Members only
Several recently published reports have highlighted the integral role of internal communication in successful, long-term generative AI – or GenAI – adoption.
Business news feeds abound with the latest developments in AI – new product releases, investments, mergers, acquisitions and more. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and that we’re being left behind if we’re not maximising our use of AI in our daily work tasks.
But it’s also increasingly clear that organisations must first address the associated people and culture issues if they’re to fully benefit from the efficiencies AI has to offer.
According to Boston Consulting Group’s AI Radar Global Survey, three-quarters of surveyed C-suite executives listed GenAI as a top three strategic priority for 2025. This research, comprising feedback from 1,800 global C-suite executives, notes that only 25% of them report having seen ‘significant’ value from AI investments to date.
Similarly, a report published by PwC in late 2024 reveals the extent to which AI adoption depends on the willingness of internal stakeholders to embrace and work with it.
Currently, many organisations are too focused on the technology itself, overlooking the psychology of change and necessary human behaviour shifts that are integral to AI uptake. Boston Consulting’s data confirms this – it shows two in three organisations are struggling to redesign their business processes and workflows to drive long-term sustainable culture change.
Effective internal communication is a key enabler of sustainable business transformation. Change management company Prosci attests to this. Internal communication helps colleagues understand why change is taking place, why it will be of benefit to them, how they can personally support or enact that change, and what impact the change will have on their work over time.
GenAI and broader AI technologies are major disruptors to work and workflows and as such, it stands to reason that successful adoption relies on internal communication.
For the internal communication professional, there are several key areas in which strategic value can be added.
1. Sustaining trust
Since its launch in late 2022, GenAI has rarely been out of the news. Journalists across the board continue to uphold a narrative that portends a jobless future, fuelled, no doubt, by a report published in 2013. The report, based on research completed by academics at the University of Oxford took US labour market data and estimated as many as 47% of all jobs were at risk of automation by 2030.
While, of course, research conducted in 2013 might be a tad long in the tooth some 12 years later, the notion that 47% of jobs could be displaced is nonetheless an alarming, even if sensationalist, prospect. As we know, clickbait has changed the face of journalism.
Concerns about AI will no doubt have been fuelled by the rising sense of economic uncertainty that was triggered by the pandemic – and further amplified by a rising sense of mistrust in the motivations of business leaders to do ‘the right thing’ by society.
If open, inclusive, ongoing dialogue about the potential of AI is lacking within an organisation, it’s hardly surprising that internal stakeholders might be feeling anxious and distrustful about the technology.
When employers commit to using AI as a tool that enhances and improves what colleagues can achieve in their work, the story needs to be shared. Job augmentation – the use of AI to partially perform tasks and enhance human-machine collaboration – is far more appealing than the prospect of job obsolescence.
Internal communicators are uniquely equipped to socialise a positive narrative of AI adoption. If colleagues are to successfully adopt these tools, they need to feel unthreatened and that they can trust the motivations of their leaders to use AI as a force for good. Effective internal communication is therefore key to sustaining trust at work.
2. Training
As with the introduction of any new workplace tool, those expected to leverage GenAI in their working lives will need training. One of the challenges with GenAI, of course, is that it arrived so quickly – and with little or no instruction manual.
Unfortunately, to date too few organisations have invested in workforce upskilling to get the most from the new opportunities that AI presents. Indeed, Boston Consulting’s research found less than one-third of companies had upskilled one-quarter of their workforce to use AI.
GenAI is positioned as a productivity improvement tool. With the global economy remaining volatile and sluggish, its unsurprising so many business leaders are enthralled by its promises. But if colleagues don’t know how to best use the tools on offer, productivity gains will remain elusive. While there are myriad advantages to self-directed learning, for many these technologies are so new that they are deferring experimentation, as they simply don’t know where to start.
Most organisations can improve AI literacy by promoting an internal culture of transparency and curiosity. By inviting internal stakeholders to share their experiences of using GenAI with colleagues, collaboration and trust immediately deepen.
Internal communicators hold the extraordinary advantage of being able to reach across departmental and functional siloes. By hosting interdisciplinary gatherings to discuss the experience of learning to use GenAI tools, internal communication professionals can boost intra-company relationships and accelerate workplace learning.
3. Culture change
Boston Consulting’s research found the most successful organisations allocate 70% of their AI efforts and resources to upskilling their people, updating their processes and evolving their culture.
Workplace culture has always been tricky to define. To quote business psychologist John Amaechi, “culture is impossible to define. It’s like smoke. You know it’s there, but it’s impossible to grasp.”
And yet, a simple way of thinking about workplace culture is that it is embodied in how people behave with and towards one another at work. As such, it’s obvious how an organisation approaches AI adoption will define its culture moving forward.
When senior leaders openly acknowledge the long-term impact AI will have on the way all contributors to the organisation operate, they inculcate a sense of empathy that fosters goodwill and cohesion. Failure to recognise the inevitable impact of AI on colleagues instils the impression that productivity and profit are more important than people – and that risks fuelling disengagement.
For an organisation to reap the productivity rewards of AI, leaders need to be transparent and honest about their intentions. If AI is perceived as a threat to job security, operating culture will soon become toxic. If, on the other hand, organisations prioritise investment in upskilling and process improvement alongside investment in technology, it soon becomes clear that people are deemed important in the future of work.
Internal communication has a key part to play in conveying positive, people-centric messages about AI adoption.
Conclusion
As Boston Consulting acknowledges, “winning with AI is a sociological challenge as much as a technological one.”
The opportunity for internal communicators here is clear. Sharing positive and inclusive messaging about AI adoption helps build trust over time. In addition, organising and facilitating safe spaces for colleagues to voice concerns and share experiences of integrating AI tools into their daily workflows will augment wider adoption. People connect with and replicate what they see happening around them.
These are uncharted territories. Misinformation and disinformation abound. If organisations are to embrace the benefits that AI promises, they must first address the concerns of their internal stakeholders. As PwC has documented, “workers need to understand, trust, and adopt GenAI, which requires training, support, and a cultural shift within organisations.”
Internal communication has a pivotal role to play in helping colleagues build understanding and trust in AI, to accelerate its effective adoption.
