Business leaders are letting their people down when it comes to generative artificial intelligence (AI). According to Oliver Wyman's 2024 report, employees rank AI training as their first reskilling priority, while organizations only rank it as their fourth. As early adopters take upskilling into their own hands, organizations are in hot water to jumpstart AI training for employees before the skills gap jeopardizes their productivity and leaves them behind. 

Navigating AI excitement, fear and everything in between 

To employees, embracing AI isn't just a professional necessity; it's a gateway to career growth and a powerful tool that can reshape the way they work. But without formal organizational guidance, employees feel a sense of confusion, as highlighted by a surveyed consultant in the OliverWyman report: “Because I’m so new to using AI, I don’t even know all the practical applications. So I think training would be the big thing. [...] What are we not doing that we could be doing?”

This confusion is taking a toll on workers across organizations. According to a recent Fortune article, workers appear to be split when it comes to integrating AI into their daily work. In fact, roughly "42% of desk workers say they’re excited about AI handling tasks in their current job, 27% say they’re concerned, and 31% take a more neutral stance, saying they’re in a wait-and-see mode."

While doing research for a new AI skills-building workshop, ExperiencePoint’s senior product owner, Armand Khambatta, saw this split firsthand. “Almost everything about AI evokes some kind of unusually emotional reaction,” he said. “For some people, it’s excitement. For others, it’s fear.” 

It’s clear that there’s a big disconnect between where everyone stands with AI—and it’s keeping organizations from moving forward. 

So, how do we close the AI skills gap?

The answer is simpler than you might think: application-focused training. By giving employees hands-on experience with gen AI tools, organizations can demystify AI’s role in the workplace and equip their teams with the skills they need to move forward.

Closing the AI skills gap: Escaping the AI training holding pattern

In the corporate world's rush to adopt AI, it seems departments are working in silos without a comprehensive view of AI’s overall strategy. Leadership and legal departments are trying to prioritize strategic first steps without understanding the scope of AI’s potential. Meanwhile, IT and data scientists understand the technology's capabilities but miss how it fits into the broader organizational landscape. Locked in their individual silos, their AI plan comes to a standstill. 

As Armand and the workshop team put it, “They’ve put building capabilities on hold to figure out governance, but many are not actually investing in that governance, so it becomes a holding pattern.”

Experiential and application-focused learning offers a powerful solution to escape this holding pattern. Our latest workshop, Work Better With AI, was created for this very purpose. Designed to demystify the technology easily, this training empowers individuals to experience how AI can immediately add value to their work together in real-time. 

Accelerating AI adoption: Turning conversations into action

Work Better With AI is particularly effective because it guides people to safely initiate AI capability building without organizations needing to address every complexity of governance upfront. It's a strategic nudge to break free from the holding pattern of over-planning and take the plunge.

The workshop is designed to rapidly increase adoption, turning AI discussions into actionable execution. By level-setting AI capabilities, this approach breaks down silos and unites the organization around a common understanding and goal, making AI integration a collective journey forward.

A low-risk gateway to level-setting AI capability

AI’s potential to reshape the way we work is unmistakable. Work Better With AI is the perfect start for those seeking a low-investment and low-risk way to build AI capabilities. Now is the time to take the leap and embrace the possibilities of AI at your own pace. Seize the opportunity today.