Assessment pathways
Understand the next path without re-taking the assessment.
These seven practical pathways explain what each readiness recommendation means. A completed scorecard still identifies the matched path for your result; this page is a reference, not a second diagnosis.
Learning path
Start from zero without taking the assessment.
This path is for people who already know they need the basics first: plain-language AI understanding, safe-use habits, prompt confidence, and realistic examples from everyday work.
First moves
- 1
Learn the difference between asking AI for help, trusting AI as a source, and using AI to make a decision.
- 2
Practice low-risk tasks such as summarizing, drafting, comparing options, rewriting tone, and organizing notes.
- 3
Build a simple responsible-use checklist before using AI with customer, company, personal, or sensitive information.
Try this today
Choose one harmless piece of work, such as a grocery list, meeting notes, or a public article, and ask an AI assistant to summarize it in plain language. Then compare the answer against the original.
Ready to move on when
- You can explain what AI should and should not do in your work.
- You can review an AI answer before relying on it.
- You have one safe recurring task to practice with.
What this can look like
- Turn a long public article into five plain-language bullets.
- Rewrite an email draft so it is clearer and warmer.
- Ask for three ways to organize a messy set of notes, then choose the structure yourself.
Next action
Use the safe AI checklist
Use a practical checklist to build safe confidence before choosing tools or workflows.
Supporting next step
Take the individual assessment
If you want a scorecard later, use the individual assessment to get a more specific path.
Personal pathway
Build your personal AI foundation.
Your readiness signal points toward confidence, judgment, and responsible-use habits before AI becomes part of more visible or higher-stakes work.
First moves
- 1
Pick one task where AI can help with a draft, summary, outline, comparison, or checklist.
- 2
Write down what information should stay out of public or unapproved tools before you start.
- 3
Review each result for accuracy, missing context, tone, source quality, and whether a human decision is still required.
Try this today
Pick one low-risk task you already understand well. Ask AI for a first draft or summary, then mark what you accepted, changed, questioned, or rejected.
Ready to move on when
- You have a safe starter task.
- You know what not to paste into AI tools.
- You can explain how you checked the output.
What this can look like
- Draft a meeting agenda from a few non-sensitive bullet points.
- Summarize a public help article and list the parts you would still verify.
- Rewrite a message for clarity while keeping your own judgment on the final wording.
Next action
Use the safe AI checklist
Use a simple responsible-use checklist before AI becomes part of more visible work.
Supporting next step
Bring this to a team conversation
If this is an organizational opportunity, use the organization scorecard as a shared starting point for a team conversation.
Personal pathway
Turn your readiness into one useful workflow experiment.
You have enough readiness to move from general learning into a focused work example. The key is choosing one recurring workflow where AI could reduce real friction.
First moves
- 1
Write the current workflow in five to seven steps, using the words you would use to explain it to a coworker.
- 2
Mark the step where time, confusion, repeat work, or unnecessary back-and-forth shows up most often.
- 3
Test AI support on that one step only, then decide what human review is required before using the result.
Try this today
Write down the steps of one recurring task you do every week. Circle the step where you most often wait, rework, search, copy, paste, or reformat.
Ready to move on when
- The workflow is written down.
- The most high-friction step is named.
- The AI-supported version can be checked against the original standard.
What this can look like
- Turn raw notes into a follow-up email after a meeting.
- Compare two vendor descriptions and list the differences that still need human review.
- Create a first draft of a recurring report outline from non-sensitive inputs.
Next action
Find your first AI workflow
Use a lightweight worksheet-style resource to choose one recurring task and test one step.
Supporting next step
Bring this to a team conversation
If this opportunity affects more than your own work, use the organization assessment to get a team-level readiness signal.
Personal pathway
Move from readiness into practical use-case ideas.
Your readiness signal is strong enough to compare AI opportunities by usefulness, risk, effort, and how clearly the work can be reviewed.
First moves
- 1
List three recurring tasks where AI might reduce time, improve structure, or make comparison easier.
- 2
Score each idea for usefulness, risk, review effort, data sensitivity, and how easy it would be to repeat.
- 3
Choose the strongest candidate and define what would count as a successful test this week.
