When teams learn by doing, AI stops feeling abstract and starts driving real behavior change, from higher usage to stronger everyday skills.
Like Rome, AI confidence isn’t built in a day.
Many people are intrigued by AI, but knowing where to start can be overwhelming. Early adopters dive in, eager to master new technology, while others approach with trepidation or fear.
Most people fall somewhere in between. As AI becomes more embedded at work, getting everyone comfortably on the same page is essential.
Recently, the People Team ran a series of AI workshops. Their hypothesis? Participants would feel more confident using AI and uncover creative ways to innovate the way they work.
- 22% of participants reported feeling more confident using Rovo to start or draft pages.
- Weekly use of our Rovo AI chat product increased by 24%
- 33% felt more confident using agents.
- And 98% of attendees would recommend the workshop to a colleague.
This wasn’t just a temporary bump in usage, either. AI workshops spark innovation, drive results, and turn team members into AI advocates.
How AI workshops create confident teams
Real breakthroughs happens when teams learn and experiment together – especially through hands-on, role- and task-specific workshops.
What truly moves the needle is practical, interactive learning that’s tailored to the actual work people do. In our recent workshops, teams practiced with real use cases relevant to their roles. After these workshops, their confidence and adoption soared.
This hands-on approach creates what we call the AI Learning Loop. As teams gain confidence through practice, they’re more likely to keep experimenting, share lessons, and help adoption spread.
The real change happens when teams move beyond static knowledge hubs or passive trainings to active, collaborative learning.
How to run AI workshops for everyone
To test the efficacy of AI Workshops, the Teamwork Lab invited 250 People Team members to a hands-on workshop called “AI for the People Team.”
Instead of feeling lost or overwhelmed, attendees got to see real AI use cases and try it out themselves. Here are some ways to build workshops that inspire real AI confidence.
Identify your AI champions
If you were a parent looking to master your toddler’s tablet, you’ll probably turn to the pro – even if the “pro” is still in diapers.
Take the same approach when it comes to identifying an AI champion.
As you start planning your AI Training Workshop, choose one leader who can serve as a sponsor. Next, choose at least one person within your department who can serve as the resident champion. They won’t necessarily be the most senior person, and that’s great!
Collaborating with leaders and peers to nominate champions tends to result in greater engagement, especially over the long term.
Unlock learning goals to create an agenda
With uneven adoption, knowing where to start is key to success. Before the workshop, create an agenda that aligns with your goals for your team.
Some AI goals might include:
- Participants are familiar with the AI tools available to them
- Participant understand specific, relevant ways to use AI for their specific jobs
- Participants know the basics of how to use approved AI tool(s) to elevate productivity and success
Once your goals are in place, creating a workable agenda should be pretty straightforward. The challenge – especially when centering AI confidence – will be meeting every participant where they are.
Create an environment where every team member can follow along and ask questions as they arise.
Sample Agenda
- An introduction from your sponsor and/or leader
- An opening survey using a basic tool like a Google form, Zoom survey, Typeform, or Qualtrics to gauge baseline confidence
- A walkthrough of 2-3 high-priority use cases for your AI tool(s): one basic, one intermediate, and/or one more advanced
- An interactive activity to encourage hands-on practice in a fun, engaging way
- A closing survey completed before the Q&A to gauge participants’ change in confidence using your AI tool(s)
- Q&A
- A closing from your sponsor and/or leader
Once a draft is ready, share it with your champions to get their feedback and make changes where needed.
Also, collaborate with the facilitator to ensure they are familiar with the material and feel confident delivering the workshop. Doing a practice run shortly before the session helps minimize issues.
Try a Goldilocks-style walk-through
When in doubt, take the Goldilocks approach. When building the workshop, make sure to run through basic, intermediate, and advanced use cases for AI. This approach familiarizes each team member with levels of AI proficiency.
Basic exercise
Start with your most basic AI use case. For example, for Atlassian users, the first use case could be using AI within Confluence to improve the writing of a simple paragraph.
Apply a “show, then do” approach, where the facilitator shows attendees how to complete a task or workflow first, and then they do it themselves. The facilitator(s) can walk around the room or visit virtual breakout rooms to answer questions and provide hands-on support.
Intermediate exercise
Next, repeat the same “show then do” approach for an intermediate use case.
For Atlassian users, this might be using Rovo Search or Rovo Chat to write, read, review, or create things the same way you might ask a real person.
Again, the facilitator(s) can walk around the room or visit virtual breakout rooms to answer questions and provide hands-on support.
Advanced exercise
Finally, repeat the same approach for a more advanced use case.
For Atlassian users, this could be using a Rovo Agent that’s relevant to their work (either an out-of-the-box agent or a custom agent built by someone on the team).
The facilitator(s) can walk around the room or visit virtual breakout rooms to answer questions and provide hands-on support and guidance.
Make room to play
What’s a workshop without a little dedicated time to play? Interactive activities and games keep people engaged and help them practice new skills.
Here are a few ideas to get your team in play mode while they experiment with AI:
- AI scavenger hunt: Give participants a list of tasks to complete using your AI tools (e.g., “Find the answer to X using Rovo Search,” “Rewrite a paragraph in a new tone,”). The first team or individual to complete all tasks wins a small prize.
- Prompt showdown: Divide the group into teams. Each team is given a challenge (e.g., “Draft a catchy announcement,” “Summarize a complex document,”). Teams craft their best AI prompt and share the results.
- AI vs. human: Pick a simple task (e.g., writing a meeting summary, creating a checklist, or drafting an email). Have one person do it manually and another use the AI tool. Discuss what worked best and why.
- Prompt improv: Start with a basic prompt (e.g., “Summarize this article”). Each round, teams add a twist (“Make it funny,” “Use only bullet points,” “Tailor it for executives”). See how the AI adapts and discuss how prompt tweaks change the results.
- “Stump the AI” challenge: Invite participants to come up with the trickiest question or task they can think of for the AI. Discuss what the AI did well or where it struggled.
Ready to boost your team’s AI confidence?
Curious about what a hands-on AI workshop could do for your team? Start small to build confidence.
Choose a few practical use cases, invite your team to experiment, and see what happens. Don’t forget to set some working agreements to keep everyone on the same page.
Who knows? You might just close your own unexpected AI confidence gap. Check out the play.
Meeting people where they are is one of the best ways to open everyone to fearless learning. Hands-on workshops build trust, spark curiosity, and help teams set shared expectations for how they’ll use AI.
If you’re rolling out new tools, invest in practical training and encourage a culture of experimentation.
