“This AI thing will fade away… let’s wait and see.”
What’s Happening?
Your team isn’t rejecting AI, they just don’t believe it’s worth their time yet.
By the time they’re convinced, competitors will be miles ahead.
A finance director dismisses an AI-driven forecasting tool, saying, "These AI trends never last. By the time we invest, it'll be outdated."
How to Spot This in Your Team
How to spot it
Check off the signs you’ve seen to get your next move:
People say:
Other signs:
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?
🅱 What’s behind it?
What’s driving their hesitation?
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 Leaders & Managers
Waiting feels safe. But inaction is a hidden cost. Make it visible.
How to make AI hesitation feel risky:
Show the cost of waiting - lost time, money, or efficiency.
Use real examples: “Our competitor just cut reporting time in half with AI.”
Make AI progress (or the lack of it) part of team discussions.
Make a quick impact check:
a. How many hours does [task] take per month?
b. What if AI reduced this by 30%? 50%?
c. What’s that worth in salary savings?
Use this prompt to guide your working:
"I need to estimate the time savings if my team automated [task] using AI. Right now, each instance takes around [X hours] and happens [Y times per week].
Can you provide a realistic estimate of how much AI could reduce effort, based on similar use cases? Please include:
Benchmarks from industries or case studies
Factors that affect AI efficiency (e.g., task complexity, human review needed)
A conservative, moderate, and best-case time reduction scenario
The potential hours saved per month and its equivalent cost saving, based on an average salary of [£X/hour] per employee."
📍 For Team Leads & Project Managers
People resist what feels optional. Flip it - make AI the standard.
How to make AI the norm:
Skip the “Would you like to try AI?” Instead, say: “We’re running a 30-day AI test.”
Choose a low-risk tool - meeting summaries, email drafts, scheduling.
Keep it reversible: “We’ll compare results and decide after.”
Try this:
Auto-enable AI:
Add AI-generated meeting notes to every call.
Default to AI-powered scheduling.
Set up auto-generated reports - no extra effort required.
Use this message:
“We’ve set up AI-powered reports. No extra work - just review them. If they help, we keep them. If not, we drop them.”
📍 For Leaders & Early Adopters
People don’t trust corporate AI hype, they trust their peers.
How to build trust in AI:
Find one team member using AI successfully.
Have them share their win in a 5-minute meeting slot.
Frame it as “Here’s what worked for me” (not an AI sales pitch).
Try this:
Turn a peer success into a case study:
“Jess automated her weekly report with AI.”
“It used to take 4 hours. Now it takes 30 minutes.”
“Here’s how she did it.”
Use this message:
“Jess cut her reporting time from 4 hours to 30 minutes using AI. No extra setup, just a simple tweak. Want to try it?”
Heads up — this bit’s for members.
Get full access to it (and everything else inside The Workroom) when you join.
