You called it an AI-pilot. Your employees heard: "this can wait"
Every tech rollout sends a message. The question is which one.
The pilot trap
A new system gets selected. Comms go out. A small group gets access and is asked to start using it, evaluate it, and report back. Led by a champion, with loose involvement from managers.
It sounds responsible.
Because a pilot doesn’t change how work gets done.
It creates a small bubble next to it.
And behavior doesn’t change in bubbles.
It changes in environments.
So the pilot competes with everything else that feels real.
Deadlines. Priorities. Existing ways of working.
And under pressure, it loses.
You say pilot and everyone reads that message the same way: "this can wait".
The numbers tell the story
Something is clearly getting lost between deployment and impact.
There are many reasons for this. But the first step of the rollout is where most of them start,and where most rollouts quietly fail.
The dip nobody calculate with
Every new technology has a learning curve.
Before it saves time, it costs time.
Before it feels easy, it feels like extra work.
That's just how it works, there's a dip before there's a gain.
When adoption feels optional and on the side of the real work people have every reason to stay in the dip.
They get stuck in the friction, trying the tech, hitting resistance, stepping back, evaluating from there.
Never pushing through to where behavior actually changes.
Never reaching the point where the real value shows up.
Starting small works, if you frame it right
A smaller group is often the best place to begin rolling out new tech. But the first group cannot be there to "try" it. Their job is to show a potential new way of working.
If they succeed, you get:
- Real usage
- Real outcomes
- Real stories
An honest picture of what working differently with the tech actually looks like in your organization.
And you get the success stories you need to make the next phase land. That's how tech adoption at scale starts.
What actually drives adoption
Our research collaboration with RISE, drawing on a meta-analysis of 162 studies on technology adoption, points to three things that consistently drive behavior change in tech adoption speficically:
Performance expectancy- Do I personally gain something from this, in my actual work, this week?
Attitude - Do I believe this could work for me, in my context?
Social influence- Are people around me actually using this?
All three are shaped by the environment around the tech and the message your rollout sends.
The first group defines that environment.
They shape what others believe:
- if this is useful
- if it works in reality
- if it's worth the effort
If they stay in the dip, the organization will stay in the dip.
Make it matter from day one
Instead of saying that you are running a pilot, run a Shift Sprint.
The word matters. Pilot says: we're not sure yet, this is not important yet.
A Shift Sprint signals from day one that we are shifting our ways of working quickly. Your participation matters. The goal is to see what is possible.
And to succeed, give them the environment they need: time, support, and clarity.
Run the sprint.
If the value is real, you have proof. And proof is needed to create the right environment for the next phase. Scaling adoption.
The question that matters
Look at your current tech-adoption plan.
Are people testing a tool or sprinting a better way of working?
Adoption comes from clarity, relevance, and shared movement.
And that starts with how you frame and design the very first step.
Bella Funck
April, 2026