Why Didn’t Anyone Ask Me?

Success with AI depends on how well the technology supports your people and advances your strategy.

In this five-part series, I am sharing how to use the ALIGN framework to troubleshoot friction in AI implementations and turn AI into a genuine strategic advantage.

• In Absorb, leaders gather data to understand what is actually happening.
  In Legitimize, leaders respond with a clear, prioritized roadmap that reflects what they heard from stakeholders, what the data reinforces, and what they observed firsthand.
  In this post, we focus on Integrate, the phase where that roadmap meets the realities of daily work.

When a “New Way of Working” Misses the Mark

Have you ever been told there was going to be a new way of working, and the moment you heard the details, you knew it was not going to work?

Maybe the plan sounded reasonable at a high level. But once you pictured it inside the flow of your actual tasks, it was clearly a non-starter. The natural response is often, Why didn’t anyone ask me?

When AI initiatives stall, it is usually because of this gap. The tool is being built or adjusted by people who do not have to live with the consequences of its output.

Organizations often limit participation to a small group in the name of efficiency, only to delay surfacing issues that later become harder and more expensive to fix.

The Integrate phase exists to close this gap.

Bringing the Doers and the Builders Together

Integrate brings the doers, both internal and external, and the builders to the same table.

In Absorb, the project team worked with leadership to synthesize input from staff, customers, and vendors. In Legitimize, that same team helped leadership assess what was feasible and set priorities.

In Integrate, we extend information equity to the people who actually carry the work forward.

Information Equity

Integration depends on transparency and shared understanding.

Sharing high-level themes from the Absorb Phase (discovery) helps staff understand the realities that informed leadership and project team decisions, while protecting the candor of those who contributed. This shared context reduces resistance and builds trust.

The Communication Loop

Information equity only works when communication flows consistently.

Because the project team helped shape priorities and sequencing, they are now responsible for keeping sponsors and impacted staff informed of progress. External partners do not need internal diagnostics, but they do need clear, targeted updates about changes that affect their work.

When everyone is working from the same source of understanding, attention shifts away from defending decisions and toward building the future.

Shared Design: From Mandate to Meaning

AI systems are often technically correct and operationally broken. The logic may be sound, but it frequently fails to reflect organizational values, institutional knowledge, and the nuanced judgment people apply every day to do the work well.

Shared design closes that gap. The project team works directly with the people who touch the work. If the AI is customer-facing, this may include trusted customers. If the issue is data quality, it includes the vendors supplying that data.

As teams move into the details, a second round of discovery typically occurs, one that focuses on practical realities and operational nuance. This deeper examination allows assumptions to be tested and adjusted in the context of real work.

When those who are impacted play an active role in shaping how the solution is designed and implemented, it is more likely to fit the realities of the work, reduce rework, increase adoption, and clarify risks and tradeoffs so the team can adjust course sooner rather than later.

Solve for the System, Not the Tool

During Integrate, the combined team wants to identify any friction across the entire ecosystem.

• Is the AI underperforming because vendor data is inconsistent?

• Does the output require multiple layers of verification by staff?

• Is a fix creating new hurdles for customers?

• Where have people created manual workarounds just to get their job done?

The tool is only one part of the system.

Work in Draft Mode

When a project is already strained, announcing a final fix increases risk. Instead, move into draft mode.

Choose one friction point identified by the people doing the work. Run a one to three week pilot with a small group of staff or a subset of customers.
Be explicit that this is a test. If it does not work, adjust and try the next draft.

Draft mode lowers the temperature and replaces pressure with learning.

Integration is where strong ideas become an operational reality

You do not need to involve everyone, but you must involve those who are materially impacted. When the people responsible for execution and the partners affected by the change have a voice in shaping the solution, implementation accelerates and resistance fades.

As noted in the first post of this series, many organizations are using AI tools without embedding them deeply enough into everyday workflows to realize sustained value. Integration is the work of closing that gap, so AI becomes part of the operating system, strengthening the system’s capability rather than standing apart as a separate solution or the answer in itself.

Up Next

Once AI is part of how work gets done, success depends on ensuring people are supported as roles, decisions, and expectations evolve. In the fourth stage of ALIGN, “Grow”, we reinforce skills, clarity, and confidence so individual and organizational capability continues to develop and move forward.