From Strategy to Alignment: Bridging the AI Communication Gap

If value is being created but no one knows about it, it effectively doesn't exist.

True story: I see so many organizations doing great things with generative AI—but they're not communicating what they're doing internally to their employees (or externally to their customers, stakeholders, or partners). 

It’s critical to put together an AI strategy. But it’s also vital to communicate it. After all, AI communication directly impacts culture. Creating alignment—and communicating around that alignment—goes a long way in helping companies navigate the disruptive changes that AI prompts. 

When I think about alignment, I often think about a marketing organization I worked with years ago. We'd spent an entire day developing a transformational digital strategy. At the end of the day, the CMO came in for an open Q&A. I asked what seemed like a simple question: "What are your top strategic goals for the year?"

The CMO turned to the team and said, "We just had an offsite about this a few weeks ago. You tell Charlene what our strategy is."

Awkward silence. 🦗

People shuffled through notebooks. The CMO started giving hints: "Remember, we talked about the customer..."

It wasn't pretty.

This moment crystallized something I’ve carried with me since: You can SAY what the strategy is. But unless you LIVE it, you are not going to be able to execute on it. 

That’s why for the past 15 years, whenever I start working with an organization, I walk around the office and ask people three essential questions:

1. Who is your future customer? What are you trying to accomplish in the future?
2. What's our strategy to meet the needs of those future customers?
3. What are you personally doing to contribute to the success of that strategy?

If I were to walk around and talk to your employees, how many of them would be able to answer these questions? What about your executive team?

Strategy alignment happens when everyone in your organization knows these three things. But even with these front and center, communicating your AI strategy presents unique challenges. 

GenAI Communication Hurdles 

AI is different from any other technology we’ve implemented—and that's because it's not just another technology. It’s fundamentally changing how organizations operate, which means that traditional change management goes out the window. This makes communication particularly challenging, as your teams may be experiencing some or all of the following:

• Job Security Concerns. Employees are worried about being replaced. They don't understand how AI will integrate into workflows or what new skills they'll need, and they wonder if they can meet new expectations.

• Trust Issues. There's tremendous mistrust of AI. People hear about hallucinations and failures. Many think, "If the generative AI fails, I will fail, and I will be blamed and penalized. I could even lose my job." Until somebody says they have to use it, many won't go near it. 

• Skills Gap. Surveys show a training gap: Employees want to learn how to use GenAI, and they're frustrated that organizations are doing nothing to train them. They feel left behind and worry they'll be overtaken by these changes.

• Resistance to Change. I often hear, "That's the way we do things around here." But why? Is this the best way? Could there be other ways to do this? 

These are all very real challenges to communicating and implementing an AI strategy. So how can you start to bridge that gap? 

5 Steps to Better Communication

Consider the following as you guide your organization through AI transformation:

Start Comms Right Away. 

Start communicating before your strategy is finalized. Be transparent about having a strategy and share how that strategy can yield competitive advantage. Set expectations about development timelines, provide constant updates, and commit to getting feedback from people early in the process.

Address Psychological Safety. 

Focus on emphasizing the ways AI will augment work, especially for frontline workers. Create what I call a "safe to fail" environment. Your teams will feel like they are walking out onto a wobbly gangplank—the tools are new, the training is basic, and there are so many questions. Your job, then, is to create safe spaces where people can experiment and develop confidence.

Tailor Training Programs. 

Training is not one-size-fits-all. The most effective training programs are within particular teams and job functions. Consider:

• For frontline workers: Focus on upskilling for operational efficiency within their specific team and job function.
• For managers: Focus on team productivity, data usage, and better reviews and management.
• For senior leaders: Focus on innovation, decision-making, and using AI as a sounding board.

Create a Compelling Vision.

Make sure you have a great story, a compelling vision of the future you want to create. It could be about competitive advantage or how your customers' lives will improve because of what you're doing with generative AI. Let people tell their own stories and make the strategy their own. If you think about your strategy as a narrative, as an overall roadmap, then each person going on that journey will have their own experience.

Build a Movement. 

Unlike traditional change management, transformations require movements and cultural shifts, which are often hard and painful. But I have yet to see an organization go through a meaningful transformation—one that creates significantly different competitive advantage—where that transformation was easy. That's why the communications are so important, particularly that vision of what you're trying to create. Encourage people to create their own visions and to step in as leaders themselves, regardless of title or position.

If this information was helpful, there’s plenty more! 

📌 Sign up for updates and early access to my upcoming book, co-authored by Katia Walsh, which is all about creating a winning generative AI strategy.

📌 Catch my most recent webinars:

• “Unlocking The Power of Generative AI.” I explain how to set up a generative AI “playground,” three ways to elevate your leadership with step-by-step instructions, and the broad outlines of creating a strategy. Get the recording and slides here.

• “Developing a Winning Generative AI Strategy for Competitive Advantage.” I walk through the steps needed to create a cohesive AI strategy that will last. Get the recording and slides here. 

Your Turn

How are you communicating AI strategy in your organization? What challenges are you facing in creating alignment?