Try this today
List three tasks where AI might save time, improve structure, or reduce blank-page effort. Cross out any task that uses sensitive data or cannot be reviewed easily.
Ready to move on when
- You have a ranked short list.
- Sensitive data and review needs are clear.
- Success can be judged without guesswork.
What this can look like
- Create a standard outline for a weekly update.
- Compare options against criteria you provide.
- Generate a first-pass checklist that you edit before sharing.
Next action
Find your first AI workflow
Start by grounding your strongest idea in one repeatable workflow before expanding the shortlist.
Supporting next step
Bring this to a team conversation
If the opportunity affects more than your own work, use the organization scorecard as a shared starting point.
Organization pathway
Establish the readiness baseline before choosing tools.
The organization needs a clearer operating baseline before pilot decisions. This path aligns leaders around current use, constraints, risks, and adoption capacity.
First moves
- 1
Confirm which teams are already using AI and whether that use is approved, informal, experimental, or unknown.
- 2
Name the weakest adoption constraint and decide who owns clarifying it before any tool decision.
- 3
Agree on the first safe conversation before buying, building, or scaling new tooling.
Try this today
Gather two or three leaders and ask one question: if we tried to pilot AI this quarter, what would block us first: data, workflow clarity, governance, security, leadership alignment, or team confidence?
Ready to move on when
- Current AI use is visible enough to discuss.
- The first adoption blocker is named.
- Leadership agrees on what needs to be clarified before pilots.
What this can look like
- Leadership wants AI, but nobody owns the policy or approval path.
- Teams are experimenting informally, but current use is not visible.
- The company has tool interest, but data quality or workflow clarity is not ready.
Next action
Book a readiness walkthrough
Use the scorecard as the agenda for a focused conversation about constraints, current use, risk, and adoption capacity.
Supporting next step
Use the team conversation guide
Use a practical discussion guide before buying, blocking, or piloting AI tools.
Organization pathway
Use the scorecard to choose the first workflow conversation.
There is enough readiness to move, but the first practical step should stay close to real operational friction before a pilot or tool decision is made.
First moves
- 1
Choose one high-value workflow with a clear owner and enough repetition to make improvement meaningful.
- 2
Map the current steps, handoffs, systems, delays, rework, and enhancement opportunities.
- 3
Identify where AI could help and where governance, security, data quality, or change capacity may block it.
Try this today
Ask a process owner to name one workflow that is important, repetitive, and frustrating. Capture the steps before discussing AI tools.
Ready to move on when
- A workflow owner is involved.
- The bottleneck is specific.
- Pilot ideas are grounded in the actual work.
What this can look like
- Customer intake requires repeated copying between systems.
- Monthly reporting depends on manual cleanup and narrative drafting.
- Internal requests stall because ownership, status, or next steps are unclear.
Next action
Book a workflow mapping conversation
Use the workflow path to decide which operational problem is worth inspecting before a pilot or tool purchase.
Supporting next step
Use the team conversation guide
Use the guide to understand current AI use, adoption risks, and the next workflow conversation.
Organization pathway
Prioritize pilot candidates while the signal is strong.
The organization looks ready to move from assessment into accountable pilot planning. The next step is choosing use cases with clear owners, measures, controls, and stop criteria.
First moves
- 1
Rank candidate use cases by value, feasibility, data sensitivity, implementation complexity, and ownership.
- 2
Choose one pilot and define the business outcome, success measure, review process, and accountable owner.
- 3
Document human review, governance controls, and the conditions that would stop, revise, or scale the pilot.
Try this today
Choose one promising AI use case and write the pilot in one sentence: who owns it, what outcome it should improve, what risk must be controlled, and how success will be measured.
Ready to move on when
- The pilot has an owner and sponsor.
- Success and stop criteria are clear.
- Risks and review points are written down before launch.
What this can look like
- Reduce time spent drafting first-pass customer summaries while preserving human review.
- Improve internal knowledge retrieval for approved documents only.
- Speed up proposal or report preparation with clear source checking and approval steps.
Next action
Book pilot planning support
Use the strong readiness signal to shape a responsible pilot with owners, metrics, controls, and stop criteria.
Supporting next step
Use the pilot planner
Use a lightweight planner to define the pilot owner, measure, controls, and stop criteria.