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AI and Machine Learning

3 ways to strengthen your new gen AI muscles

January 23, 2025
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Tony Majewski

Google Workspace Growth Strategy and Solutions, Americas Lead

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As with any new muscle, using gen AI can feel awkward at first. But time, repetition, and the right coaching can help anyone build strength and confidence in their skills.

As we saw in 2024, gen AI has massive potential to boost creativity and efficiency at work. But you’ll never see those gains if you and your team don’t build your new gen AI muscles through practice. Old routines might be more comfortable, but growth requires taking on new challenges.  

More than any other new tech, gen AI is a tool best learned by doing. Thoughtful experimentation uncovers the innovative potential of AI, allowing organizations to leverage new tech and move beyond old routines that can slow innovation.  

Here’s a crash course on how to help your team — and yourself — navigate the gen AI learning curve. 

1. Foster a culture of experimentation

Experiments are the key to getting the best results from AI, so encourage your team to get their hands dirty! And experiments are for users of all levels — when people feel supported to experiment, the whole organization benefits.  

Accepting that experiments don’t always go as planned is an important part of this approach — but so is learning from them. When you analyze why an experiment “failed,” you can find places for more exploration and gain knowledge that you can use in future experiments. It’s also important to account for unpredictability when choosing the right projects for gen AI experimentation. Leaders can guide their teams with these early decisions. For example, it’s riskier to experiment with a time-sensitive client report than it is with an internal presentation.  

The bottom line is that a lack of experimentation will hold you back more than any “failed” experiment could. And when people don’t feel comfortable trying new and maybe better ways of working, they just won’t — limiting the growth of themselves, their team, and the organization.

2. Learn by doing

You can’t teach someone to ride a bike by explaining it. As with any skill, getting better takes hands-on, repeated practice — and the same goes for building your gen AI muscles.  

It can be tempting to try to fully integrate gen AI as fast as possible — but it’s worth taking a strategic approach. Investing in your team with hands-on opportunities like workshops and interactive educational courses sets everyone up for success. Make sure AI training is both high level — covering how it works for non-engineers — and practical, like when to use it and what makes a good prompt.

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Training gives your team a jump-start on building important gen AI skills

Instructional training is necessary when adopting gen AI as it can save new users time and frustration. But it’s only the first step in a longer gen AI journey. Hands-on independent exploration is the next big building block.  

Once the team has the basics, set aside time to encourage the low-pressure exploration that builds skills. That might involve baking AI use directly into low-risk tasks like brainstorms. For example, ask everyone to bring five ideas and images created with Gemini to inspire your next product launch. 

3. Learn from each other 

When people learn together, they learn more, faster — and have more fun doing it.  

Learning together goes beyond sharing tips on a specific tool. Your team can exchange problem-solving approaches that can deepen their understanding of the technology.   

  • Organize weekly groups for learners to share successes and troubleshoot issues.   

  • Have teams create collaborative, ongoing documents containing FAQs, use cases, and standout prompts.   

  • Gamify the process with “Prompt of the Week” to drive excitement.   

  • Use Google Vids to share examples.   

Lean on your organization’s gen AI champions to share their strategies and thoughts.

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Sharing ways of completing tasks makes building AI skills easier, faster, and more fun.

Leaders can model community learning by turning to more experienced gen AI users with questions and being open about their learning process, including the mistakes. Make it normal to ask for help — it can help team members share when they’ve hit a snag and feel comfortable getting support.   

Build your gen AI skills — together     

Whether your team’s already racing down the path to mastering gen AI or just taking first steps, give them opportunities for practice, experimentation, and community learning to help them make the most of the new tech. The right leadership can make the difference between getting that necessary practice and benefiting from gen AI, or getting stuck without knowing how to improve.  

As with any new muscle, using gen AI can feel  awkward at first. But time, repetition, and the right coaching can help anyone build strength and confidence in their skills.

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