Today’s workforce has an AI problem. Despite widespread adoption, the promising new tool is falling short of expectations and organizations everywhere are starting to lose faith. In fact, Gartner, Inc. estimates that 85% of AI projects fail to deliver any real return. 

Why is that?

Well, like any major change, successful AI adoption demands behavioral change—a shift in how people think and work to make way for something new. And the best way to make that behavioral change is by developing soft skills (like the ability to adapt, collaborate and problem-solve). This is exactly where most companies fall short.

Consider China, for example. The AI boom hit there long before it did in North America and the evidence of organizations failing to make AI stick is even more pronounced. The organizations that eventually found success recognized that shifting their workforce’s mindset was the key to unlocking AI's potential. It wasn’t just about the tech; it was about the people.

One of our valued partners in China recently worked with an organization that was facing this exact challenge. Despite years of effort, they couldn’t get their team members to harness generative AI tools. Today, we’ll explore how they turned things around—and how you can, too.

A pharma study on workforce AI adoption

Earlier this year, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies approached our partner, CYY Consulting, with a problem: the pharma giant needed their biggest sales training force to start using AI, so they could:

1. Protect input (keeping sensitive data within the organization) and;
2. Maximize output (by harnessing relevant internal research and data).

Despite having introduced an in-house generative AI tool years ago, the tool was gathering dust. After an initial rollout, the tool left their leaders feeling underwhelmed and adoption rates quickly dwindled. The technology was there, but the mindset shift needed to embrace it was not.

Realizing their client needed to address the human element, CYY turned to Work Better With AI—a short-seat workshop focused on using experiential learning to kickstart AI adoption in a human-centered way. 

Achieving AI adoption with behavioral change

Work Better With AI offers simple yet effective guidance on how to integrate AI into everyday work and improve collaboration. For this group in particular, that meant inviting diverse stakeholders into meetings, improving collaboration between Sales and R&D, creating support systems to build trust and generally helping healthcare providers across China improve health outcomes. 

Rather than diving into lengthy discussions about its capabilities or getting overwhelmed by technical jargon, this real-time learning experience takes a hands-on approach. After a brief introduction, we encourage learners to jump right in, selecting real tasks from their daily workload and using the AI tool to tackle them. By simulating scenarios where they might typically be bogged down, the team experiences firsthand how AI could enhance workflows, solve problems and save time. In just two hours, AI technology shifts from just another "hot, new tool" into a valuable, everyday asset people can actually reach for. 

One learner shared, "After inputting key points, AI automatically generated a micro-lesson video based on specific needs and templates in just two minutes, significantly improving efficiency." Others highlighted how they used AI to "modify role-playing cases and generate exam questions" and "quickly provide responses to questions, optimize solutions and more."

Rethinking roles with AI in the passenger seat

Before the workshop, only 12% of learners from the pharmaceutical company used AI daily. However, by the end, 55% planned to integrate AI into their daily routines. This change was driven by a key insight emphasized during the workshop: the need for learners to shift from being mere contributors to supervisors of AI-generated content.

Workshop survey (translated from Mandarin)

They quickly realized that working with AI required letting go of their traditional ways of thinking and doing. Rather than doing the heavy lifting for AI as mere contributors, they needed to step into a supervisory role by guiding, providing feedback and mentoring AI's output. This change in perspective not only reveals the new skills required in the AI-driven workplace but also reinforces the irreplaceable role of humans in this process. After all, while AI does a great job of predicting, it doesn’t truly think—and it can "go off the rails" without valuable human guidance.

The power of putting people first in AI 

Three weeks after the workshop, CYY conducted a survey to gauge the impact of Work Better With AI’s human-centered approach. The results were encouraging, marking a significant shift from their previous level of engagement. In the past week, 42% of learners had used AI five times or more, while 100% of learners had used AI at least once or twice.

Post-workshop survey (translated from Mandarin)

With these tangible results, the pharmaceutical organization is now equipped to: 

• Accelerate successful product launches,
• Improve the effectiveness of sales meetings and; 
• Reduce time spent on “joyless work.” 

By fostering this behavioral change, they have unlocked a better level of AI usage that goes beyond mere implementation—it’s about continuous growth, collaboration and, most importantly, the human element. It’s the shift in mindset and behavior that truly makes AI stick, proving that the success of AI training isn’t just about the technology; it’s about the people driving it.