35. 4 Remarkable Ways AI Accelerates Your Team’s Growth + How to Implement it Effectively

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Join me on the Season 3 finale of The Impact Ripple podcast as I wrap up our AI Series! 

In this episode, we’re taking a look at 4 remarkable benefits of integrating AI into your small business in a way that will leverage your team’s full potential and accelerate their growth.

The good news is that AI isn't just for big corporations – it can significantly enhance productivity and customer service for small businesses like ours, too!

AI can lead to higher employee satisfaction and well-being by reducing workloads and allowing our people to focus on more meaningful tasks. But thoughtful implementation is key to success.

We’ll talk about how AI can enhance productivity with your team and you’ll learn the essential considerations for implementing AI to maximize team member buy-in and support.

Finally, I share crucial insights into creating foolproof AI policies to protect the business and dream team you’ve worked so hard to build, ensuring compliance with regulations, and fostering a culture of trust and accountability.

As we wrap up this powerful AI series, I want to encourage you to consider the positive impact ripples a proactive AI strategy could have on your business’s growth and success and how it can lead to more meaningful and impactful work for your whole team. 

In this episode, you’ll:

• Discover how AI can supercharge your small business by boosting productivity, empowering your team, and making work more enjoyable.

• Learn practical tips for introducing AI thoughtfully, like involving your team in decision-making and providing them with the support they need to succeed.

• Find out how to create foolproof AI policies that protect your business and team while keeping things clear and fair for everyone.

• Get insights into the collaboration between legal experts and HR pros in crafting these policies, ensuring they're in line with your business values and goals.

• Join me in envisioning a future where AI is a positive force for growth and success in your business, while also being mindful of ethical and regulatory considerations.

Mentioned in This Episode: 

• TIR Ep. 32: How to Leverage AI as Your Tech Teammate with Abby Herman

• TIR Ep. 33: BIPOC-Centered AI: A Critical Look at Inclusivity with Ajia Allen

• TIR Ep. 34: Using AI? How to Legally Protect Your Small Business with Brittany Ratelle

• Website: www.sprouthr.co 

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sprouthr.co

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sprouthr.co

• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyncox 

• Book a Free Call: www.sprouthr.co/call 

Transcription for Episode # - TITLE

Ashley Cox (she/her) (00:00.922)

Welcome to the Impact Ripple podcast, the go-to source for hiring and leadership made simple, doable, and fun for visionary female business owners. I'm your host, Ashley Cox, author, certified HR expert, and founder of Sprout HR. And I believe that you don't have to change who you are to be a great leader, because you already are one.

Join me as we kiss uncertainty and overwhelm goodbye and say hello to the tools and support you need to grow a profitable, sustainable, impactful team with more confidence and ease. On today's episode, I'm wrapping up our AI series with a solo show, where we're gonna be talking about the four biggest benefits small business owners experience when using AI with their teams.

Then we'll discuss the key considerations for implementing AI thoughtfully with your team, and we'll wrap it up with how to craft some foolproof policies to protect you and your business. 

Let's start off with those four benefits of using AI with your team. 

First of all, AI can greatly enhance your team's productivity by automating repetitive tasks, streamlining processes, and providing valuable insights to guide your decision-making. There are AI-powered tools that help facilitate communication and project management, as well as knowledge sharing among your team members, regardless of where they're located. And when used effectively, AI can automate those tedious, time-consuming tasks, which will free you and your team up for higher level creative tasks that only us humans can do. And don't we all wanna tap into the brilliance of the people that we hired to work for in our companies? I know I do. Number two, AI can help you upskill and develop your team members. There are a vast amount of AI programs and workshops and online courses that can really help you and your team members understand AI concepts and applications that are relevant to their roles.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (02:15.074)

So consider asking your team members to research which AI tools they feel like would support them in their work and then offer to cover all or part of that training as a professional development perk or a stipend, depending on your budget, of course. This is a great way to keep your team members engaged, give them opportunities to grow and learn and do different things in your business. And an engaged employee will stay with your company longer. 

So if you've been worried about turnover or worried about losing employees to other careers or other opportunities, this is a fantastic way to keep your team learning and growing with you. The third biggest benefit that I've seen is that AI can significantly improve employee satisfaction and well-being, which directly impacts productivity and retention. AI-powered tools and initiatives balance or what we like to call it, Sprout HR, work-life harmony. It can help reduce burnout and support mental health and wellness in the workplace. 

