Playbooks: how to apply it
Playbook: getting your team to use AI
For companies that bought AI tools and notice only a few people use them. Research from 2026 keeps showing the same thing: whether AI pays off depends more on how you introduce it than on which tool you choose. Five steps that put people first.
Sound familiar?
- Everyone has a licence, but two colleagues use it.
- People use their own AI accounts, and nobody knows what they paste into them.
- Time was saved, but nobody can say where it went.
Step 1. Ask your people which work they want to hand over
Start with your colleagues' work. Ask which tasks they would most like to hand over and which they want to keep. In a Stanford study of 1,500 workers, people wanted almost half of their tasks automated. The main reason was having time left for more valuable work. Start with those tasks.
Step 2. Let the people who do the work help build it
In 2026, the Dutch research institute TNO studied how four organisations introduced AI. The lesson: closely involve the people from the core process in development and introduction. Their tasks change the most. Work can become more complex, more varied or more monotonous.
Step 3. Have leaders lead by example
In 2026, Microsoft asked twenty thousand knowledge workers in ten countries, including the Netherlands, what makes the difference. Culture, manager support and ways of working weighed more than twice as heavily as what individuals do themselves. Where managers visibly use AI, employees trust it more. Gallup saw something similar in the United States: people with active manager support are 1.7 times as likely to use AI a few times a week or more.
Step 4. Train, and keep training
Since 2 February 2025, every organisation using AI must make sure its people know enough about it. The Dutch Data Protection Authority adds that the knowledge needed depends on where you use AI and what the risks are. BCG's research shows only 36 percent feel properly upskilled. So record per application what someone needs to be able to do, and what may and may not go into an AI tool. According to ABN AMRO, only 9 percent of Dutch SMEs have a formal policy for that.
Step 5. Agree what happens with the time saved
According to TNO, time savings do not automatically lead to higher productivity. It depends on what you do with the time freed up. BCG found that two thirds of employees get little or no direction on it. Agree per team where the time goes: more customers, better work, or less overtime. Check after a month whether that happens.
What it costs
Mostly time from managers and from the people who do the work. Weigh that against what the licences that now go unused cost each month.
Frequently asked questions
What if people fear AI will take over their work?
Take that concern seriously and make concrete which work changes. Start with tasks people want to hand over themselves. Then AI takes work off their hands that they do not enjoy.
Should everyone get the same training?
No. What someone needs to know depends on the work and the risks. Someone working with customer data needs different agreements than someone having texts checked.
Read on
In this series
Sources
- TNO: AI biedt productiviteitswinst, gevolgen voor werknemer zijn belangrijk · Onderzoek bij vier organisaties, 10 juni 2026
- BCG AI at Work 2026: why strategy matters more than tools · Ongeveer 12.000 respondenten, 3 juni 2026
- Microsoft Work Trend Index 2026: agents, human agency and the opportunity for every organization · 20.000 kenniswerkers in 10 landen, waaronder Nederland, 5 mei 2026
- Gallup: Global Indicator, AI in the workplace · Meting mei 2026, werknemers in de VS
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: AI-geletterdheid · Verplicht sinds 2 februari 2025
- ABN AMRO: mkb niet klaar voor nieuwe digitale risico's · 777 Nederlandse organisaties, juni 2026
- Stanford: Future of Work with AI Agents · 1500 werknemers in 104 beroepen, juni 2025
Our approach
From advice to management, with one partner
The same rhythm for every project.
Advice
We start with a conversation, not with code. First clarity on what you need and what you do not.
Build
We build and integrate to measure, with technology that fits you. You own your data and your code.
Manage
We stay involved: monitoring, adjusting and growing with your business.
Which work does your team want to hand over?
Call us and we will go through step 1 with your team.
Call 085 083 5775A 30-minute intake