Someone on your team is better at AI than you

Someone on your team is probably better at AI than you are, and they haven't mentioned it. They've been using it for months, and the prompts that work are saved somewhere you've never seen.

In a lot of the businesses I work with, there's one person like this. They've been using ChatGPT or Claude since they came out, and they've quietly worked out which jobs it's good at.

Meanwhile the owner thinks AI has to start with them. So it sits on their desk behind the VAT return and the staff rota, and nothing moves for months.

AI moves much faster when it starts with the person who's already on it.

So find out who that is. Ask everyone three things: what do you use AI for, what's worked, and what do you wish it could do. Make it clear nobody's in trouble for answering, because some of them are using tools you haven't signed off yet.

Then give your most enthusiastic person two hours a week and one job to improve. Keep it small enough to finish, like the weekly quote follow-ups or the meeting notes nobody writes up.

Once a fortnight, have them show the rest of the team what they did. People pick things up faster from a colleague sitting beside them than from an instruction from the boss.

You still decide which tools are allowed and what never goes into them, client data above all. Your job as the owner is to decide where AI goes and clear the way for the person who's best at it.

Your AI lead might already be on the payroll, and the only thing they're waiting for is permission.