Prosci, a global leader in change management, recently published a report on strategic AI adoption. One of their key findings?
“The absence of a safe space for experimentation is a major reason organizations fall behind.”
That line reminded me of a story.
I’ve always been the most tech-adaptable person in my family. Give me any device, platform, or software - I'll figure it out. There’s no barrier in my mind between me and tech.
My dad, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. He needs instructions, certainty. If something unexpected happens, he gets nervous and shuts down.
When I was a kid, he brought home our first computer. He handed it to me and went to work.
I took it apart.
Just to see how it works.
Then I put it back together. It worked. And that moment sealed my lifelong relationship with technology.
Try to test → learn → improve → ... → figure things out.
That’s been my default setting in life.
I feel safe experimenting. I trust myself to figure it out. And in most cases, what’s the worst that can happen? I’ll waste a bit of time before I find the best way? But in the process, I also find a lot of things that work and bring surprising results (PS that's how innovation happens).
Yesterday I joined an informal virtual talk with the IBM team. The topic? Many. One of them - ChatGPT’s learning capabilities, "Study Mode", and the implications of similar things for education. Funny thing, no one on the call had actually tried ChatGPT study mode.
But they were ready to debate the pros and cons.
It reminded me how so many companies operate:
Let’s spend hours talking about the new thing, but trying it?
No000 - we’re too busy, too unsure, too overwhelmed.
But this unwillingness to try is EXACTLY what holds companies back with AI.
It’s also what might be holding YOU back.
In your health and fitness.
In your relationships.
In your work.
In your next big move.
... stuck in a joyless job, relationships, hating your days but too afraid to just try something else becuase the result is not guaranteed?
You want THE right answer.
And you’ve left no space to get it wrong.
No safe place to explore. No sandbox.
Just pressure to get it perfect.
That's how we get stuck.
Prosci discovered that's also what's holding companies back from maximizing AI as well.
PS I’m launching a project called AI-Activation Playground - a space for safe, structured experimentation with AI tools in companies. Maybe your team needs it too?And stay tuned for the upcoming episode of Change Wired podcast with Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of Tiny Experiments.
What’s one area in your life or work where you’ve left no room to experiment but the need to get it right from the start?