“Organisations need to tackle AI in terms of mindset, skillset, and toolkit. In that order. You should explore the first two before rolling out the tools”
This quote came from one of our participants in our recent research into how organisations re adopting AI. And it sums up one of our key finding – having the right culture to support AI will be the competitive advantage of the future.
AI is disrupting organisations like no other technology. Its’ intelligence and capability is doubling every 3 months. A recent Anthropic analysis revealed that 97% of management tasks could be done in half the time with generative AI. And the global McKinsey & Company survey reports that 88% are using AI in at least one business function.
That said our research showed that many organisations were struggling to get beyond the pilot stage with the core blocker being culture and mindset of the organisation.
Why culture…again?
The link between organisational culture as a driver of high performance has been known and proven for decades. But we see many organisations cite this as the reason why they can’t transform. In this AI age, it is really is not just a ‘nice’ to have – it will be how you unlock the possibilities that generative and agentic AI offers.
At Curium we define organisational culture through 4 lens:-
- Mindset – beliefs, value and attitudes which inform how people think and feel
- Behaviour – the language people use, the decisions and actions that people take
- Mechanisms – the policies, routines, goals and rewards that shape expected behaviours
- Interpretation – unwritten rules, team dynamics, stories, myths and informal power structures
