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- Want your AI transformation to stick? Start with people. Culture, learning and trust — not tech — make or break success.
This article was originally published on CIO.com by Metis Strategy Partner Chris Davis, Managing Director Tony Qamar, and Senior Associate Grace Cozier.
CIOs are under pressure to deliver on AI’s promise. Yet history shows that many digital transformations have underdelivered — not because of strategy, process or technology, but because of people. Without engaged, enabled and aligned employees, even the most promising AI initiatives will stall. Models may be built, but they won’t be trusted or adopted. Workflows may be reengineered, but without buy-in, they’ll sit unused.
At Metis Strategy, our work alongside technology leaders, driving some of the world’s most complex transformations, has resoundingly taught us that success is always people first. The same lessons apply today as organizations pursue AI-powered transformations: those that succeed put people and culture at the center. Culture shapes every element of the operating model — what decisions are made, how decisions are made, how resources are prioritized and how quickly the company adapts.
Despite strong intentions and significant investments, many transformations falter because leaders misjudge where the true risks lie. A common failure pattern is over-indexing on technology or process while neglecting people. New AI platforms or workflows are often launched with great fanfare, but without engagement, enablement and alignment, employees struggle to adapt and value goes unrealized.
As the ADKAR framework highlights, sustainable change requires more than a solution — it requires awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement at the individual level.
Another pitfall occurs when transformations become process exercises rather than engines of business value. When initiatives are framed as IT-only or designed around governance for its own sake, they lose relevance and fail to inspire the commitment needed for lasting change.
Transformations also stall when priorities are scattered or poorly communicated. Without enterprise-wide alignment, programs become optional, teams are spread too thin and execution suffers. In these cases, even well-designed AI strategies cannot deliver impact.
Finally, cultural resistance or a lack of trust can quietly derail transformations. Employees who do not see how AI initiatives align with their own incentives may disengage, breeding fatigue and undermining momentum. Without trust in data, models and leadership, adoption falters no matter how advanced the technology.
For CIOs, avoiding these patterns is essential. The organizations thriving in the AI era are those that design transformations with people and culture at the center from the very beginning. Through our client work, we’ve identified four cultural elements that consistently shape transformation outcomes — and four actions leaders can take today to strengthen them.
Successful transformations align operating models with customer needs. Too often, companies define themselves as “sales-led” or “product-led” and allow that orientation to drive key decisions. While this can create enterprise clarity, it risks sidelining customers or alienating parts of the organization.
In contrast, enterprises that adopt a true customer-first approach build resilience and agility across functions. Their operating models align incentives, prioritize experiences and ensure teams move in step with market needs. As explored in Achieving product success: A five-step framework for customer-centric design, an article written by Metis Strategy’s own Andre Lopes de Carvalho, organizations that embed customer centricity into their design and delivery processes create more value and are better equipped to sustain transformation.
Revisit your mission, values and incentive structures. Ensure they reinforce a culture where the customer is the anchor for decision-making at every level and for every department.
Digital and AI transformations are demanding. Employees must adapt to new ways of working, acquire new skills and deliver against rising expectations — all while managing day-to-day responsibilities. Without meaningful investment in people, fatigue and disengagement set in, jeopardizing transformation success and putting millions of dollars of investment at risk.
Leading organizations counter this by embedding continuous learning into their cultures. Targeted learning and development (L&D) programs, aligned with transformation priorities, not only upskill employees but also strengthen commitment to shared goals. The best programs address both business outcomes and personal growth — answering “what’s in it for me” alongside company goals.
Provide protected time and resources for development. Tie L&D investments directly to transformation outcomes to ensure employees are motivated and equipped to deliver. Acknowledge that meaningful learning requires space — even during working hours.
Leadership sets direction, but decision-making structures determine speed. Transformations falter under traditional command-and-control models, where approvals and escalations slow progress. The fewer people responsible for making decisions, the slower progress will be made.
Our experience shows that pushing decisions closer to the problem accelerates execution, improves accountability and fosters innovation. Empowered teams make better, faster choices — particularly when leaders set clear guardrails and reinforce trust. A decision-making framework, for example, clarifies which choices can be made locally and which warrant escalation, enabling faster, distributed decision-making.
Reduce layers of approval and empower small, cross-functional teams with decision rights. Ensure leadership behaviors reinforce empowerment, not control.
No transformation follows a straight path. Markets shift, technologies evolve and customer expectations change. AI adoption in particular requires experimentation — testing models, validating outcomes and adapting quickly to advances. Thriving organizations build cultures of experimentation where teams are encouraged to test, learn and adapt at speed.
We’ve seen this approach succeed when companies create the time and structure for experimentation, whether through dedicated capacity, lightweight governance or innovation programs. Not all experiments can succeed, so rather than penalizing failures, promote a culture that encourages learning from them. The result is not just innovation but resilience — a workforce confident in navigating uncertainty. As Jamie Engstrom emphasized in Technology, talent and transformation at caterpillar, curiosity and collaboration ensure experimentation is both grounded in business value and disciplined execution.
Normalize test-and-learn practices across teams. Protect capacity for experimentation, ensure lessons are shared and reward adaptability as much as execution.
Every transformation involves new strategies, processes and technologies. What ultimately determines success or failure is whether leaders place people and, by extension, culture, at the center. People shape decision-making, innovation and execution; they are the connective tissue of the operating model. CIOs who recognize culture as a true differentiator are better positioned to navigate complexity, make effective decisions and deliver sustained impact.
Wolters Kluwer’s ongoing transformation from a traditional publishing business to a cloud-first, AI-driven enterprise illustrates how people and culture drive successful AI-powered transformations. When we spoke with CIO Mark Sherwood, he discussed how customer centricity is reinforced through business relationship managers (BRM) who bridge technology and business units, ensuring digital investments are aligned with customer and market needs.
Learning and development are emphasized as employees build new skills in cloud, AI and data governance, enabling them to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies. Distributed decision-making is strengthened by embedding BRMs to bring tech and business closer together, ensuring alignment and enabling smarter choices on priorities and resources. Agility is fueled by a test-and-learn mindset, with experimentation balanced by strong ethical AI practices and disciplined measurement.
By maintaining a strong culture and people-first approach, Wolters Kluwer has accelerated its evolution and positioned itself as a leader in delivering trusted, technology-enabled solutions across industries.
CIOs today face constant change — none more urgent than the rise of AI. Shifting customer expectations, new competitive threats and accelerating disruptions are magnified in the AI era. Anchoring transformation in people and culture is what turns volatility into opportunity and lasting advantage.
For CIOs, the mandate is clear: build operating models that not only work today but also adapt continuously for tomorrow. That requires embedding four cultural practices at the center of every digital and AI transformation:
When CIOs champion these actions, they move beyond technology deployment to transformation that is embraced, scaled and sustained. Put people first and digital and AI transformations become not only achievable, but sustainable.
