Pilots without a plan
Every department is trying something. None of it scales, because nobody looks at the whole picture.
For management and the leadership team · 4 to 12 people
In the morning every leader builds AI assistants themselves and discovers the possibilities and potential along the way. In the afternoon the plan takes shape: where the company stands, what the roadmap looks like, which rules apply, how the budget is allocated.
From pilot to plan in one day. The morning removes the hesitation, the afternoon puts the decisions on one page that fits into the next advisory board or shareholder meeting.
The playbook
From rollouts in mid-sized businesses and large corporations. Each field comes with observations that your leadership team marks on the day as “applies to us” or “doesn't apply to us”.
Employees are often further ahead with AI than their managers. Fear costs money. Leaders who work with AI themselves and show it find followers; orders find none.
Access to a tool does not mean it gets used. Under 16 hours of real training, little changes. Learning time is working time. The ten per cent of pioneers in the company move the seventy per cent in the middle.
Chatting with AI is the starting point. Value comes when employees build their own assistants. That is why training is role-specific: sales, finance and operations each work on their own tasks.
Rules on one page, using a traffic light: green anyone may do without approval, amber needs a quick check, red a thorough one. Success is measured in days to decision. GDPR is a question of setup, not an obstacle.
Most AI projects fail because of the data, not the AI. First the concrete use case, then the big data strategy. Data must be clean, permanently available and up to date.
Ten per cent for the AI itself, twenty per cent for technology and data, seventy per cent for people, processes and culture. Most budgets are split the other way round, and that is exactly why pilot projects fail.
Sound familiar?
Three pilots are running, none knows about the others. One employee uses private accounts, IT bans everything, and management is expected to have an answer by the next meeting.
Every department is trying something. None of it scales, because nobody looks at the whole picture.
Decision-makers are expected to decide on AI budgets without expert knowledge.
No approval rule, no list of permitted tools. So everyone uses whatever they like, or out of caution nothing at all.
You bring your challenges.
We work on them live.
No off-the-shelf examples: in the course you create prompts, assistants and agents for exactly the tasks that cost your company time.
Afterwards
Every leader has built their own assistant and knows first-hand what a prompt, an assistant and an agent are.
The plan on one page: where the company stands with AI, which three processes are tackled first, which rules apply, what the timeline looks like in waves, how the budget is allocated (10 per cent AI, 20 per cent technology and data, 70 per cent people and processes) and who is responsible for what.
Answers to the four objections that sound the same in every company: “legally unclear”, “no time”, “we have the tools, but”, “nobody helps”. One answer each, with a deadline.
A next step that fits: the Team Programme for the workforce, an implementation project for one of the three processes or interim support (CAIO on demand).
What happens on the day
The agenda below is the standard case. A short questionnaire to the leadership team in advance decides which observations and which processes take centre stage.
How your leadership team ticks: a short model of four behavioural styles (DISC), then the same decision in four versions. Understanding AI models: platforms, classes, terms, in thirty minutes. Then every leader uses a fixed kit to build an assistant for one of their own routines: preparing for a client meeting, the weekly report, a paper for the advisory board. Once you have built one, you decide differently.
The three levels chat, assistants, agents and the 10 / 20 / 70 budget question. Five fields, twenty observations, the leadership team marks what applies. Three rounds: where is value created first, what is holding us back, what has to be right so that it reaches everyone. The rules for AI use in the company, by traffic light, written by the team itself. Then the plan on one page, in your company's style.
Every leader names one task they will visibly do with AI from Monday. In the follow-up call we clarify which next step fits: a programme for the workforce, an implementation project for one process or interim support.
A 20-minute intro call. We talk about maturity, running pilots and the question the advisory board asked. If the workshop is not the right fit, we will tell you.
Your trainer
Florian Pagel has advised companies on digital projects for more than 30 years, first in marketing for brands such as Google, Nike and Montblanc, today on introducing AI in mid-sized businesses and large corporations. With Hello White Parrot he builds assistants, agents and automations together with teams and trains around 200 people a year, always on their own tasks.
He created the AI programme unlocktomorrow.ai and founded the AI coaching academy Solo-Helden for solo self-employed professionals. He is also the author of “Der KI-Knigge: Authentisch trifft Agentisch” (with Vivian Hecker, BoD 2026): how we stay human when the machine works alongside us. His principle in both roles: results you can apply right away.
Price
We charge the leadership format by effort: one day, one team, one outcome. Preparation with a questionnaire, materials, the one-pager as an editable document and the follow-up call are included; on site, travel costs are added. We discuss the price in the intro call, based on the size of the group and the format (one day or two half days).
FAQ
Yes, that is the core of the morning. Once you have built an assistant, you talk differently about budgets, risks and timelines. It takes forty minutes and needs no prior knowledge.
A document for the advisory board or shareholders: where the company stands with AI, which three processes come first, which rules apply, what the timeline looks like in waves, how the budget is allocated and who is responsible for what. It is created in the afternoon, in your company's style, as an editable document.
Two half days one to two weeks apart have an advantage: between building and planning, everyone uses their assistant in daily work. One day is more compact and easier to schedule. Both work.
The rules the leadership team writes are the beginning of the AI policy. They contain no performance monitoring. On request we present the outcome to your employee representatives and your data protection officer.
Three paths, with a recommendation in the intro call: the Team Programme for the whole workforce, an implementation project for one of the three processes or interim support as CAIO on demand.
Yes, as two half days remote works well. Building the assistant happens on screen anyway, and planning runs on a shared whiteboard.
Next step
Tell us how big the leadership team is and what the advisory board asked. You will receive an email with a confirmation link. We will then get back to you within one working day with suggested dates.
Name, email and one sentence about your topic. Then an email with a confirmation link. We only see your enquiry after you click it.
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