An organisation’s ability to successfully integrate AI and reap its benefits will depend enormously on the level of trust within that organisation.
Throughout history, humans have always struggled with adapting to change. Our minds are wired to create routines and habits that allow us to navigate our lives in a predictable way. However, despite this need for stability, we constantly search for new experiences and innovations. This paradox is most evident in our development of and resistance to new technologies.
When the first printing press was developed in the 15th century, many feared it would lead to job losses and financial ruin. In fact, many presses were destroyed by scribes in protest, and book merchants were chased out of towns. The telephone’s invention caused concerns that it would remove the need for face-to-face meetings. There was also a genuine fear that the disembodied voices would send people mad.
We nearly always resist change when it is first thrust upon us, but we nearly always adopt and adapt to make it work for us. Which brings us to the rapid rise of AI and LLMs. And rapid in a way that we have never experienced before.
To put the adoption rate into some perspective, it took Netflix some 18 years to reach 100 million users, and it took Facebook 4.5 years to get to 100 million. Compare these to Chat GPT where it took just two months to sign up 100 million users. And Chat GPT is just one of the growing stable of Generative A.I. applications and tools currently available.
While AI is becoming an indispensable part of the modern workplace, revolutionising the way we work and offering significant benefits, many workers are still uncertain about how it will help or hurt their jobs. A 2025 Salesforce–Morning Consult global survey found fewer than half of employed adults (48%) felt their workplace was prepared to use AI tools in daily work. A late‑2025 worker survey (AudienceNet / JFF) found only about one‑third of workers (39%) were optimistic about AI’s impact on workers, down roughly 10 percentage points from 2024, and 47% said they needed to develop new skills because of AI.
“The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.” – Justin Trudeau
The Foundation Of Your AI Change Management Strategy
An increasing focus on trust and transparency has been identified as the trend that would have the greatest impact on an organisation’s success, both this year and in the next three years. A high-trust culture is a workplace where trust-based relationships are highly valued. Initially, trusting workplace relationships are built and nurtured between leaders and employees. However, a trust-based approach also has a notable impact on customers, investors, and the community at large, which further drives experiences of pride and camaraderie.
While engagement metrics primarily look at employee sentiment at a point in time, trust measures are based on the drivers of employee attitudes, proving to be more predictive.
In our 30 years of research, speaking to millions of employees around the world, we’ve found that employees experience high levels of trust in the workplace when they:
- Believe leaders are credible (i.e., competent, communicative, honest)
- Believe they are treated with respect as people and professionals
- Believe the workplace is fundamentally fair
Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place To Work, stresses the pivotal role trust has in binding employees and organisations together. He says trust is necessary for an environment where everyone feels valued and heard. The same goes for AI implementation.
“If I could create a backdrop for the world right now, I’d spell out the word trust as large as I could,” says Bush. “That’s what the conversation around AI and workplace dynamics is all about. Employees must understand how AI affects their workflows to fully embrace its potential, and this culture of trust must extend to building confidence in AI systems.”
High levels of trust create a conducive environment for organisational change by promoting transparency, collaboration, resilience, and innovation, ultimately leading to successful outcomes and sustainable growth.
Companies like Adobe, for example, stand out among the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For because of their employee-centric approaches to AI. Adobe actively involves employees in the testing of new capabilities powered by Firefly, its family of generative AI models.
Before launching Firefly, Adobe held a voluntary session on the ethics of generative AI that drew thousands of employees, showing strong interest in responsible AI. With 75% of employees saying they’d be more accepting of AI if companies were clearer about how they use it, openness and collaboration are key to building trust.
“When employees trust the intentions behind AI, they are more likely to embrace and collaborate with it. Companies on our list have worked very hard to have a high trust level with their employees,” says Bush. “Change can make people fear the unknown, but they won’t panic about their job safety and financial security if the foundation of trust already exists. Instead, they’ll want to learn more.”
How ERGs accelerate AI adoption
Good leaders won’t drive AI adoption alone. Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be a ready‑made network of change champions who cut across roles and departments, making it easier to normalise experimentation with new tools.
“ERGs are often engines of innovation because of how they cut across departments and job roles,” says Matt Bush, senior principal at Great Place To Work. “Research shows that increasing the number of people who can contribute new ideas and try new things enables organizations to generate better ideas more quickly.”
Great Place To Work® research on nearly 12,000 ERG members across 83 groups shows that ERG participants report significantly fewer barriers to innovation. The Innovation Velocity Ratio (IVR) – the ratio of employees who say they can easily innovate to those who say they cannot – is 10:2 for ERG members, compared with 6:2 for non‑ERG employees in the same companies. When more people feel able to try new things, leaders can introduce AI tools and workflows without getting stuck in pockets of resistance.
Many barriers to using AI are environmental whether people feel safe to make mistakes and believe leaders will back them. ERGs can surface concerns early, translate leadership messages into plain language and create peer spaces where employees can ask awkward AI questions without fear of judgement.
“Many ERGs have talent retention as a key metric for success,” Bush says. “Training employees on AI both improves their confidence in the organisation and prepares them to take new roles.”
For leaders, the opportunity is to treat ERGs as strategic partners in AI transformation. That might mean inviting ERG leaders into AI steering groups, co‑designing AI pilots and asking ERG members to act as visible AI champions. ERG leaders can also advance their own mission by co‑hosting AI skills labs, setting up peer mentoring and encouraging members to use AI not just to speed up tasks, but to challenge their thinking and build confidence for new roles in an AI‑enabled workplace.
People Also Asked:
How does a high-trust culture influence successful AI integration?
Trust serves as the absolute foundation for navigating rapid technological change. When employees trust their leaders’ intentions and believe the workplace is fundamentally fair, they shift from fearing job loss to embracing new learning opportunities. High levels of organizational trust promote the transparency and collaboration necessary for employees to test and adopt new tools without panic. According to Great Place To Work research, this environment ultimately drives higher levels of innovation, stability, and sustainable business growth.
How can leaders build the trust needed to support AI change management?
Leaders must prioritise transparency, open communication, and direct employee involvement. Strategies include openly discussing how AI affects workflows and inviting employees to participate in testing new capabilities, much like Adobe did with its generative AI models. Engaging employees directly addresses their immediate concerns and builds psychological safety. Data shows that 75% of workers become more accepting of AI when their companies clearly communicate how the technology will be utilised.
How can ERGs help leaders drive AI adoption?
Employee resource groups give leaders a built‑in network of trusted “change champions” who can test AI tools early, share practical use cases and normalize experimentation across teams. Great Place To Work® research shows ERG participants report fewer barriers to innovation and are more likely to use AI at least once a month than non‑participants, which means they can help new AI behaviours spread faster through the organisation.
What should ERG leaders do differently in an AI transformation?
ERG leaders can accelerate AI adoption by focusing on three practical moves: co‑hosting AI skills labs and peer mentoring with IT and L&D, using AI tools to scale coaching and feedback for their members, and encouraging members to use AI to challenge their thinking, not just to make tasks easier. By adding a little “earning friction and prioritising development, ERG leaders help their communities build confidence and skills for new roles in an AI‑enabled workplace.
