TL;DR: Most organisations fail at AI adoption because they treat it like digital transformation—rolling out technology and expecting people to adapt. Successful AI adoption requires behavioural change: setting clear expectations, finding internal champions, and shifting from command-based to conversational interactions with technology.
The Digital Transformation Trap
When organisations approach AI implementation, they often default to familiar patterns: buy the technology, train users on the interface, measure adoption metrics. This is the digital transformation playbook that worked (with varying degrees of success) for CRM systems, cloud migration, and enterprise software rollouts.
But AI is fundamentally different. In a recent IBM podcast, Conor Grennan—Chief AI Architect at New York University—articulates why this approach fails: AI adoption isn’t a technology problem, it’s a behavioural one.
Why AI Demands Behavioural Change
Traditional software requires users to learn new interfaces and workflows. AI requires users to change how they think about work itself.
Consider the shift from commands to conversations. With conventional software, users issue precise instructions: click here, enter this value, run this report. The software executes exactly what’s requested. AI systems, by contrast, work through dialogue. Users must learn to articulate intent, evaluate responses, and iterate—skills that feel unnatural after decades of deterministic computing.
This isn’t a training problem that a workshop can solve. It’s a fundamental shift in the relationship between humans and their tools.
The Risk of Replacement Thinking
One of Grennan’s key warnings concerns how organisations position AI agents. When leadership frames AI as “replacing” tasks or roles, they trigger defensive responses that doom adoption before it begins.
More effective positioning treats AI as augmentation—expanding what individuals can accomplish rather than threatening their relevance. This framing isn’t just semantics; it shapes whether employees engage with AI tools or quietly resist them.
Finding Your AI Champion
Successful AI adoption requires internal champions who can bridge the gap between technology capability and organisational reality. These aren’t necessarily the most technical people—they’re individuals who understand both the AI tools and the workflows where those tools can add value.
Grennan emphasises that these champions must have genuine authority to drive change. A passionate advocate without organisational backing will struggle against institutional inertia. Conversely, top-down mandates without grassroots support generate compliance without commitment.
Building the Foundation for Scale
Before organisations can scale AI workflows, they need solid foundations:
- Clear expectations about what AI can and cannot do
- Trust frameworks that acknowledge limitations like hallucinations
- Data governance that ensures AI systems work with reliable information
- Feedback loops that help systems improve over time
Rushing to scale without these foundations creates fragile implementations that fail under real-world conditions.
What This Means for UK SMEs
For smaller organisations, these insights offer both caution and opportunity.
The caution: Don’t assume that limited resources make AI adoption simpler. The behavioural challenges are organisation-agnostic. A ten-person team resistant to changing how they work will struggle just as much as a thousand-person enterprise.
The opportunity: SMEs can often move faster on behavioural change than larger organisations. Fewer layers of management, tighter feedback loops, and closer relationships between leadership and staff create conditions where new working patterns can take root more quickly.
The key is approaching AI adoption as a change management initiative first and a technology implementation second. Start with the behaviours you want to see, work backwards to the tools that enable them, and invest in the human elements—champions, training, clear expectations—that make the difference between successful adoption and expensive shelfware.
Watch the Full Discussion
The video embedded above features the complete 36-minute conversation, including detailed discussion of trust, hallucinations, and the data foundations required for enterprise AI success.
Resultsense helps UK businesses implement AI effectively through practical guidance and human-centred approaches. Get in touch to discuss your AI adoption challenges.