A Fortune 200 CHRO told me over coffee: “We bought the Ferrari. Then we realized… nobody knew how to drive stick.”

The licenses were live. The change wasn’t. Her pain points sounded familiar: lots of seats, not enough usage; a policy memo, but managers “playing it safe”; pilots everywhere, process changes nowhere.

Most reporting focused on “who has access,” rather than “where AI sits in the workflow,” so trust lagged, and teams defaulted to old habits. That’s the culture gap I keep hearing from my fellow senior leaders: we trained the tools but not the trust.

Here’s what the research says. Microsoft’s WorkLab, the company’s research and insights hub on the future of work, found a simple adoption pattern they call “11-by-11.” If people get to roughly 11 meaningful uses across 11 weeks, habits start to stick. And there’s a useful starter metric: about 11 minutes saved per day is the point where most users say “this is worth it,” which encourages them to try AI on other tasks. Many save more, but 11 minutes is the threshold that flips perception from novelty to useful. Over 11 weeks, that adds up to ~10 hours. MicrosoftSource

Inside Microsoft, leaders also stress intention and scenario design over splashy pilots. Think “Where does AI enter this process?” instead of “Who played with it this week?” That mindset shift, plus lightweight enablement, is what actually compounds.

THIS WEEK'S INSIGHTS:

• Adoption is a workflow problem, not a tooling problem. Trust, safety, and manager-led habits determine whether AI sticks.

• The “11×11” rule matters. Microsoft’s WorkLab finds that habits stick after ~11 meaningful uses over 11 weeks, with around 11 minutes/day as the minimum savings point at which AI starts to feel worthwhile. Microsoft+1

• Measure habits, not hype. Use Viva’s Adoption and Impact reports (including “hours assisted”) as early leading indicators before P&L shows up. Microsoft Learn+1

• Govern the risk, don’t freeze the work. Start with low-risk scenarios and map light controls using NIST AI RMF + GenAI Profile; brief the board using NACD’s Director Essentials. NISTNACD

MYTHS OF THE WEEK

Myth #1: “AI adoption = buying the right tools.”

Reframe: Licenses don’t adopt themselves. Real adoption comes from workflow redesign and leader-modeled habits, not procurement. (Scenarios → habits → outcomes.)

Myth #2: “More training will fix adoption.”

Reframe: Training helps, but trust, safety, and measurement move behavior. Track simple habit metrics (e.g., hours assisted, feature usage), and have managers show where AI enters the process.

Myth #3: “We need perfect data and policies before we start.”

Reframe: You don’t need perfect, you need risk-based starts. Pick a low-risk use case, add human checks, and improve data quality as you go using NIST’s govern → map → measure → manage approach. Align with the GenAI Profile and keep the board current on emerging obligations.

DECODING THE TRENDS: 

Trend Signals in Plain English

• Measurement is maturing.
  Plain English: You can now measure who’s using AI, where, and what it changes—not just vanity usage. Microsoft’s Viva Copilot Adoption and Impact reports, plus the Copilot Analytics dashboard, let leaders track adoption by group and link usage to outcomes. Microsoft Learn+2Microsoft Learn+2

• Early habits, outsized lift.

  Plain English: Small, routine uses compound. WorkLab’s “11×11” framework shows the habit curve; a large public-sector Copilot trial saw ~26 minutes saved/day on average—enough to matter to teams. Barron's

Noise to Silence

• “Hire a Chief AI Officer and you’re done.” Leadership for AI is shared, not siloed. Give a council the mandate; empower managers to build habits. Harvard Business Review
  
  

Executive Takeaway: Redesign the work, or the work will reject the tool. Start with one workflow, one metric, and 11 weeks of small wins.

TOOLS WORTH EXPLORING

Here are some tools worth exploring that go beyond the typical corporate stack. And if your organization does not allow access to third-party platforms, you can still leverage approved enterprise AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity to get similar results. Just copy, paste, and adapt my "Prompts to Steal".

Tool for Teams & Leaders 

Gamma: AI-first decks without the design tax

Pro Tip: Paste your outline; co-edit live with your team; export if needed.

Prompt to Steal:
“Turn these bullets into a 6-slide, story-driven update (1: context, 2: problem, 3: workflow change, 4: early wins, 5: risks/mitigations, 6: ask). Include speaker notes.” 

Tool for Builders (No-Code) 

MindStudio: build lightweight AI agents fast

Pro Tip: Start with a FAQ agent (policy, benefits, IT how-tos) to deflect repetitive questions.

Prompt to Steal:
“Draft a decision tree for a self-serve HR policy assistant. Include intents, sample questions, data sources, and escalation rules to humans.” 

Tool for Personal Ops 

Rewind: searchable ‘computer memory’

Pro Tip: Use for post-meeting recall; ask, “Find where we decided launch pricing” and jump to the exact moment.

Prompt to Steal:
“From these notes, extract decisions, owners, deadlines, and open questions; format as a one-page brief I can paste into email.”

Tool for Content & Comms

Runway Gen-2: quick concept videos

Pro Tip: Storyboard internal change messages—30 seconds beats a 30-page deck.

Prompt to Steal:
“Write a 6-scene storyboard that explains our new AI-assisted workflow for sales proposals—include on-screen text and suggested b-roll for each scene.”

If your org blocks third-party tools, you can still use the Prompt to Steal in approved platforms to get 80% of the impact with what you already have.

👉🏽 Where will you redesign one workflow so AI has a clear job, and what 11-minute win will prove its worth repeating?

CLOSING THOUGHT

Pick one process that consistently requires status updates, customer follow-ups, and first-draft proposals.

This week:

• Map the current steps (10 minutes). Circle one step for AI assist.

• Run an “11×11” micro-pilot. Aim for one repeatable AI use on that step and track the minutes saved daily. Share one example in the team channel each week.

• Add one guardrail. Write down where humans review/approve, using NACD/NIST prompts as your template.

Remember: “Licenses don’t adopt themselves. Redesign the work so people can.”

Hasta la próxima, Abrazos!

(Until next week, hugs!)

Monica Marquez

When You're Ready...

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