How To Build AI-Ready Teams

Building AI-Ready Teams

A Practical Approach for Managers Navigating AI Change

Building an AI-ready team is not about turning every employee into an AI expert.
AI readiness means ensuring teams can adapt to new advances in their roles and skills as expectations evolve, keeping morale and performance high —without losing focus on outcomes,.

In today’s economic environment, workforce readiness is less about tools and more about skills visibility, adaptability, and informed leadership.

What Does It Mean to Be “AI-Ready”?

AI readiness is often interpreted as technical proficiency or advanced training.
In reality, an AI-ready team is one that can:

• Understand how AI affects its work
• Adapt their skills as tasks change
•Choose a mindset of continuous learning
• Maintain confidence in the face of change

AI readiness is not a one-time achievement. It is an ongoing state of preparedness.

Why Managers Struggle to Build AI-Resilient Teams

Managers are increasingly expected to prepare their teams for AI—but often without the insight they need on team skills and competencies.
Challenges managers face of workforce readiness are :

• Limited visibility into current and emerging skills
• Uncertainty about which roles are most impacted by AI
• Generic guidance that lacks relevance or focus
• Pressure to act quickly without clear data

Without practical and continuous skills data insight, efforts to build team readiness can feel speculative or reactive.

AI Readiness Starts With Skills Awareness

The foundation of an AI-ready team is a clear understanding of the value of skills.
People skills enable an organization to outpace the competition.
Managers need to know:

• Which skills are becoming more important
• Where gaps exist within their teams
• Which roles are most exposed to AI-driven change
• How priorities could shift over time

Skills awareness enables managers to focus their learning and adaptation where it will have the greatest impact.

Build Readiness Without Overloading Your Team

AI readiness does not require sweeping change or large budgets. It begins with understanding where your team stands today—and making informed, incremental, ongoing and manageable adjustments over time.

Managers who take the incremental AI- readiness approach are better positioned to maintain performance during change, support engagement and retention, and create a foundation for future growth.