The Speed of Listening: A Tale of Two Rollouts
- Antonina Potanina
- Sep 10
- 2 min read
© Benjamin B. Dunford, Ph.D.
Two companies launched AI to streamline internal processes. Same scope—opposite results.
Company A (Pharma): Tell-Launch. Leaders announced an AI expense system at an all-hands and switched it on the next week. Sales reps said it took longer than before; the expense team absorbed buggy rework without support, driving attrition. A year of post-mortems followed, but many who understood the process had already left. After two years, the firm reverted to the old system and spent months rebuilding—roughly 2.5 years to regain baseline productivity.
Company B (Tech): Listen-Pilot-Listen-Design-Launch. Leaders began by asking employees and help desk staff about pain points in the IT ticket process and where AI could truly help. Listening to the input, they launched a two-month pilot comparing bots to humans. Open-ended interviews surfaced a key distinction: basic vs. complex tasks. The company automated the basics and routed complex tickets to people. Within 4 months, operations ran smoothly and throughput rose 23%; staff were happier, freed from tedious work.
Which is faster, telling or listening? Telling is faster if you want to check a box. Listening is faster if you want results.
Leader moves:
Begin by asking: What problems are you trying to solve?
Really listen to pain points.
Pilot to generate objective data.
Use objective data to guide qualitative questions.
Listen again to sharpen redesign, then launch.
How can I help?
Are your leaders inhibiting change because they are moving too fast in the wrong ways?
Do your leaders lack listening skills?
Are culture, incentives, or change fatigue hindering implementation?
Does your organization reward activity rather than results?
If so, let’s talk about tools and solutions.
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