Do you have an AI communication strategy?
You can ask AI to plan a vacation and decide in five minutes whether you like the itinerary. Try explaining to your board why an AI pilot needs another quarter, and you’ll have a very different conversation.
We’ve had a front-row seat as companies figure out how to talk about AI, and that is why it’s imperative to have an AI communication strategy. We’ve seen leaders promise outcomes before they have evidence, explain the technology until the audience loses the thread and downplay changes employees can already see coming. In each case, the leader had plenty to say. The listener still had a question that went unanswered. Enter the AI communication strategy.
That’s where I’d start with an AI communication strategy. What does this audience need to understand, and what do you want them to do with it? The answer changes depending on who’s in the room. The facts need to hold up in all four conversations.
Give your board an AI Communication strategy and storyline they can follow
A board member may walk into the meeting having just heard how another company is using AI. They’ll bring that perspective with them. Your job is to help them see how your decisions fit your business and where you need their input. Having an AI communication strategy will help you frame this.
Give the board a consistent view of what you’re investing in, how you’ll judge progress and when you expect to know enough to make the next decision. Then build on that storyline at each meeting. If a pilot takes longer than expected, explain what you learned, what you’re changing and whether it affects the broader plan. Give the board enough context to understand why your recommendation changed.
Prepare your technology leaders for the questions that come with that visibility. A board member who asks about the reliability of a tool may be trying to understand how much risk the company is taking on. Answer that business question first. Then explain the technical detail that supports the answer.
Show investors what the investment is producing
You may have launched several pilots and trained hundreds of employees. Both can tell an investor that work is underway. The next question is what that work is producing for the business.
Walk investors through where you’re placing your bets, what you can measure today and what would justify investing more. If an internal pilot reduced the time it takes to resolve a request, explain where you observed the change and what you still need to learn before expecting it at scale. If you’re seeing a customer benefit, tell that story from the customer’s point of view. What got easier for them? What evidence do you have that the change mattered?
Once you introduce a measure of progress, expect to be asked about it again. Choose measures you can explain and report on consistently, including when the results fall short.
Start the customer conversation with their work
A customer may be interested in your company’s AI strategy. In a sales conversation, they’re more likely to want to know how it will help with a problem they already have.
Start there. If the customer is trying to shorten the time between a service request and a resolution, show where AI could help in that workflow. Explain what data it would need, where a person would review the output and how the customer could tell whether the change is working. A customer story can help if it illustrates a challenge they recognize. Give your sales team enough context to make that connection and enough room to ask questions before they offer a solution.
Help employees see where your AI communication strategy will fit
At an employee town hall, a leader might be ready to talk about what AI makes possible. Someone in the audience may be wondering whether their job will change and who will help them learn a new way of working.
Make room for those questions. Tell people what’s being tested, which teams are involved and what employees can try or learn now. If a decision about roles or workflows is still open, say so and tell people when you’ll update them. Share what you’re learning along the way, including what you’ve had to rethink. A small group can run the pilot while the wider organization has a way to follow the work, ask questions and contribute what they know. A well thought out and crafted AI communication strategy assists with these narratives.
Make the message sound like you
There’s a second AI decision in each of these conversations. How much of the message will you ask AI to write?
In Authentic Presence, Hurst and I put it this way: “Connection is the driving force of engagement between a communicator and a listener. You can’t have someone else drive connection for you.”
AI can help organize your notes, outline an update or suggest questions you might hear. Give it a structure based on what your listeners need to understand. Check every claim it helps you make, and read the draft out loud. Would you say it that way to the people in the room? Can you explain what you meant if someone asks a follow-up question? If a story would help, choose one you can tell from experience.
In the book, we describe a response we like to hear when we hand a leader a draft: “This is great; now let me make it my own.” The same advice applies when AI helps you prepare. Put the message in words you use. Be clear about what you know and what you’re still working through. Then be ready to listen. The questions people ask will tell you where the next conversation needs to go.
If you’re preparing your AI communication strategy, we can help you build a clear storyline and coach the leaders who will carry it into those conversations.
Talk with SW&A about your AI communication strategy.