‘I know our organization best’: The case for DIY AI training

Many companies facing the AI skills gap immediately reach for a list of vendors or training firms. Emily Teitelbaum, Libra Group’s chief communications officer, is taking the opposite approach — she’s rolling out the company’s AI education program herself, from C-suite presentations to companywide certifications.

“It’s a future-proofing plan,” Teitelbaum says. “I’m going to talk about it as a strategic imperative for our company to build efficiencies, and also something that can smooth the ice for the entire organization if done correctly.”

Getting buy-in from leaders
As CCO, Teitelbaum has seen the need for AI integration for some time but has had to overcome corporate pushback.

“There’s a knowledge gap across functions and individuals, around who understands AI and who doesn’t. It’s been hard for some to see that AI is a key differentiator for our people as well as their careers.”

In fact, less senior staffers have driven much of her focus on the need for Libra’s AI strategy. “I owe it to the junior people for the C-suite to recognize that AI is a differentiator in the market, and I feel a responsibility to do it now,” she says.

A step-by-step approach
Her plan is three-pronged: first training the executive chairman, then the executive team, and finally the company’s 2,000-plus employees.

“I want to be transparent about how AI makes us smarter and how execs can better drive efficiencies and work productivity. I’m going to show how to use it to store data, analyze issues, access the deep research function — tasks the execs might not think of that can give their team more bandwidth for strategy.

“The all-staff training will be more like, ‘Give me examples of duties you perform every day that you want to be optimized.’ There are all sorts of ways AI can help us be organized better, without having to allocate someone’s time.”

Although her team is already using AI and the company has an enterprise version of ChatGPT, communications staff will still be included in the all-hands training. “It’s a mixture of forcing staff to be smarter, think about how to work better, and how AI can fit into the process,” she notes.

Using AI for AI’s sake
Teitelbaum is practicing what she preaches, using ChatGPT to help develop her training program.

“It’s very important that Comms is leading and socializing AI, and in a proactive way. Not a lot of companies have the person in-house who can do this. But I have been immersed in this world, so I feel confident. I know our organization best and will also gut check my work with people once I’ve completed it.”

How to measure it all
She has also considered measurement from the start.

“In the beginning, results will be anecdotal, and then the KPI will be if the company is 100% trained: meaning, exposed to AI and informed about its value. Then we will put out a survey perhaps six weeks later asking how regularly employees are using AI and what other trainings they might need.

“It may be an ongoing process, where we then bring in an outside speaker or another expert to keep us up to date. I will also ask People Ops (HR) to include some of that measurement in annual evaluations so that it can be part of what’s required.”

The end goal: to position Libra not just as adopters of AI, but as champions of a smarter, more agile organization.

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