Embracing GenAI: A Manager's Guide to Leveraging Covert AI Talent

Your Team Is Already Using AI

Right now, your employees are using ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney to get their work done faster. They're writing better emails, researching competitors, and solving problems you don't even know about. Most of them haven't asked permission. They're just quietly getting better at their jobs.

As a manager, you have a choice: lead this transformation or watch it happen without you.

The Numbers Don't Lie

About 70% of knowledge workers are experimenting with AI tools. Only 30-40% have explicit permission to do so. This gap creates both opportunity and risk. Your team is building AI skills right now. the question is whether you're helping them or holding them back.

Why They're Doing It in Secret

• Speed wins: AI cuts task time by 30-50% for writing, research, and analysis
• Career advantage: People with AI skills are more valuable (and they know it)
• Fear of "no": Worried that asking permission means getting shut down
• No clear rules: When there's no policy, people make their own decisions

From Shadow IT to Strategic Advantage

1. Make AI Use Normal

Start by saying it out loud: "We use AI tools here, and that's okay." Host an "AI show and tell" where people share what they're experimenting with. When you make it safe to talk about, the covert users come out of hiding and everyone learns faster. This is what we call the Align stage . building shared understanding across your team.

2. Set Simple Rules

Skip the 20-page policy. Give your team four clear principles:

• Protect confidential data: Never put client information, personal data, or company IP into public AI tools
• Always fact-check: AI makes mistakes. A human must review everything before it goes out
• Be honest: If AI played a significant role, be transparent about it
• Share what you learn: Both wins and failures help everyone improve

3. Train Your Team Properly

Individual tinkering is fine for getting started. But if you want real capability, invest in structured training. Teach your team prompt engineering, workflow integration, and safe AI use. When people learn together, you build organisational capability instead of isolated pockets of knowledge. Our hands-on AI workshops are designed exactly for this. building daily AI fluency across your team.

4. Create AI Champions Network

Identify natural early adopters in your team and empower them as AI champions. These individuals can:

• Share practical use cases and prompts with colleagues
• Provide peer support for AI tool adoption
• Surface emerging challenges and opportunities
• Help shape organisational AI strategy from the ground up

What Success Actually Looks Like

Yes, AI makes people faster. But the real value goes deeper:

• Faster innovation: AI-skilled teams can prototype and test ideas in days, not weeks
• Better retention: High performers want to work where they can develop cutting-edge skills
• Real agility: When markets shift, AI-literate teams adapt faster
• Lasting advantage: Early capability building compounds over time

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Over-Controlling the Experimentation Phase

Some managers react to covert AI use with restrictive policies. This approach drives experimentation further underground and slows capability development. Instead, provide guardrails that protect critical assets while encouraging exploration.

Assuming All AI Use is Equal

Different use cases carry different risk profiles. Using ChatGPT to brainstorm blog headlines is vastly different from inputting client financial data. Help your team develop nuanced risk assessment skills rather than blanket rules.

Neglecting the Human Element

AI tools amplify human capability but don't replace human judgment, creativity, or relationship building. Emphasise that AI competency enhances rather than threatens job security. when positioned correctly, it elevates everyone's work.

The Bottom Line

Your team is going to use AI. That decision has already been made. by them, not you. Your choice is whether you'll lead this transformation or watch it happen without you.

The managers who win are the ones who make AI use safe, structured, and strategic. They bring the covert users into the light. They set clear guardrails. They invest in capability building. And they do it all before their competitors figure it out.

Today's quiet AI experimenters are tomorrow's strategic leaders. Your job is to help them get there.