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Beyond Tech: Overcoming Resistance in AI-Driven Change
- Janine Dormiendo
- Jun 23
- 3 min read
And What 5 Organisations Can Teach Us About Doing It Well
When AI-led transformation fails, it’s rarely because the models didn’t work. It’s because the culture couldn’t—or wouldn’t—shift.
That’s the quiet truth underneath many strategic change efforts. Leadership may be aligned, the use cases defined, and the tooling ready. But without trust, meaning, and psychological safety, execution stalls.
Here are five organisations that each faced a cultural reckoning during AI change—and what their journeys reveal.
1. Unilever: Reframe AI as a Human Amplifier
Cultural Barrier: Fear of being replaced by algorithms.Helpful Shift: Position AI as a partner in human potential (which it is)
Unilever deployed AI in hiring, using machine learning to screen and assess early-career candidates. But rather than framing this as “automation of recruitment,” only, they cast it as a way to remove bias and free up HR to focus on high-value human interactions. The important element here is ensuring the reframe is true and authentic and not just paying lip service.
They emphasised that AI handled the volume, but people made the final calls—preserving dignity and trust in the process.
2. ING: Surface the Hidden Rules of Decision-Making
Cultural Barrier: Resistance from middle management fearing loss of control.Helpful Shift: Make the implicit cultural assumptions explicit.
As ING, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation, began embedding AI into its credit decisioning systems, they encountered a subtle form of pushback: managers reluctant to cede judgment to algorithms, even when outcomes improved.
The breakthrough came when the leadership named the tension openly: the shift from gut-based decision making to data-led recommendations was not just procedural—it was personal.
By holding open forums to explore these dynamics, ING reframed the change as an evolution of expertise, not an erosion of authority.
3. Stitch Fix: Build Feedback Loops into the AI System
Cultural Barrier: Loss of agency among creative teams.Helpful Shift: Design with—not just for—your people.
At Stitch Fix, an online personal styling service in the United States, algorithms recommend clothing selections, but human stylists refine the final picks. When stylists felt reduced to “AI assistants,” the company introduced structured feedback loops—allowing stylists to influence how the algorithm learned over time.
This co-evolution model turned resistance into engagement. Stylists became shapers, not victims, of the system.
4. Marks & Spencer: Attend to Power, Not Just Process
Cultural Barrier: Disruption of traditional expertise and leadership roles.Helpful Shift: Create psychological safety for learning across all levels.
As Marks & Spencer integrated AI into areas like supply chain forecasting and customer insights, it wasn’t just a technical upgrade—it redefined how decisions were made.
Store managers and merchandisers, long respected for their intuition and experience, were now expected to trust predictive models they couldn’t fully unpack.
Success didn’t come from training alone. It came from leadership actively modelling what it meant to not have all the answers. Senior teams engaged publicly with the tools, asked questions without shame, and reframed AI as a shared learning journey—not a mandate.
5. Spotify: Find the Micro-Moves of Trust
Cultural Barrier: Innovation fatigue and scepticism of top-down initiatives.Helpful Shift: Start small, signal safety, and build trust incrementally.
Spotify rolled out machine learning to support content moderation and recommendation tuning. Rather than launching enterprise-wide, they began with a small team, built quick wins, and shared transparent metrics on what worked—and what didn’t.
Crucially, they involved cross-functional reps early, reducing the “black box” feel and cultivating ownership.
Culture Is Not a Soft Layer—It’s the Medium of Change
Across these stories, one truth echoes: AI may be technical, but its execution is deeply human.
As organisations adopt intelligent systems, they are also being invited into deeper conversations—about identity, power, trust, and growth. Leaders who meet those conversations with courage and clarity don’t just install AI. They build future-ready cultures.
And that’s the real transformation.
Is your organisation ready to move forward in the world of AI?
If your organisation is navigating the human complexity behind AI transformation, you're not alone. Cultural alignment is often the missing link between strategic intent and operational impact.
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Our focus isn’t just on tools. It’s on creating the conditions for success: strategy that adapts, teams that are empowered, and change that sticks.
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