What we cover
You handed your team access to AI tools. They are using them. Someone drafts emails faster. Someone else summarizes meeting notes. A third person is using it to speed through reports. On paper, adoption is happening.
But here is what is quietly happening in parallel: each person is running their own solo experiment, optimizing their own tasks, and none of it is coordinated at the team level. The workflows are the same. The meetings run the same way. The handoffs and decision processes have not changed. Every person has their own calculator on their desk, and that is it.
This episode is for the leaders who sense that something is missing in how their teams are integrating AI, even when usage looks good on the surface. Ramona breaks down what she calls Stage 1 vs. Stage 2 AI adoption, and gives five concrete things you can do as a manager to move your team forward without making it a massive change management project.
In Episode 312, we cover:
- The calculator analogy: why individual AI use is Stage 1 and why it is not enough
- How to run a workflow audit with your team to identify where AI should actually be embedded
- Why your meeting infrastructure is the biggest gap right now, and the lowest-hanging fruit
- What shared team standards around AI use actually look like in practice
- Why delegation in an AI era means thinking in workflows, not just assigning tasks to people
- How to shape your team’s culture around AI-assisted decision making before defaults get set for you
If you have been wondering how to get from where your team is now to something more intentional and coordinated, this episode gives you the starting point.
Timestamps
ⓘ Timestamps are approximate. Please verify against the final audio before publishing.
Resources mentioned
- Team Workflow Audit Framework: Mentioned in the episode as a free resource to structure your team’s workflow redesign session. Available here
- Episode 311: Delegating: It’s Actually About Managing Yourself: Referenced in the episode for a deep dive on delegation.
- Notion, Asana: mentioned as examples of team tools for tracking decisions and action items in real time.
Links
- Schedule a Leadership Strategy Call with Ramona
- Grab the free New Manager Toolkit
- 1-on-1 Meeting Mastery Course: Learn how to turn your 1-on-1 meetings into your most valuable weekly conversation.
- The Confident & Competent New Manager: Ramona’s best-selling book on rapidly rising to success in your first leadership role.
Related episodes
- Episode 210: Your Future Role With AI: What AI means for your role as a leader and how the nature of management is shifting.
- Episode 218: GenAI for Managers: A practical breakdown of how to use generative AI tools effectively in your day-to-day work as a manager.
- Episode 296: AI For Managers in 2026: What leaders need to know and do as AI becomes a core part of how work gets done.
- Episode 307: The ‘AI vs Human Skills’ Managers Must Pay Attention To: How to think about the balance between AI-assisted tasks and the human judgment your team still needs from you.
What’s next?
- Learn more about our leadership development programs, coaching and workshops at archova.org.
- Grab your copy of Ramona’s best-selling book “The Confident & Competent New Manager”.
- Want to better understand your leadership style and patterns? Take the free Manager Archetype quiz.
- Are you in your first manager role and don’t want to mess it up? Watch our FREE Masterclass and discover the 4 shifts to become a leader people love to work for.
- Love the podcast and haven’t left a review yet? Go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and give your honest review. Thanks for your support of this show!