Rainy Saturdays and the Human Side of AI Adoption
When people ask how I like the weather in Belgium, I often say: “Ideal for my career. It rains, I work.” That’s why, in my view, rainy Saturdays are underrated.
They interrupt the impulse to rush outside and quietly create space for something else: reflection, reading, learning. Last Saturday was one of those days, and by the end of it I had completed “Change Management for Generative AI” by Vanderbilt University.
The topic is obviously timely. Generative AI is evolving at extraordinary speed, but the real challenge organisations face is rarely technological. It is human. How people understand, trust, experiment with, and ultimately integrate new tools into their everyday work determines whether AI becomes transformative — or simply another unused system.
Change Management in the Age of AI
The course explored the organisational and behavioural dimensions of adopting generative AI. The central concept it introduced is the FASTER framework, developed by Jules White and Bob Higgins. It offers a structured approach to navigating change when introducing generative AI in organisations:
- Foundation – Establishing clarity about the current situation and the purpose behind adopting AI.
- Alignment – Ensuring that stakeholders understand the direction and feel part of the change.
- Safeguards – Creating guardrails and policies that enable responsible experimentation.
- Training – Equipping people with the skills and confidence to use the technology.
- Evolution – Allowing the system to adapt as new insights and practices emerge.
- Replication – Scaling what works and embedding it into organisational practice.
This framework resonated strongly with my own work. In projects such as AI Navigators and in initiatives exploring AI in mentoring, I consistently see that the real bottleneck is not access to tools. It is creating the conditions for people to adopt them meaningfully: psychological safety, clarity of purpose, and the ability to experiment without fear of getting it wrong.
Beyond the Original Purpose
The most interesting realisation for me came when I started thinking about the portability of the FASTER framework. Good frameworks often extend far beyond the context they were originally designed for.
For example, I found myself imagining how FASTER could guide something much smaller and more personal: planning the week ahead.
- Foundation: Where am I right now, and how does this week align with my broader professional aspirations?
- Alignment: Who needs to understand what I’m trying to achieve this week — my team, partners, collaborators?
- Safeguards: What needs to be protected in my calendar and environment so I actually have the conditions to execute?
- Training: Who around me needs context or knowledge so they can support the goal rather than unintentionally sabotage it?
- Evolution: What other problems might get solved indirectly if this experiment succeeds?
- Replication: If this works, where else can I apply this approach to learning and growth?
What starts as a framework for AI adoption can become a lens for thinking about change more broadly.
Generative AI Is Much More Than a Technology Shift
Generative AI is not simply a technological transition. It is a behavioural and cultural one too. Organisations will not succeed with AI simply by purchasing tools. They will succeed by:
- Creating environments where people feel safe to experiment.
- Investing in continuous learning.
- Aligning AI initiatives with meaningful goals rather than hype.
- Designing change processes that acknowledge uncertainty and adaptation.
This is precisely where leadership, coaching, and organisational development intersect with technology: change management.
A Sunday Reflection
Today the rain is gone and the sun is back out over Brussels.
The completed course is a small outcome, but the reflection it prompted feels like the bigger one: in moments of rapid technological change, the most valuable skill is not mastering every new tool. It is learning how to guide our people — and ourselves — through change.