Driving AI integration through change management

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries and societal norms, the Department of National Defence (DND) and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have recognized the need to integrate AI into their operations. 

The DND/CAF’s Artificial Intelligence strategy aims to make the organization AI-enabled by 2030, a goal that requires significant organizational change at all levels. Although there are many potential benefits of incorporating AI, including optimizing processes and services, enhancing productivity and efficiency, and lowering costs to name a few, there are also significant challenges that need to be managed for successful adoption and benefits realization.

Their strategy is built around five core lines of effort: 1) fielding and employing AI capabilities, 2) change management, 3) ethics, safety, and trust, 4) talent and training, and 5) partnerships.i The strategy emphasizes the need to modernize in order to maintain operational advantages and meet emerging security challenges. It acknowledges that AI is not a standalone technology, but rather part of a broader digital transformation that requires a shift in organizational culture, processes, and workforce capabilities.

Whether an organization is in the public or private sector, initiating change management practices at the start of an AI-enablement journey is critical to success. Many transformation initiatives fail due to the absence of effective change management. This failure is often attributed to unprepared leaders, conflicting agendas without a clear or compelling reason for change, a lack of ownership and capability among the workforce, and a misalignment of transformation goals.

In setting an AI strategy, it is important to align the organization around the objectives, ambition, and scale of change for AI-enablement, recognizing the need for supported, monitored, and managed change.

The next step is to conduct an AI maturity assessment of current levels of AI implementation and capacity to establish a baseline against which the success can be measured.

Organizations will also perform more detailed workforce assessments to provide a deeper understanding of the impact on roles, skills, and workflows.

For DND/CAF, this will be particularly important to help identify gaps early in the process, define new behaviours, and form the basis for planning and implementing change. This assessment should go beyond just capacity and current initiatives to define a detailed future state that is guided by the AI strategy and informed by organizational needs.

To foster trust and collaboration among employees and stakeholders, transparency is essential. DND/CAF must articulate the benefits of AI, address concerns, and provide regular updates on progress. This includes understanding which groups will be impacted the most and translating what the changes mean for them. The earlier employees are engaged in the process, the greater their buy-in and acceptance. It not only raises awareness but also creates ownership across the organization. This is necessary for all AI-enablement initiatives.

Change management cuts across all lines of effort and serves as a strategic enabler to ensure a seamless transition to new ways of working.

This is especially evident when looking at talent and training, the fourth line of effort within DND/CAF’s AI strategy.

Developing an AI-ready workforce is integral to the broader change management program as DND/CAF must identify and develop training requirements, strategy, and approach. As the DND/CAF define it, ‘Effective implementation of AI will require the right people with the right training in the right place at the right time.’ This includes upskilling and reskilling personnel, recruiting new talent to fill potential gaps, and ensuring teams have the motivation to work with AI technologies.

Implementation should be approached systematically, with pilot projects to test and refine AI applications before broader deployment. This approach minimizes risks by identifying and addressing issues in a controlled environment.

Scalability and interoperability are two important considerations for these projects. Can AI solutions be scaled across different units and operations? Can they be integrated with existing technologies and processes?

Concurrently, DND/CAF must ensure feedback loops are unbiased and representative to respond to issues.

This will help bridge the gap between the leadership team’s vision of the change and the staff who are most affected by it.

Feedback mechanisms – algorithms that allow AI models to become more accurate over time – also provide valuable insights into the attitudes and concerns of different stakeholders and allow for mitigation strategies based on an understanding of their needs.

The ability to be agile and address issues as they arise will be important in ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget.

The success of DND/CAF’s AI strategy hinges on its people.

A strong human-centric change management approach will develop a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement and support other digital transformation initiatives by fostering a positive environment for change holistically. Sustaining the changes will take ongoing support, monitoring, and adjustments to ensure new capabilities are fully integrated into operations and delivering the expected benefits.