“Kicking the tires” was how Tammie Wagner, ABC, senior change enablement manager at Cox Automotive, aptly described the pilot project that initiated her company’s embrace of AI.
Tammie was the guest speaker at a recent IABC Change Management Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting, and she was generous in sharing her plans and experience of introducing AI into Cox Automotive. It all started with a handful of Copilot licenses included in their Microsoft service, driven by curiosity to understand the business potential of this new technology.
Cox Automotive is a software data company, the world's largest automotive services and tech provider, with over 29,000 employees across five continents. Many of its employees have worked there for decades; Tammie describes its culture as “a warm hug.” Demystifying the tool and showing that it wasn't just for techy people, but that everyone could use it, were identified as the biggest challenges to AI across the Cox Automotive workforce.
The clear business goal was to enhance performance and increase productivity. To achieve this objective, the change team recognized the need to focus on education and building confidence. “We had to respond to the urgency of the industry and the world, and we had to bring everyone along with us,” Tammie said. To achieve this, she and her team scoped out three workstreams:
- Everyday AI: How to integrate it into employees’ daily workflows.
- Oversharing: How the change team reframed data hygiene and the security guardrails.
- Microsoft Copilot 365: The licensed version of Copilot Chat.
Their ambitious training plan combined custom-created materials and videos with curated resources from Microsoft and external trainers. To reinforce learning, AI literacy training was built into staff and executive meetings. Tammie’s team also made it a priority to demystify the language around AI, such as prompt engineering. “Everybody said this big word, prompt engineering, and it sounded like you needed to have a Ph.D.,” she said. “We broke it down and said, if you want this result, here's how you phrase it.”
Developing personas to match the right change tactics with the right people was also essential. They initially profiled three personas: high-end users, those who were curious, and those who were indifferent. They prioritized job functions likely to be early adopters, granting licenses for a work-integrated version of Copilot only after completion of a mandatory learning program. Identified personas participated in 60-minute literacy courses that covered the norms and baseline knowledge, followed by 90-minute in-depth exploration of the specific work in a particular area of the company. Ambassadors were selected from this training initiative to return to their teams and share AI success stories within their respective roles.
Several change and communication tactics gained significant traction, including:
- “AI in a minute” videos focusing on small things to experiment with; for example, identifying an ice breaker to use at the beginning of a meeting.
- Creating an ambassador program, which helped with momentum after the training.
- Tying into existing activities, such as a successful cybersecurity awareness program.
- Ensuring leaders mentioned their own AI use in meetings and presentations.
- A web page on everyday AI use, which outperformed staff views whenever a new article was published.
- Testimonials that describe how real employees have used AI to improve a task or their team's workload.
Tammie emphasized that introducing AI doesn’t require a big campaign; micro steps are just as important. You need to consider how to keep people engaged in the face of a constant stream of change. She stressed that honesty is essential, recognizing that AI brings benefits to both the company and an individuals, while also affecting organizational structure.
Tammie posed the question: “How do you cultivate a continuous improvement mindset when you’re doing increasingly innovative work with fewer people, and constantly learning while being expected to be more efficient?” Her answer: “Be honest in recognizing that AI will reshape how work is done — and potentially impact headcount. Develop a clear plan for how to leverage AI so you can anticipate and address future challenges.” Additionally, it’s essential to recognize what you don’t want to lose in your culture by adopting AI, including institutional knowledge, and to understand the critical role of humans in the loop, sharing success stories that highlight their impact.
Key to the program’s success was starting small with a pilot. Tammie’s team set clear goals for productivity and performance, focusing on education and building confidence. They leveraged the fear of missing out (FOMO) by granting licenses only after completion of mandatory training. Short-form videos, recruiting leaders to use the tools, and an ambassador network helped reach people and cut through the noise. The team was clear about the benefits to both the individual and the company, but a clear AI roadmap meant they could also discuss the workforce impacts honestly. By treating adoption as a change program, and not a tech rollout, Cox Automotive was able to build an AI-confident workforce, capable of new skills required in a fast-evolving market.
To hear about more real-life change issues, challenges and projects from experienced change professionals, join the Change Management SIG meetings on the first Wednesday of each month, usually at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT.