AI Adoption Workshops: Why They’re My Most Requested Change Management Service

The topics my clients ask give me an immediate read on their interests and their concerns. Over the last couple of months, one request has dominated my inbox above all others: help designing and delivering AI adoption workshops (or, just as often, coaching Change Managers to design and deliver their own AI transformation workshops).

The purpose of an AI adoption workshop is to engage the people who are expected to actually use AI, and help them identify how it applies to their day-to-day work. The names of these workshops vary according to organisation but the most common terms are AI Transformation or AI Adoption. 

In this article, I explain why AI transformation workshops have become the top request from my change management clients, and I share the design principles I use to make these sessions effective.

Why Is AI Adoption the Top Request Right Now?

I see two main drivers behind the surge in demand for AI workshop training:

• The sheer volume of AI-driven change hitting organisations
• Growing fear that AI investments won’t deliver the expected return on investment (ROI)

The Volume of AI-Driven Change

It is not a surprise given the volume of AI initiatives taking place. The EY Work Reimagined Study found that nearly 90% of employees now use AI tools at work and the IBM Institute for Business Value 2026 Trends Report identifies that 61% of employees expect their job roles to change significantly this year due to advanced AI models and autonomous agents.

The IBM 2026 CEO Study (conducted with Oxford Economics) reveals that 76% of organizations have appointed a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) in 2026 which is a massive jump from just 26% the prior year. When a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) appears on the leadership team, AI change management and AI adoption training typically follow close behind.

Fear of Missing the Expected ROI

Demand for AI workshops is also being driven by what I call the “tool-to-value deficit.” This is the age-old change management problem: return on investment cannot be achieved by investment alone. Only carefully planned nudging to adopt new behaviours, routines and priorities will lead to the expected financial and productivity gains claimed in the business case.  

An organisation can purchase AI licenses because those tools automate work, speed things up, and reduce reliance on manual effort. But unless all those involved in the work start using the tools, the cost of doing business has gone up and not down. This is exactly the gap a well-designed AI adoption workshop is built to close.

The Outcome: Redesigning Workflows, Not Just Replacing Them

The goal of an effective AI transformation workshop is to help teams incorporate AI into their existing workflows.

I constantly research how AI is being used in the workplace, and in the last few months I have started to see ideas for “good practice” emerging, based on workflow redesign and not workflow replacement. Simply automating what already exists will not deliver the most effective use of AI. More benefits will be realised if work is re-imagined.

5 Design Principles for Running a Successful AI Workshop

Here are the principles I rely on when designing an AI adoption workshop or AI transformation workshop for a client.

1. Choose a Workshop Format, Not an Announcement

Choose workshops over emails and town hall meetings because people need time to participate and practice creating new workflows, they cannot be achieved by announcing the latest investments in AI or rousing speeches from senior leaders about the efficiency gains that AI offers. A structured AI workshop creates the space for that hands-on practice.

2. Design to Reduce Threat, Not Ignore It

Participation only works in a psychologically safe environment. AI adoption carries a distinct, existential undercurrent that other digital transformations don’t: people may fear they’re accelerating their own job loss, or devaluing their own expertise by handing it to a machine. A well-facilitated AI change management workshop actively addresses this fear rather than assuming it away, giving attendees room to voice concerns and work through them together.

3. Never Assume Prior AI Knowledge

There’s a huge amount of noise about AI right now. I receive new research reports about AI from multiple sources every day and I cannot keep up. I have this constant fear that I am not as up to date as I could be, and this fear is multiplied every time I hear a new piece of AI jargon.

4. New World, New Rules

No-one fully understands AI so there is no easy “best practice” to apply. 

A good AI adoption workshop instead offers examples of principles, guardrails, and governance structures that other organisations are using, thus giving attendees something concrete to debate and build genuine consensus around. This is a meaningful takeaway from the workshop as it gives them something they can apply to future discussions about AI. 

5. Involve Senior Leaders as Participants

This one is aspirational, and honestly, it’s rare to see it done well. In an ideal AI transformation workshop, senior leaders should be participants, not introduce the opening session. Without their participation it creates the fear that AI is being done to people, rather than with them.  

Next Steps: Bring AI Adoption Training to Your Organisation

If you want to learn more about how to incorporate AI into your change initiatives, join me at the September cohort of the interactive AI for Change Management workshop 

If you want a ready made playbook for creating your own AI Adoption workshops, join ChangeabilityPro and access the full workshop agenda, suggested content and guide to activities for use in your own workshop. Sign up for free starter membership here and access the full Playbook for running an AI Workshop. ChangeabilityPro