Thinking · AI enablement

How to survey your team's AI maturity.

A short, plain-language survey to find out where your team really is with AI — and what to do next. Two things make it work: open with how people feel, not what they know, and decide what you'll do with every answer before you send it. Here's how we run one, with two versions to start from.

Which version to send

Start with two versions.

There are two versions of the survey — same idea, tuned to your stage. Before anything else, pick the one that sounds like your organization right now.

Version 1 · ~5 min

Getting Started with AI

For organizations that haven't formally adopted AI tools yet. Lighter on jargon, focused on awareness, appetite, and any quiet experimentation already happening under the radar.

Send if: no official AI tool is rolled out — or you're still deciding where to start.
Version 2 · ~7 min

Taking a Pulse on AI

For organizations already using AI chat tools. Goes deeper on how people use AI, what they've built, and where it breaks down.

Send if: a tool like Copilot or ChatGPT is in use and you want to see how far adoption really goes.
How to run it

Three steps to a baseline you can act on.

The point isn't a score — it's knowing who needs what kind of support, and being able to re-measure later.

01

Pick one version

Choose the version above that matches where you are today — based on whether AI tools are formally rolled out yet. Send only one; mixing them muddies your baseline.

02

Send it to everyone

Ask all staff to respond, not just the eager ones. Partial responses give you a partial — and misleading — picture of where the team really stands.

03

Read for action

Use the answers to sort people into the right sessions, shape demos around real tasks, and set a baseline you can re-run in a few months.

Anonymous or named? To track how individuals grow over time you'll need names attached — but say so clearly, because it changes how honestly people answer.

Know what each answer triggers. Decide what you'll do with every response before you send it. A survey that doesn't change what happens next is just a poll.

What makes these surveys work

Eight principles behind the questions.

Drawn from what we've seen run well in workshops, plus what the research backs up. Each one is built to get an honest picture instead of a flattering one.

People are bad at rating themselves — so don't make them guess. The biggest risk in any maturity survey is self-rating: someone who only summarizes emails may call themselves "intermediate" because they don't know what good looks like. Every principle below is built to get past that and surface what people actually do.

01

Start with feelings, not skills

Open with a quick emotional check-in — excited, curious, skeptical, nervous. People can't engage with AI until they name where they stand.

02

Ask for evidence, not labels

Don't say "rate yourself." Ask people to describe something they actually built with AI — a real example beats a self-chosen level.

03

Measure the kind of use

"I use it daily" means little if it's one task. Ask what people use AI for, and in how many ways — breadth is the real signal.

04

Quietly test the vocabulary

Ask if people can tell a prompt from an assistant, an agent, and an automation. A gentle, revealing check on real fluency.

05

Ask where AI let them down

"Where has AI not worked for you?" shows who's really pushing the tools — and exactly where people need better support.

06

Capture their use cases

Open-ended "what would you automate?" builds a backlog of real ideas and makes staff feel heard going into training.

07

Keep the language plain

Short questions, everyday words, no acronyms in the starter version. The easier to answer, the more honest the responses.

08

Treat it as a baseline

Plan to re-run the same survey in a few months. Comparing results proves training worked — and shows where to focus next.

Want the ready-to-send surveys?

We'll share both versions, help you pick the right one, and turn the responses into a training plan — who needs what, and where the quick wins are.