The Competence Strategy Forum empowers organizations to develop the skills and knowledge needed for AI adoption. The latest event “A roadmap for implementing AI” was led by Mikael Tjernlund, Principal Business Change Manager at Volvo Group. Mikael's focus involved using a Persona and Playbook approach to address AI Business Change Management in a global corporation.

Through practical examples and networking, the forum helps teams unlock their full potential and stay updated on AI trends.

Mikael presented the company's roadmap for implementing AI with a focus on the "people side of change." He detailed Volvo's strategy for driving AI adoption through a persona-based approach, tailoring communication and training to different user groups like developers, managers, and union representatives. This involves creating personalized "journeys" with various activities like workshops, hackathons, and access to AI tools and sandboxes. Mikael also emphasized the importance of a decentralized, playbook-driven approach to empower individual business units within Volvo to implement AI effectively, while also stressing the critical role of active leadership sponsorship throughout the process.

Afterwards, the Competence Strategy Forum discussed the importance of balancing rapid AI adoption with responsible governance, particularly in light of the upcoming EU AI Act. The discussion underscored a growing trend of employee-driven AI initiatives outpacing organizations' readiness and leaders' understanding. This shift in dynamics results in employees often possessing more advanced AI literacy than their managers, leading to frustration and complicating efforts to implement AI effectively.

The discussion stressed the importance of comprehensive AI literacy programs covering ethics, data, and social learning, alongside empowering leaders for informed decisions. Aligning employee-driven AI use with top-down governance is key to responsible integration.