Generous AI at Work
Our Listening Labs
A Listening Lab gives leaders a clearer view of where AI creates value, where quality, confidence or judgment may be at risk, and what to decide next.
Better AI decisions start with knowing what’s actually happening.
The leadership gap
AI use is moving faster than the organization around it.
Leadership may have approved tools, issued policies, run training or encouraged experimentation. That does not mean AI is being used as intended—or that it is improving the work.
Usage data shows which tools are open and how often they are used. It cannot explain why people use, avoid, hide or work around AI; whether the work is actually better; or what employees are reluctant to disclose.
of workers used generative AI at work in the previous 12 months.
of businesses using AI reported no corresponding changes to training or staffing.
AI alone is not the productivity strategy
The apparent productivity advantage became statistically insignificant once prior productivity and complementary capabilities were considered.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2026.
The Listening Lab
A clearer view of what is happening inside the work.
A Listening Lab helps leaders understand how AI is actually changing work across their organization.
Through confidential employee input and a structured, candid conversation, we surface patterns leadership cannot see in usage data alone—and turn them into practical priorities for the decisions ahead.
How it works
Five stages. One connected engagement.
Stage one
Align
Define the leadership decision, organizational context and priorities the work should inform.
Stage two
Discover
Gather relevant context through a right-sized mix of surveys, interviews, leadership conversations and existing materials.
Stage three
Convene
Facilitate a three-hour Listening Lab with a genuine cross-section of employees—not only leaders or AI enthusiasts.
Stage four
Synthesize
Analyze the survey, interviews and Lab to identify patterns, tensions, risks, areas of value and emerging opportunities.
Stage five
Advise
Deliver the AI Practice & Alignment Report, a facilitated debrief and clear priorities for what to address, test or decide next.
What you receive
Your AI Practice & Alignment Report
We bring the findings together in a detailed report for leadership. It connects employee experience with organizational goals, policies and current decisions—and distinguishes repeated patterns from isolated comments.
The AI Practice & Alignment Report turns employee experience into decision-ready evidence, including:
- where AI is already creating meaningful value;
- where quality, judgment or confidence may be degrading;
- where policy, approved tools and actual behaviour diverge;
- where employees need capability, guidance or management support;
- which applications may be worth extending or testing; and
- what leadership should address, invest in or decide next.
Leaders leave with better evidence for where to invest, what to extend, what to address and where human judgment needs more protection.
Timeline
Typical engagement: three to four weeks.
Scope and timing vary with organizational size and discovery requirements.
Why the room matters
Better evidence starts with candour.
Clear boundaries
Participants know what will be collected, how it will be used and what leadership will receive.
Employees often see things leadership cannot: useful practices that remain invisible, guidance that does not work in context, concerns that are being mistaken for resistance and workflows changing beneath the surface.
A carefully facilitated room allows those experiences to be compared and tested. We report themes and patterns rather than attributing comments to named employees.
When a Listening Lab can help
Useful before the next AI decision.
Best suited to knowledge-intensive organizations where AI is already affecting work and leadership has a consequential decision ahead.
- ✶before investing in tools or organization-wide training;
- ✶when developing or revising AI guidance;
- ✶when reported success is difficult to assess or extend;
- ✶before changing workflows or workforce plans based on assumed AI gains.
Who leads the work
Experienced judgment in the room.
Our team combines decades of experience across business strategy, organizational change, communications, AI implementation and operations. We examine AI not simply as a technology question, but as a question of work, people, management and organizational design.
We know how to create candid rooms, distinguish an anecdote from a meaningful pattern and translate what we hear into useful organizational decisions.
Katrina C. Foster
Strategic advisor and community-builder. Positioning, narrative and organizational strategy.
LinkedIn ↗Debbie Collins
AI implementation consultant and founder of Reve AI Studio. Marketing and communications leadership.
LinkedIn ↗Caroline Wakefield
Operator and entrepreneur. Operations, workforce programmes and facilitation.
LinkedIn ↗Inquiry
Start with a conversation.
Tell us what decision your organization is facing and what you need to understand more clearly. We will let you know whether a Listening Lab is the right fit.
Thank you — that has reached us.
We will be in touch shortly to let you know whether a Listening Lab is the right fit.