AI adoption

AI adoption consulting and workshops for your people

AI arrives in your company when people use it. We help scale-ups and mid-sized companies from about 50 employees build AI readiness across the workforce: with an honest assessment, workshops where people learn from each other, and leaders who go first.

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30 min · free · no obligation

Three building blocks

AI check: six statements, two minutes

  1. In our company, people talk openly about what they use AI for.
  2. Most of our people use AI regularly in their work, not just a few pioneers.
  3. We have named concrete tasks where AI takes real work off us.
  4. People who find out something useful with AI pass it on to colleagues.
  5. Our people know what they may and may not do with AI.
  6. Our leaders use AI themselves and talk about it.

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Your result

Add up your answers: rarely 0, sometimes 1, often 2, almost always 3.

14 to 18 points

AI has arrived in your company

Openness, use cases and rules are in place. Now it is about keeping it that way as new people and new tools arrive.

Read the newsletterRead the blog

8 to 13 points

A few are far ahead, the rest is not

Some use AI every day, others not at all, and a lot happens quietly. In a workshop series your people share what they do and agree on pilots and guardrails.

Book a callInside the workshop series

0 to 7 points

AI still runs on the side

It is probably used anyway, only nobody talks about it. An assessment shows where you really stand and where to start.

Book a callThe three building blocks

Why tools alone are not enough

Three building blocks

We start where your company is today, not with a curriculum.
Each block can be booked on its own, most clients combine them.

  1. AssessmentInterviews and a short survey: who uses which tools, for what, and where people are unsure or afraid. Consulting by day rate, with a clear picture and recommendations at the end.
  2. Exchange workshopsEmployees share what they already do with AI, choose pilots together and agree on shared guardrails. Three sessions per group of up to 12, for EUR 7,500 per group.
  3. Leaders go firstLeaders show their own use, including what does not work. In Leadership Essentials AI runs as a layer through every topic.

Inside the workshop series

Three sessions that move from feelings to shared rules. Nobody needs to be an AI expert. We start with how people really feel about AI and how they use it, then pick a few pilots together, and end with principles and guardrails the team agreed on itself.

  1. Session 1

    Where we stand

    An honest start, before anyone talks about tools.

    • How AI makes us feel: everyone picks the emotions that fit and shares a recent moment
    • Where we stand personally, between “AI is a threat” and “AI solves everything”, and what we need from each other
    • How we really use AI today, what felt odd, and what would make us more confident

  2. Session 2

    Wins and pilots

    From personal use to a few shared experiments.

    • Tasks we love and want more time for, and tasks that drain our time or energy
    • Clustering the ideas, including what we decide not to automate
    • Choosing one to three pilots by benefit and risk: who gains, what data goes in, what could go wrong

  3. Session 3

    Compass and guardrails

    Ground rules the team wrote itself.

    • Compass: principles for how we hold AI, for example “a person owns every result” and “we are open about our use”
    • Guardrails: day-to-day agreements, for example what never goes into an AI tool and which accounts we use
    • Next steps for the pilots, and a first draft for your AI policy

Between sessions we cluster the results, so each session starts from your team's own material. After each session there is one step to try in daily work.

AI literacy and AI enablement

Two words for two goals.
Most companies need both, and both depend more on people than on tools.

  • AI literacy

    People understand what AI can and cannot do, where its answers need checking, and what is allowed in your company. That is also what Article 4 of the EU AI Act asks for.

  • AI enablement

    People actually use AI in their daily work, share what works and help each other. That needs trust, time to try things out, and leaders who talk openly about their own use.

How AI adoption works

  1. Intro call30 minutes, free: where AI stands in your company today, and what should be different.
  2. AssessmentTwo to four weeks of interviews and a short survey, then a picture of use, uncertainty and quick wins.
  3. Workshop seriesThree sessions per group of up to 12 on online whiteboards, with one step to try in daily work after each session.
  4. MeasurementAfter three months we look together at what has changed, with the same questions as in the assessment.

At a glance

For
Companies from about 50 employees
Assessment
2 to 4 weeks, by day rate
Workshops
3 sessions, up to 12 per group
Measurement
After 3 months
Where
Remote, hybrid or on site
Price
EUR 7,500 per workshop group

For SMEs based in Germany: the consulting parts of this program can be publicly funded. Ask us in the call.

