AI adoption / leading AI transformation

Training for public sector leaders on leading AI adoption

For leaders who want to move beyond AI experimentation and create the conditions for meaningful, responsible and sustainable transformation. This programme develops the leadership judgement, people practices and practical approaches needed to turn AI opportunities into improvements in how teams and organisations work.

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AI is changing not only what organisations can do but how work is organised, how decisions are made and what people need from their leaders.

Successful AI transformation requires more than technology investment or encouraging employees to experiment. Leaders must establish a clear direction, bring people through change, make informed choices about opportunities and risks, and create the conditions for responsible adoption.

This highly interactive programme explores three interconnected leadership challenges: setting strategic direction for AI, leading people through AI-driven change and translating AI adoption into measurable, lasting organisational value.

Participants work through realistic leadership dilemmas, challenge assumptions and apply practical tools to their own organisational context. The focus is not on becoming an AI technical specialist but on becoming a more effective leader of AI-enabled transformation. The programme is delivered in line with your organisation’s values, code of ethics and tone guide.

  • Participants will:

    • Strengthen their ability to set a clear direction for AI adoption, aligned with organisational priorities and meaningful outcomes.

    • Develop practical approaches to leading people through AI-driven change, strengthening capability, confidence, engagement and a culture of responsible experimentation.

    • Identify and prioritise opportunities where AI could improve services, decisions, workflows and team effectiveness.

    • Understand the leadership responsibilities involved in responsible AI adoption, including risk, accountability, human oversight and governance.

    • Develop practical approaches to turning experimentation into sustainable value through measurement, learning and continuous improvement.

    • Create a focused leadership action plan for advancing AI adoption within their team or organisation.

  • Leaders and their teams benefit from:

    • Greater clarity about their leadership role in AI transformation.

    • Stronger confidence in making informed decisions about AI opportunities and risks.

    • Practical approaches to engaging people and developing an AI-ready team culture.

    • Better alignment between AI initiatives, operational priorities and organisational outcomes.

    • Clearer responsibilities for governance, human judgement and accountability.

    • A practical action plan to translate leadership intentions into meaningful progress.

  • Discovery and leadership priorities
    A short consultation and confidential participant questionnaire to:

    • Understand the organisation’s AI ambitions, adoption maturity and leadership challenges.

    • Identify priority opportunities, constraints and people-related concerns.

    • Review relevant AI policies, governance frameworks and responsible AI principles, so the programme reflects existing requirements.

    • Understand current AI initiatives, capability programmes and any approaches to AI agents and automation.

    • Identify realistic leadership scenarios to build into the workshop.

    Leadership transformation workshop
    A highly interactive full day where participants:

    • Explore the evolving responsibilities of leaders in AI-enabled organisations.

    • Set strategic direction and make informed choices about AI adoption.

    • Develop practical approaches to engaging and empowering their teams.

    • Work through realistic dilemmas involving AI, change and accountability.

    • Identify opportunities to improve work and services, beyond speeding up existing tasks.

    • Plan the move from isolated experimentation to sustainable change.

    • Develop an action plan with clear priorities, responsibilities and measures of progress.

    Follow-up leadership action clinic
    An optional two-hour virtual session about a month later to review progress, share experiences and lessons learned, refine approaches and agree further actions to sustain momentum.

  • 09:30 - 10:00 | The changing demands of AI leadership
    How AI is changing what’s expected of leaders, your current challenges, and three questions for the day: where should we lead with AI, how do we lead people through the change, and how do we turn adoption into lasting value?

    10:00 - 10:50 | Where should we lead with AI?
    Connecting AI opportunities to organisational purpose and outcomes, and telling worthwhile opportunities apart from technology-driven activity.

    10:50 - 11:30 | Leadership decision lab: choosing where to act
    A realistic scenario with competing AI initiatives: weigh benefits, readiness, risks and implications for people, then decide what to pursue, explore or defer.

    11:30 - 11:45 | Break

    11:45 - 12:30 | How do we lead people through AI-driven change?
    How AI affects roles, confidence and ways of working, the range of employee responses from enthusiasm to resistance, and the leadership behaviours that encourage curiosity, challenge and transparency.

    12:30 - 13:15 | Lunch

    13:15 - 14:00 | Building an AI-ready team culture
    Everyday management practices that support responsible adoption, practised through a team scenario of uneven adoption, mixed confidence and concerns about AI.

    14:00 - 14:45 | How do we turn AI adoption into lasting value?
    Why individual productivity gains don’t automatically add up to organisational improvement, and how to establish meaningful measures of benefit, quality and progress.

    14:45 - 15:00 | Break

    15:00 - 15:45 | Leading with accountability and control
    Setting boundaries for AI-supported work as AI becomes more capable, working through dilemmas on risk and transparency, and knowing when specialist governance or approval is needed.

    15:45 - 16:15 | Leadership action lab: turning ambition into progress
    Taking one AI priority from your own organisation and defining the outcome, people implications, actions, stakeholders, barriers and measures of progress.

    16:15 - 16:30 | Commitments and next steps
    Key insights and commitments, and immediate actions for the next 30 to 90 days.

Tom Bryant, Teamshaper Trainer
AI implementation, a Teamshaper module