Big news! We’ve got a new partner…

Right now, everyone, everywhere, is talking about AI.

Overnight, hundreds of people in our industry became “experts” – talking about AI and the tools needed to keep companies a step ahead of the competition. And that is wherein the problem lies. Conversations oversaturated and over-focused on AI tools: Copilot is the future. I mean, it’s part of it, sure. But Copilot will only get you so far (other tools are available).

It reminded me of conversations people were having about engagement with learning management systems and other corporate tools, which bear no resemblance to consumer tech and are just less useful and fun. Knowing some of the people discussing this topic, I knew they weren’t experts themselves, and they were figuring it out as they went along. I certainly don’t begrudge people jumping on the bandwagon. To some extent, we’ve done the same, but I wanted to take a different approach. One aligned with how we work: being straight-talking, authentic, honest, and realistic.

So, we made a choice. Rather than send someone off for an MIT crash course in frontier AI models (useful but disconnected from the day-to-day) or hire an AI specialist and hope they’d find billable work, we did something else entirely.

The search for the perfect AI partner

About 18 months ago, I started putting out feelers to see if there were any companies we could partner with on data and AI.

We’d tried partnerships before, and we’d learned something valuable: if partners overlap with us on services, they just do the work themselves. So, we set a clear criterion: we needed a partner who was brilliant at data and AI, but didn’t claim expertise in people development, leadership, and culture. That way, we’d complement each other. No competition or awkward conversations.

Enter FOIL

It was as much timing and luck as judgment that I had a chat with FOIL. I was immediately struck by some of our shared values, particularly fatigue with corporate BS and our disdain for consultancy that didn’t deliver real value to clients. They describe themselves as “consultants with a non-consulting ethos”.

I met several times with Mish, Chief Strategist at FOIL, and he saw the value of human-centred design as an alternative to traditional education. FOIL had experience supporting clients with data and AI strategy and, in some cases, AI tools, but they were struggling with adoption and the culture needed to really make those things take off. It felt like a natural fit.

So, we got to work.

Earlier this year, Brij Palicha worked with Mish on a leadership development proposal centred on data and AI. And that’s when it clicked. Writing the proposal, understanding FOIL’s technical approach, and layering on our human-centred design methodology, the theory became practical. We could see exactly how this partnership worked in the real world.

And by doing actual work, I developed a working knowledge of data and AI as they relate to previous propositions and services. Now, rather than talk about the theory of data and AI, we can legitimately talk about it from the perspective of a team that has done work in data and AI and has the battle scars to prove it.

So, what’s next?

We’ve been quietly working on something big. A data and AI executive accelerator that sits at the top of organisations – setting a vision and strategy leadership need. Something that can also be trickled down to senior leaders and mid-level leaders responsible for sharing messages about data and AI, and, in some ways, carrying the transformation that needs to happen for organisations to make the most of this new revolution.

Last month, at the British Training Awards, we got to test a component of our new data and AI proposition. We ran our new icebreaker game, AI Tycoon, to over 400 people in a live environment.

This is just the beginning – there’s more work to do, but I’m excited. Our partnership with FOIL is reshaping how we think about transformation altogether. Human-centred design. Behavioural science. Systems thinking. Data. AI.

There’s lots more exciting stuff to come, so stay tuned…