Book a call

We talk about where AI stands in your company and which block makes sense first.

Why human skills, not another tool training

Tool trainings show which button to press. Adoption usually fails somewhere else: people hide their use because they fear looking lazy or incompetent, nobody knows what is allowed, and leaders do not say how they use AI themselves.

That is about trust, communication, feedback and leadership. These are the topics we have worked on with leaders since 2009. Andre writes about them every week in his LinkedIn newsletter Human Skills in the Age of AI and in the podcast 3 minutes max.

What clients say

Portrait of Nils Herrmann

Thanks for the great workshops.

Nils Herrmannex Managing Director & COO, HelloFresh
Portrait of Fanny Rohr

Andre picks up on team dynamics that others often miss and asks the right questions at exactly the right time.

Fanny RohrHead of People & Operations, Future Energy Venturesex innogy Innovation Hub, PageGroup
Portrait of Thibault Durand

We had great workshops! Thanks for this, we all have appreciated it.

Thibault DurandGeneral Manager, adidas

Read and listen before you start

Many of the questions in this program come from Andre's newsletter and podcast: meetings with AI, feedback, presenting with AI, and trust. Free to read and listen.

  • A slide from the Digital Leader Framework: Andre Ottlik's update of situational leadership, with single task delegation and handover

    For clients

    Digital Leader Framework An interactive tour through the leadership models that matter: vision and culture, processes from hiring to development talks, the human being, communication and change, with book tips and talks. Included when you work with us.
  • The Digital Leader Canvas on a laptop next to a video call on a tablet

    Free

    Digital Leader Canvas A working tool to develop yourself as a leader, alongside a series or on your own, together with the blog exercises. Download the canvas

  • Free

    117 blog articles On leadership, human skills and AI since 2021, many with exercises to put into practice. Read the blog
  • Cover of the podcast 3 minutes max. Human Skills in the Age of AI, with Andre Ottlik and Jules

    Free

    48 podcast episodes “3 minutes max.”: human skills in the age of AI, one idea per episode, in English and in German. Listen to the podcast

Questions about AI adoption

Does the EU AI Act require AI training?

Since February 2025, Article 4 of the EU AI Act requires companies that use AI to take measures for the AI literacy of their staff. Since the Digital Omnibus of 2026, the duty is to take measures, not to guarantee a certain level, and no certificate is required. Workshops in which people learn to use AI responsibly are one such measure. We are not lawyers; for your exact obligations, ask your legal team.

For which companies is AI adoption suitable?

For scale-ups and mid-sized companies from about 50 employees, where AI tools are already available but use is uneven: some people use AI every day, others not at all, and few talk about it openly.

How long does AI adoption take?

The assessment takes two to four weeks. The workshop series that follows has three sessions per group over several weeks. After three months we measure together what has changed.

What comes out of the workshop series?

A shared picture of how your people feel about AI and use it, one to three pilots the team chose together, and team principles and guardrails for AI use. Together they are a first draft for your AI policy, which you then finalise with your legal and IT teams.

What does AI adoption cost?

The workshop series costs EUR 7,500 per group of up to 12 people for three sessions. The assessment is billed by day rate; its size depends on your company. After a 30-minute call you get an offer within a week.

How is this different from a ChatGPT course?

A tool course shows which buttons to press. Adoption usually fails elsewhere: people hide their use, are unsure what is allowed, or fear looking incompetent. We work on trust, exchange and leadership, so that people actually use AI and talk about it. Tools are part of it, but they are not the starting point.

Does it work remotely?

Yes. Assessment interviews and workshops run remote with online whiteboards, hybrid or on site, in English or German.

Is there funding for AI adoption consulting?

For small and medium-sized companies based in Germany, yes: the consulting parts of AI adoption can be funded through the German BAFA grant for SME consulting. It covers 50% of consulting costs, 80% in most eastern German states, up to EUR 3,500 per consulting project and up to twice a year. The workshops themselves are not eligible. Ask us in the call.

How soon can we start?

After a 30-minute call you get an offer within a week. The assessment can usually start three to four weeks later; the workshops follow from there.

Where does AI stand in your company?

In a 30-minute call we talk about use, uncertainty and what should change. Free and without obligation.

Book a call

After the call you get an offer within a week.