a simple AI-generated template for [meeting summaries, agenda setting, brainstorming]?
3️⃣ Create a prompt we can use to generate AI insights before meetings?"

📍 For leadership & internal comms

Shift the message from "AI adoption" to "team efficiency & success."

Frame AI as a tool to protect what matters: speed, accuracy, better decisions.

Use team-first language: "How can AI help us get better?" instead of "Who’s using AI?"

💬 Copy and send to shift the team’s mindset:
"We’re not using AI because we have to, we’re using it because it helps us do our best work.
💡 AI isn’t here to change who we are, it’s here to:
✔ Free up time for [higher-value work].
✔ Improve [accuracy/speed].
✔ Support, not replace, how we collaborate.

First step: Try AI for [small task] this week. If it works, great. If not, we’ll learn why. Let’s test this together."