We Know Why Your Camera's Off.

Why another hour of mandatory AI training probably shouldn't be your organisation's adoption strategy.

You've got 47 unread emails, 5 upcoming meetings and a sandwich that's been sitting on your desk since 11:30. Then comes the notification: your Microsoft 365 Copilot training starts in five minutes.

Brilliant.

Look, we spend a fair amount of time helping organisations get more out of technology, and even we can appreciate that being asked to sit through another hour-long training session might warrant a sigh. Your camera goes off, your microphone is muted and you're wondering what's for dinner, when you need to leave to pick up the kids from school to beat the traffic, and whether this training is really going to make your working day easier. All reasonable questions, although unfortunately, we can only help you with the last one.

But perhaps we're asking the wrong question. Instead of wondering why people aren't engaging with AI, shouldn't we be asking whether we've given them a good enough reason to?

Perhaps we should ask a few questions first

We don't need to spend another article explaining everything Copilot can do; the internet has that covered. What deserves more attention is whether organisations understand what their people actually need it to do.

A training session can introduce someone to Copilot, but it can also shape their perception of its value. When the examples feel disconnected from their work, it's easy for the technology itself to leave a lingering bad taste. And given the investment organisations are making in AI, that's worth taking seriously.

Imagine walking into a doctor's appointment and being handed a prescription before you've explained why you're there. You'd probably have some questions. Yet technology enablement can follow a surprisingly similar sequence: schedule the training, demonstrate the features and hope the benefits follow.

We're not pretending to be Aristotle here. It's hardly a philosophical breakthrough to suggest that training should be relevant to the people attending it. And we understand the pressure to get everyone trained, particularly when organisations are rolling out technology at scale. But when the priority becomes getting people through training, that fairly obvious consideration can become an afterthought.

The most productive conversations tend to emerge when people recognise their own work in the examples being discussed. Different teams need different approaches because, unsurprisingly, they do different jobs and encounter different challenges.

Which brings us, rather conveniently, to our own approach. We promise there's a reason we're mentioning it. With Amplify, we begin with a Workflow Discovery Workshop to understand how teams operate, the tools they use and the challenges they encounter. Those insights shape a tailored training roadmap, giving our trainers the context to make learning relevant from the outset.

It's an approach we believe in because it starts with the work, not the technology.

An hour of Copilot training is not a change management strategy

There it is. Change management. We can practically feel the collective recoil through the screen, but unfortunately for all of us, the concept behind it is rather important.

There's often an initial burst of enthusiasm when people discover what a new technology can do. They marvel at the demonstrations, experiment with the possibilities and solemnly vow to surrender themselves to the new and improved ways of working™. We call this the sugar rush, because by the time Monday arrives, the inbox fills up, deadlines take priority and familiar habits begin to look awfully convenient.

This is why we see Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption as an ongoing process rather than an isolated training event. Developing confidence with technology takes practice, reinforcement and opportunities to ask questions as new challenges emerge.

Amplify is built around that continuity because we know the novelty of new technology will eventually wear off. It's what happens afterwards that makes ongoing support so valuable.

Back to that camera

For the record, we don't actually know why your camera is off. You might be eating lunch, taking notes or have a perfectly legitimate reason for not wanting your face broadcast to a couple of strangers.

We'd be lying if we said we didn't enjoy seeing a few friendly faces. We like people, after all, and training is a lot more enjoyable when there's a conversation happening. But we're not here to police your camera settings. What matters is whether the session is engaging enough to hold your attention and relevant enough to make a difference after it ends.

Organisations can mandate attendance, allocate licences and run a training session, but those activities alone won't necessarily translate into changed behaviour. That takes a little more curiosity about the people on the other side of the screen.

And let us tell you, we're a very curious bunch.