And this is all because it helps us to reduce our workloads, take those lower level tasks off of our plates and frees us up to work on more fulfilling and more meaningful tasks and projects. And finally, the fourth biggest benefit that I've seen is that AI can help your team deliver better customer service. As we all know, customer service is absolutely crucial for small business success. And AI solutions can improve the quality and the efficiency of your customer support through tools like chat bots, virtual assistants, and personalized recommendation tools. 

When customers have support for those in the moment, day-to-day questions and needs through smart and sophisticated tools, that means they are going to get a higher level support that they crave and deserve when something more challenging rears its head. Because if we have these AI tools supporting customers with those frequently asked questions or frequently experienced challenges, that means our team, our human team, gets to focus more of their time and attention to solving some of those bigger problems. Just don't make it impossible to get in touch with a real human in your business. 

Ashley Cox (she/her) (04:39.57)

We've probably all seen the downsides or been the victim of or too much automation. Just remember, when we're implementing these AI tools, it should support our business, support our customers, support our team, not drive us all batty. And there are many long-term positive impacts, as well as potential implications of AI adoption for your team and business.

And many business owners that I've talked to want to understand how integrating AI in their business will impact their team dynamics, their company culture, and their overall business strategy in the long run. That's why it's so important for us to be really thoughtful about our approach to using AI tools in our businesses as soon as possible and as proactively as possible. And that's one of the reasons that I decided to host this AI series.

Having a roadmap for AI adoption and implementation, communication with your team, guidance for your team, as well as making sure that it aligns with your goals and values is so critical for long-term success and sustainability with your team and your business. So let's talk about some of those key considerations for implementing AI with your small business team.

The first is that we need to really identify the business needs and goals. Before implementing AI, it's really important to clearly define those specific needs and goals that AI can help you address. AI is not gonna be the solution to every problem or every challenge or every creative endeavor, but there are always opportunities where we have gaps that we can fill in with AI tools and ways to free our team members up to do more important, more meaningful and more impactful work. 

So whether it's improving productivity, enhancing the customer service experience or overall optimizing your operations, understanding these objectives will guide the selection and implementation of AI solutions in your business.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (06:41.686)

So for more on this, be sure to listen to the first episode in our AI series, which was episode 32 with Abby Herman from the content experience. I'll link up that in the show notes because in that episode, we cover the basics that small businesses need to consider before choosing and implementing various AI tools. And part of that consideration also includes which tools you'll want to use and the implications of those tools that they may have in your work, with your business, with your customers. 

And one of those considerations that was really important for me to cover in this series was how diverse and inclusive the AI tech is that you're using. So if you haven't tuned in to episode 33 yet, I explore this topic in much more detail with Aja Allen of Digiline Consulting. So you definitely don't wanna miss that conversation either. Okay, the second key consideration is involving employees from the start. Start talking to your team members early in the process of even thinking about using and implementing AI tools in your business. 

Ask for their input, address their concerns, and involve them in the decision-making process. Because our teams are one of the biggest sources of critical feedback we have since they're closest to the work that's being done every day. Involving them early on helps to foster buy-in, ownership, and collaboration, which all leads to a smoother implementation and adoption process. 

Next, provide training and support. Offer comprehensive training and support, or find a resource that does, kind of like what we mentioned just earlier, to help ensure that your team members have the necessary skills, training, and knowledge to effectively use the AI tools and technologies that you're implementing in your business. This again could include workshops, online courses, tutorials, hands-on training sessions. Maybe you hire an expert to come in and give you a crash course on a particular AI tool that's really tailored to what they're going to be doing with that tool and how they're going to be using it. Because when people are uncomfortable with the tools that they're using, they're less likely to use them.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (09:03.19)

Which means if you're investing money in these tools, you're not getting the best return on that investment possible. So if you're investing in AI tools and technology, invest in the training that goes along with that to support your team so that you can all maximize that opportunity together. Next, we wanna start small and scale gradually. I feel like I give this advice in almost every conversation that I have with clients and with business owners regarding anything in our businesses. 

Begin with pilot projects or small-scale implementations to test your AI solutions in real-world scenarios before rolling them out to the entire team or before committing fully that is going to be the end-all be-all tool. This really allows you to assess feasibility, identify any potential challenges or bottlenecks that might occur and refine your approach based on the feedback and outcomes. And again, this allows you to work collaboratively with your team so that they're also participating in the implementation, in the feedback process, making sure that they're getting comfortable with it, that their voices are being heard, and just creates an overall better experience for every person on the team.

