What’s going on with Your AI implementation
Success with AI is not about the technology itself. It is about how the tool supports your people and advances your strategy.
In this 5-part series, I’m sharing how to use the ALIGN framework to troubleshoot friction in your AI implementation and turn AI into a genuine strategic advantage. We start with Absorb; the practice of surfacing what is really happening by listening to your people and your systems.
"While AI tools are now commonplace, most organizations have not yet embedded them deeply enough into their workflows and processes to realize material enterprise-level benefits... the transition from pilots to scaled impact [remains] a work in progress at most organizations." — McKinsey Global Survey, 2024
Many AI implementations are currently driven by the technology itself, rather than by the people it is meant to serve. As I learned while implementing technical projects for Denver Public Schools, technology must support a strategic initiative to be successful. If the tool does not help you ultimately serve your customers better, its a distraction.
The Diagnostic: Understanding Reality vs. Hype
To get a full-spectrum view of the Absorb phase, I recommend looking at three specific data sources. Using only one of these gives you a skewed perspective; using all three provides a clear diagnostic of where the implementation is actually stalled.
1. Conversations: The Human Story You need to have honest, psychologically safe conversations with your staff, and potentially your customers, to understand the actual impact of the implementation. While leaders often see the high-level intent, your team sees the daily friction. Their feedback reveals whether the tool is a genuine asset or just another hurdle in their workday.
2. Analytics: Beyond the Anecdotes Add objectivity to your research by reviewing the data your systems are already generating. Look for any changes between your AI-enhanced processes and your previous benchmarks.
Are you seeing a true reduction in cycle times?
Has the "saved" time been swallowed by new layers of troubleshooting?
Do error rates, output volume, or login frequency align with the stories you’re hearing?
3. Observation: Watch the Workflow Finally, you must physically or virtually observe the work in motion. "Shadow" a team member as they interact with the AI tool. Watch for the "workarounds", those manual steps employees take when the technology fails to handle a specific nuance of their job. These "shadow processes" are often where the most significant implementation friction is hidden. If the workflow looks clunky or frustrating, no amount of positive data will make the implementation sustainable.
The ABSORB phase of ALIGN starts with listening to your people: Start by asking these seven questions to your team:
Strategic Intent: Describe your experience with AI to date. What did you believe the primary goals were for this implementation?
Customer Impact: How do you think our customer is benefiting from our use of AI?
Operational Reality: How has AI impacted your daily work? What has become easier, and what has become unexpectedly harder?
The Friction Check: If you could change one to three things about how we rolled this out, what would they be?
The Nuance Gap: What is not understood about your job and its nuances that make AI not as effective as you would like it to be?
The Capacity Check: What is your personal comfort level with these tools, and what support do you actually need?
The Adoption Check: On a scale of "Pioneers" to "Hard Pass," where would you rate your team’s willingness to work through these issues?
The Anchor Questions
Depending on where your team currently sits, use one of these two anchors to help define the path forward:
For the team seeing success: "I consider AI to be a strategic advantage for our company because __________ happens."
For the team experiencing problems: "I will consider AI to be a strategic advantage for our company when __________ happens."
Who to Include
In smaller organizations, include everyone. In larger organizations, ensure you have a statistically valid cross-section of staff.
Be intentional about including people who are both directly and indirectly impacted by AI. Even when one department is the formal test case, the ripple effects are real. HR may be absorbing employee frustration. Accounting may be managing operational inconsistencies. Customer-facing teams may be fielding confusion long before leaders hear about it.
The Specialist Perspective
If you have a Project Manager, Change Management specialist, or Communications lead, schedule a specific conversation with them. It must be clear that you are not assigning blame; rather, you are seeking their candid, ground-level perspective. These roles are often the first to see the "cracks" in the implementation. They likely have a deep understanding of why things are jammed, but may feel they lack the authority to fix leadership-level misalignments. By inviting them to share the "unvarnished truth" about the project's health, you gain a perspective that is often filtered out of formal status reports.
You also want representation across the full Technology Adoption Spectrum, since each group brings a different perception of risk, confidence, and readiness.
Innovators
Often using AI before it was formally sanctioned. They may have advocated for adoption and pushed boundaries early.Early Adopters
Typically volunteered for pilots and are willing to experiment, even when outcomes are uncertain.Early Majority
Came on board as part of the planned rollout once expectations were clearer.Late Majority
Adopted once proof, guardrails, and social validation were firmly in place.Laggards
May quietly resist or openly question the change, often reflecting deeper concerns about trust, relevance, or workload rather than the technology itself.
Everett M. Rogers Innovation Adoption Curve
A Note to Leaders: Listen, Don't Defend
The answers to these questions may be hard to hear. That discomfort is not a failure. It is data. One way to interpret it is this: the level of discomfort you feel often reflects the gap between your aspirations and current reality. The important thing is that you have started the process. From here, the work is refinement. This input is what allows you to close that gap.
To get honest, useful answers, you must first provide psychological safety:
Listen for the point, not the delivery. People may be frustrated. Listen for the core truth they are trying to make, not how they are saying it.
Reframe the "Complaint." Remember that people who complain are often the most committed to the ideals of the company. Their "complaints" represent a disappointment that the reality isn't meeting the potential.
Clarify, don't challenge. If you have a question, it should be to deepen your understanding of their perspective, not to challenge it.
Acknowledge and Close the Loop. Thank every person for their candor. Let them know management will gather this information and provide a summary of the learnings with clear next steps.
Alignment is a practice, not a one-time event
By absorbing these insights gained from conversations, data and observation, you will be able to verify if and how AI technology is supporting your people, or identify the gaps before trouble and frustrations grow.
Next Up
In the next post, we’ll look at Part 2: Legitimize: "Yeah, you have a point; here is what we’re going to do."
Is your AI strategy matching your team's reality? If you aren't sure, my 9-question ALIGNMENT snapshot is a great place to start.
Note for Leaders: If tension feels high around these issues, it can be incredibly helpful to have a neutral third party conduct these interviews and provide the synthesized summary. Contact kathy@workwisestudio.com to discuss how we can help you bridge the gap between AI hype and organizational reality.
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