Give your team time to learn AI, not just a licence

Giving someone access to an AI tool is not the same as helping them use it well. For owners and managers of small and mid-sized businesses, I believe that distinction deserves more attention than the choice of tool.

My concern with a licences-first approach is that it leaves too much to chance. You might get a few enthusiasts who keep experimenting, alongside colleagues who try once, get an unhelpful answer and stop. I would not read that as a lack of interest or ability. I would first ask whether people had enough time, guidance and permission to learn.

My advice is simple: put a small, regular slot in the diary. Try one hour a week for a few weeks. Protect it as working time, rather than suggesting people squeeze it in after everything else. If learning matters to the business, I believe it belongs in the working day.

Before the first session, agree the house rules. Be clear about which tools people may use, what information they must not enter and which outputs need checking or approval. I would start with a straightforward boundary: no confidential business information or personal data in practice exercises. Uncertainty about what is allowed should not become another task for each employee to solve alone.

Then work on real but low-risk tasks from people's own jobs. Someone could turn a non-sensitive meeting agenda into a clearer draft, improve a routine internal message or organise a set of general ideas. I would avoid consequential decisions and anything intended to go straight to a customer without review. The aim is to practise, compare and check—not to prove that AI can do everything.

Leave time for people to share what happened. What instruction helped? What answer missed the point? What did the AI get wrong? In my view, a confidently incorrect response is worth discussing, not hiding. Learning to spot a weak answer matters as much as learning to produce a polished one.

Managers should take part, too. I believe it sends the right message when a manager asks a basic question or admits that an attempt did not work. Make these sessions a place to learn together, not an informal competition to find the office AI expert.

Keep the useful prompts and examples in one shared place, with a short note explaining the task, what needed changing and what still required a human check. I would rather have a small collection people understand than a large library nobody knows how to use.

Devmojos helps businesses adopt AI, and I believe adoption is mostly about people learning together, not about the tool. Buy the licences if they serve a purpose. But give people the time to discover that purpose in their own work.