Next, we want to promote a culture of experimentation and learning. This is an opportunity for us to be able to learn and grow together. A lot of times as business owners and leaders, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to know everything, have all the answers, be the one that's making decisions quickly and effectively. Sometimes it's really a wonderful thing for us to ourselves back into that experimentation, back into that learning role, back into not being the expert, because it creates a whole different level of vulnerability, of learning, of connection, and engagement with our team when we're all on the same playing field. 

Emphasize the importance of embracing these new technologies with your team, of experimenting with different approaches, and learning from both our successes and our failures to drive that continuous improvement and growth with your entire team. 

Ashley Cox (she/her) (11:18.894)

And be a part of it with them. Get in there with them and be part of experiencing success and failure and struggle and questions and challenges. Because when they see you in that role, it makes you more approachable, it makes you more human, and it reminds everybody that when we face these challenges, when we have a failure, that it's not the end of the game, that it's an opportunity for us to learn and grow and do better and that we can do that together. 

Next, we wanna encourage collaboration with your team. I've already kind of mentioned this a couple of times in some of the previous points, but being able to foster collaboration and communication amongst team members from different roles, different kind of jobs, different disciplines, different viewpoints or perspectives in your company can really help everybody see how we work together. 

When I use this tool, this is the way I use it in my job, but when you use this tool, you use it in a slightly different manner. That can really help teams communicate more effectively, understand each other's roles better, and identify how they can collaborate in different ways. These cross-functional conversations and teams working together on AI initiatives really helps us to leverage diverse perspectives and expertise that will drive that creativity and innovation and problem solving in our businesses, which we definitely want to build. 

Next, we want to measure and evaluate the impact. Establish some key performance indicators or KPIs or metrics to really be able to understand the impact of AI implementation on your business objectives. What's the before? What's the during? What's the after? If we're not tracking it, we don't know whether it's working or not, whether it's eliminating problems, creating new problems, shortening service delivery times, whatever the metric is in your business. Is this helping us improve, stay the same, or take a step back?

Ashley Cox (she/her) (13:35.978)

So regularly monitor and evaluate performance, gather feedback from your team members, and just really adjust your strategy as needed in order to achieve whatever those desired outcomes or results or goals were that you set forth when you decided, hey, I'm gonna try this new tool. Which leads me to the next point, which is be flexible and adaptable because the field of AI is constantly evolving. 

So it's essential to stay agile and adaptable and flexible in your approach. We wanna make sure we're keeping up with emerging trends. We wanna look at what technologies are available to us and how they might benefit or not benefit our business. And we wanna take a look at best practices. What are other folks doing? Like we mentioned in episode 32 with Abby Herman, how she is using these tools in her business might give you some sparks of ideas about how you might be able to use them in your business as well. 

And then of course, be prepared to iterate, to pivot your strategy, to seek out new opportunities, and to address challenges as they arise. And just like anything else in our businesses, implementation of a new tool is not necessarily going to be a seamless implementation of AI is not necessarily going to be a seamless process. We're going to have roadblocks. We're going to have challenges. 

We're going to encounter things that we didn't even consider right out of the gate. And that's what makes us better business owners. When we're paying attention, when we're asking our team for feedback and for input, when we're trying and we're iterating and we're adjusting, we just keep getting better and better and better. And so, of course, our teams grow because of that. We grow as leaders because of that. And our clients and customers benefit because we're not willing to settle for the status quo. 

But we're looking for ways to continue to serve and deliver our services and products better. And then finally, address ethical and regulatory considerations. Because we want to think about things such as data privacy, fairness, transparency, accountability and ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations, as well as taking proactive steps to mitigate biases and risks associated with the AI algorithms.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (15:49.438)

Again, I'll refer you back to episode 33 with Aja Allen. I'll drop the link in the show notes for creating more diverse and inclusive AI technology and how we can be proactive in our use of that technology, as well as our third episode, which was episode 34 with small business attorney Brittany Rattell, where we talked about how to get our legal ducks in a row and make sure that we're protecting our AI, our intellectual property, our businesses, our teams, make sure that we're implementing and doing everything we can to have a fair, effective AI policy and process in place. 

