Before you train staff on AI, listen first

Many organisations start AI training with a tool demonstration. Staff nod along, and very little changes. In my experience the problem is rarely the tool. It is that the training did not start with what people already know, already use, and already worry about.

When I served on an AI policy committee at an international school, we began with listening sessions instead. What we heard shaped both the policy and the department-specific training that followed. The guide that goes with this article includes a facilitator script and a notes sheet.

Set up the sessions

• Keep groups small, six to ten people, and group them by department or team if you can.
• Allow 45 to 60 minutes.
• Ask a colleague, not a senior leader, to facilitate or take notes, so people speak freely.
• Explain at the start that notes will not include names, and how the findings will be used.

Run the session in three parts

Experience. What AI tools have you tried, for work or at home? What happened? This shows the real range of use, which is usually wider than leaders expect.

Understanding. What do you think these tools do well, and where do they go wrong? This surfaces misunderstandings that training must address.

Feelings and concerns. What worries you about AI in your subject, your work, or with your students or customers? These concerns are what a policy must answer.

Turn what you hear into training and policy

Sort the notes into three groups: skills people want, misunderstandings to correct, and concerns the policy must answer. Then design training by team or department, because a science teacher and a language teacher, or a finance team and a sales team, will use AI in very different ways.

Close the loop

Tell staff what you heard and what you changed because of it. That one step builds more trust in an AI policy than any slide about responsible use. Repeat the sessions after six months: use and concerns change quickly.

Want help with this?

This guide relates to our AI upskilling service. Contact us to talk about your organisation or school.

More guides: Building an L&D function from scratch · How to run a training needs analysis