🚩 Tactical Memo 021: Your First 90 Days Building an AI-Ready Organization

Read time: 9 minutes

Welcome to Tactical Memo, my newsletter where I share frameworks, strategies, and hard-earned lessons for leaders navigating complex environments.

If you’re looking for my cheat sheets and deep-dive guides, the vault is linked at the bottom of this email.

👉 Why Read This Edition: You will walk away with a 90-day implementation plan to turn Gen AI from a side experiment into an operating system for how your organization works, measures, and delivers results.

The Briefing: Today’s Focus

• Why Most AI Initiatives Stall After the Kickoff

• The Rule: You Don’t Need a Pilot, You Need an Operating Model

• A Tactical Playbook: My 90-Day Plan to Build Real Gen AI Adoption

• What’s Happening: General Updates

• A Reader’s Question: How to Get People to Actually Use the AI Tools You Give Them

Why Most AI Initiatives Stall After the Kickoff

Most organizations treat AI adoption like a campaign.

There’s a big launch, a few trainings, a Slack channel, and maybe a “look how smart we are” announcement.

Then three weeks later, nothing.

The problem isn’t awareness. It’s ownership.

If you don’t tie Gen AI to how people actually deliver work, it dies in the novelty phase.

Gen AI adoption isn’t about enthusiasm. It’s about operational embedding.

The Rule: You Don’t Need a Pilot, You Need an Operating Model

Pilots end. Habits scale.

Your goal isn’t to “test” Gen AI. Your goal is to make it part of how your team writes, decides, plans, and reports.

That takes structure and repetition. 30 days to start, 90 days to normalize.

Here’s exactly how I implement it.

A Tactical Playbook: My 90-Day Plan to Build Real Gen AI Adoption

First 30 Days: Visibility, Access, and Momentum

By the end of 30 days, everyone in your organization should:

• Understand why you are investing in Gen AI

• Have access to a paid, secure Gen AI tool

• Know how to use it safely and effectively

• See leadership modeling the behavior

Implementation Checklist

1. Set a clear outcome. Define one measurable goal for AI in your operation. Example: “Reduce project reporting time by 25% this quarter.” Keep it visible.

2. Get everyone access. Stop using free tools. Pay for a secure Gen AI platform like ChatGPT Enterprise, Claude, or Copilot. Access drives usage.

3. Write the “Why of AI.” Create a one-page memo explaining why this matters. Tie it to business performance. Example: “We use Gen AI to cut waste, improve speed, and make smarter decisions.”

4. Publish a real AI policy. Make it specific. What’s safe to upload. What’s restricted. How to store AI outputs. Remove guesswork so people feel confident using it.

5. Train at scale. Run a 45-minute onboarding for every employee. Walk through five core use cases. Give templates they can try in real time.

6. Certify 25–50% of employees. Choose a training program and track completions. Publicly recognize top learners.

7. Launch it like a campaign. Hold a company-wide kickoff where you share your “Why,” show early examples, and set expectations.

8. Start weekly AI wins. Every all-hands or team meeting, ask “What did Gen AI save you time on this week?” Visibility drives momentum.

This first month is about speed and saturation. People can’t adopt what they don’t see.

Next 60 Days: Systems, Metrics, and Ownership

By the end of 90 days, you should:

• Know how often people use Gen AI and for what

• Have team leaders building their own adoption plans

• Have AI woven into existing operations, not sitting on the sidelines

Implementation Checklist

1. Measure usage. Pull analytics from your Gen AI tool or send a two-minute survey: “How often are you using Gen AI, and what for?” Use data, not assumptions.

2. Create a sharing rhythm. Host monthly 30-minute “AI Wins + Lessons” sessions. No slides. Just people showing real use cases and outcomes.

3. Build an internal use case library. Capture every example of time saved, errors reduced, or insights gained. Store it in Notion, Confluence, or Google Drive so anyone can search it.

4. Develop AI Champions. Identify your 5–10 power users. Give them visibility. Let them lead trainings, answer questions, and publish examples.

5. Open a collaborative channel. Create a dedicated space in Slack or Teams called #genai-hub. Encourage people to post prompts, results, and lessons daily.

6. Integrate with performance. Work with HR or department heads to include AI skills in development plans. If it’s not measured, it’s optional.

7. Push ownership to team leads. Ask each manager to build a “Team AI Plan” listing two workflows they will automate or enhance this quarter. Review it in one-on-ones.

8. Audit the blockers. Find out who still isn’t using it and why. The fix is usually one of three things: fear, friction, or lack of clarity. Address each directly.

By day 90, the goal isn’t hype. It’s habit.

People use AI daily because it makes their work faster, clearer, and better, not because it’s trendy.

How I Keep It Going After 90 Days

This is where most companies fail. Adoption fades when leadership moves on.

Here’s how I lock it in:

1. Make Gen AI a standing topic in team reviews.

2. Ask for one “AI efficiency win” per month from every function.

3. Tie at least one KPI per department to automation or process improvement.

4. Add AI competency to promotion and bonus criteria.

5. Keep sharing results publicly. Nothing spreads faster than visible wins.

What’s Happening

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The Briefing: Reader’s Question

Q: “I’ve rolled out Gen AI access across my company, but usage is flat. People say they’re too busy or don’t know what to use it for. How do I get real traction?”

A: Giving people access isn’t adoption. You have to remove friction and create social proof.

Here’s how I fix that fast:

1. Seed examples. Create 5 short videos showing how real employees used Gen AI to save time or improve work. Post one per week internally.

2. Enforce minimum use. Ask everyone to identify one recurring task they’ll automate this month. Make it public.

3. Tie it to performance. Managers review AI use in weekly one-on-ones. Ask: “How did AI make your work easier this week?”

4. Reward behavior. Give public shoutouts or small bonuses for the best time savings. Visibility and reward beat policy every time.

5. Kill blockers fast. If compliance or IT slows it down, fix that in days, not weeks. Bureaucracy kills momentum faster than bad tech.

Once people see time savings in their own workflow, adoption goes exponential. Curiosity turns into muscle memory.

Cheat Sheet Vault

p.s… As promised, click below for my free cheat sheet and infographic vault.

👉 Access the Vault Here

Until next time,
Justin

✍️ From the Desk of Justin Bateh, PhD
Real-world tactics. No fluff. Just what works.