So finally, let's end this episode, this conversation, around our final point, which builds on what we were just talking about regarding ethical and regulatory considerations, but it takes it just a little bit of a different vein because this is our HR adjacent partner, which is protecting your business and team with foolproof AI policies. So policies aren't the same thing as laws, but the laws that govern AI and some of this technology use can be implemented and should be implemented into your policies. 

So this is where Brittany and I really partner. She brings in the legal expertise, I bring in the development of the policies and making sure that we're covering our bases to communicate our AI policies, our AI processes, our AI procedures effectively and clearly with our team members. And this really considers so many of those factors, you know, the clarity for our team members, fairness, making sure that we're in compliance, making sure that we have accountability, that we've got some guidelines in place.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (17:59.338)

I always like to think of policies as being, remember when you went bowling as a kid? and they would put in those bumper guards, right? They'd put them in the wells where the ball, I can't even remember what the name of the wells are, but they put these bumper guards in place, gutters, so that you didn't get a gutter ball, right? So when you rolled the ball down the lane, you had the bumper guards there that sat in the gutters to keep your ball from going in the gutter, so you could pretty much hit at least a pin or two every time you rolled the ball down the lane. 

Well, I want you to think about policies in the same way policies are your bumper guards or your gutter protections so that we can keep our team moving down the right path in the same direction without going off course and totally missing the mark. I just thought of that right as we were recording this conversation, okay? So I just wanna let you know that. But this is such a good analogy for how policies help guide and direct. 

They don't tell you every single way to throw the ball, they don't give you necessarily the technique for the wrist flick, they're not gonna guarantee that you're gonna get a strike every single time, but they're gonna give you a higher likelihood, a higher probability that we're gonna be on the right path, that we're all moving down that path together, and that the end goal is to knock the pins over at the end of the alley. 

So creating your AI policy should really clarify and highlight any of those ethical, legal, or compliance standards to which you are either held in requirement of, or as just a higher level of duty of business responsibility, right? 

And they should also identify the who, what, when, where, why, and how for strategic AI use in your company. And again, you're not gonna be able to cover every single scenario, outline every single potential outcome that could potentially happen, but they're going to give you a really good guideline for how your team implements and uses AI in your business. So while every AI policy will look a little bit different, most policies should include some version of the following elements. 

Ashley Cox (she/her) (20:15.87)

So number one, an overarching vision for AI use and growth in the business. So this is kind of the what. What is this? What are we doing? What does this align with? What's our goal here? What are we trying to do with this AI technology? 

Number two is how your use of AI aligns with and supports your vision, your values, and your goals. So the why. Why are we doing this? Why is this? In alignment with our values? Why does this support our vision? Why does this help us reach our goals? 

Number three is detailed information about regional, industry specific, and other relevant regulatory or compliance laws, as well as other ethical considerations. This is where you're gonna need help from your small business attorney. So this particular one is all about those legal compliance and regulatory requirements. 

Number four, is that you want to have a list of pre-approved AI tools and services that team members may use. So this is our what, what are we using? And this is really important, especially when we take a look at, you know, are there AI tools that are more inclusive than others? Are there AI tools that have a specific use in our industry, our niche, our particular role? 

Are there AI tools that we don't want to support or we don't want to use because maybe they've been problematic in the past. Maybe they're not the most effective tool. Maybe we're paying for one tool and we don't wanna pay for two tools and this first tool that we're already paying for has everything that we need. So really just being mindful of lining out these are the pre-approved company tools, AI tools that we can use. 

Number five, is to clearly define the roles and responsibilities related to AI usage. Maybe not everybody is using AI tools from the start. Maybe there's a certain couple of positions. Maybe there's a very specific way that those AI tools are being used. And even making sure that if there's a role where you're like, no, this is absolutely a creative role, you are not to use any sort of AI tool or technology in this position, that we're also clearly outlining this is not for this particular role.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (22:35.59)

Number six is to make sure that we have a process to ensure data privacy and security protocols. Again, your small business attorney can really support you with understanding what is required, what do you need to have in place, and how do you need to implement that and communicate that with your team? And again, this is the how, right? 

Number seven is a defined procedure for reporting and addressing AI performance and security issues. We wanna make sure before there's ever a problem that people know who to go to and how to communicate any sort of issues, performance, security breaches that may have happened in the company. This is one of those prepare for the worst case scenario and hope for the best, right? We want to make sure that we have a process and a policy in place so that way people are prepared. And then we hope to never have to use that. And again, that's a part of the how as well. 

