Leading by Example: Empowering Our Team with an AI Adoption Strategy

A year ago, Bursting Silver gave everyone in the company access to ChatGPT and started running hackathons, lunch-and-learns, and working groups. It worked, until it became obvious the informal approach couldn't keep up with how fast AI moves. So the team formalized it: a 12-month AI adoption program called Project Navigate, named at a company retreat in St. John's, Newfoundland. In this episode, BSI CEO Al Povoledo joins Riley Miller to open the books on how the program actually works: a competency framework so people know what good looks like at their level, a self-assessment to find the gaps, optional training paths measured at the company level, governance guardrails that keep client member data out of AI systems entirely, and a working group that ships new skills, connectors, and policies every week. Al also gets honest about the hard parts, like catching people who outsourced their judgment to the machine, and shares the question he'd ask any leader before starting: are we ready? If you lead, work in, or build for a membership organization, this show was built for you. 📄 Show notes, transcript, and links: https://www.burstingsilver.com/podcast/ep14 ⏱ Chapters0:00 Cold open — "This isn't going to take away your work"0:49 Welcome back Al Povoledo2:49 The informal year: hackathons, lunch-and-learns, ChatGPT for everyone4:22 The St. John's retreat + naming Project Navigate5:28 The working group: hired guns, SMEs, and the CEO in the room7:05 Why the plan is 12 months7:43 Four stages + four pillars: competency, assessment, training, policy, tools10:20 An enablement program, not an expert factory11:41 AI governance: guardrails on the bowling alley12:48 Skill + connector sprawl: standardize half, experiment half15:49 The rollout: weekly releases + a website built in a week18:32 Client member data is job one — "It's not ours"20:04 A head start, not a replacement22:52 Optional courses, company-level measurement24:30 Hardest part so far + biggest surprise27:04 What changed after the retreat29:00 The kickoff question: "Are we ready?"30:37 Wrap-up + free AI adoption checklist 🎧 Listen on your platform of choiceSpotify ▸ https://open.spotify.com/show/6293pjIqImlDM6sBJyW2tmApple Podcasts ▸ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-modern-membership-org/id1893830462Amazon Music ▸ https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/15cd6bb8-9048-4c3c-9571-78665dd91a1a/the-modern-membership-orgiHeartRadio ▸ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-modern-membership-org-330500783/Castbox ▸ https://castbox.fm/channel/The-Modern-Membership-Org-id7169003 🔗 About Bursting SilverWe're a fully remote consultancy specializing in modern CRM, iMIS, and AI solutions for membership organizations across North America.Website ▸ https://www.burstingsilver.com/LinkedIn ▸ https://www.linkedin.com/company/bursting-silver 🌐 Follow the showInstagram ▸ https://www.instagram.com/burstingsilver/X / Twitter ▸ https://x.com/burstingsilverFacebook ▸ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579548728138TikTok ▸ https://www.tiktok.com/@burstingsilverYouTube ▸ https://www.youtube.com/@BurstingSilver 🎵 MusicFresh Start by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarudCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_fresh-startMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/XN-tBgJ5CVw #TheModernMembershipOrg #AI #AIAdoption #AIGovernance #Associations #iMIS #MembershipManagement #BurstingSilver