And then finally, how to measure and track performance and effectiveness of AI tools. We gotta understand, you know, is this gonna be part of the overall company measurements and tracking? Is this gonna be part of individual performance review measurements and tracking? How do we know that we're winning? How do we know when this tool is creating more problems or creating more challenges or bottlenecks than the necessary or that we would want for it to create? We've gotta have some sort of indication as to whether this is working or not, and if it's not working, that's okay. 

Here's how we're going to address that, and here's how we're gonna move forward. And sometimes that may simply mean that we're gonna pause using that AI technology, or that we're gonna let it ride a little bit longer, and see if that problem persists, or if it corrects itself. Or maybe it's a training issue. When you know, here's what our goal is, here's where we are, we can really identify what is the challenge and what is the appropriate response to that challenge? 

It may simply mean this person's new to the team, our metrics were trending really great, now they're not, maybe this person might need some more training. So thinking through those eight areas of creating a detailed policy, it doesn't have to be 783 pages long, but we need to at least sufficiently address these major these major points so that way our whole team can be on the same page.

Ashley Cox (she/her) (24:56.594)

Because I promise you, 95% of the problems that I deal with when it comes to leaders and their teams come back to communication. And it's usually something wasn't communicated or it wasn't communicated clearly enough. And so by being thoughtful, by being proactive, by thinking through how we are going to use AI, what AI technology and tools we're going to use,

And making sure that we're in compliance with any laws or regulations or ethical considerations will help you to proactively avoid a lot of the problems and challenges that could potentially come up from implementing any kind of new technology or tool in your business. So we've certainly covered a lot today and throughout our whole entire AI series. So let's do a little recap.

In episode 32, I sat down with Abby Herman, Fractional CMO and founder of the Content Experiment to explore AI basics, share personal stories of how Abby and I are using AI in our own businesses, as well as practical tips that you can implement today, including Abby's genius process for writing standard operating procedures for herself and her team. 

In episode 33, Ajia Allen, digital strategist and principal owner of Digiline Consulting, joined me to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusivity in AI technology. We tackled bias head-on, shone a light on folks who are fighting for a more diverse AI landscape. And we talked about how we can be more proactive users to improve AI tools for everyone. 

In episode 34, Small Business Attorney Brittany Rattell, helped us to navigate the legal side of AI, from protecting your intellectual property to keeping your business on the right side of the law and reminding us that we are business owners and we need to own our business. And finally, today we covered the four major benefits of using AI with your team as a small business. 

Ashley Cox (she/her) (27:11.354)

The key considerations when implementing AI with your team and a guide to protecting your small business with proactive, foolproof policies. Before we wrap things up today, it is time for our favorite segment, Imagine the Impact, where we get to envision what it could look like for you to take action today. I want you to imagine the impact that a thoughtfully planned and proactive AI strategy could have on the way you and your team use AI in your business how you care for your customers, and how it will free you up to focus on higher level, more creative and more impactful work. AI is here to stay. As leaders, we need to keep an open mind to its potential use and impact in our businesses and with our teams. It's our responsibility to be proactive and consider how we might best leverage and use AI to create positive impact ripples in our businesses, our communities and our world. 

Thank you so much for tuning in to our AI series. While we've been using AI here at Sprout HR for about the last year or so, I've learned so many new things throughout the conversations I've had the pleasure of engaging in over the past few weeks with our incredible guests in this series. And I hope that you've learned something new and encouraging and inspiring too along the way.

This wraps up our season three. We're gonna be taking a short break to work on some other exciting projects, which I'll share about soon, and prepare for a season four, which I'm absolutely pumped about already. If you have an idea for a topic or a guest you'd love to hear on a future episode, please drop us a line and send us your suggestions to our team at hello at sprouthr.co, because I would love to hear from you and bring you conversations that are timely and important to you in your small business. 

And if you've been enjoying the show, we're three seasons in now, 35 episodes, which I'm so proud of for our whole team to be able to produce this kind of content and conversation and higher level discussions around things that are really important and relevant to business owners who are growing and scaling their teams. 

Ashley Cox (she/her) (29:36.374)

If you've been enjoying the show, we'd be oh so grateful if you left us a rating and review on your favorite podcast app, because this helps us support even more visionary female leaders just like you, and allows us to create an even bigger Impact Ripple together in the world. And with that, my friend, season three of the Impact Ripple podcast is a wrap. Thank you for tuning in today, dear leader. As always, it's an honor and a privilege to be here with and for you on your leadership journey.