AI Capability for Leaders
Building AI Capability From the Boardroom Down
Most organisations have AI governance structures. Few have governance that actually works. The gap between policy and practice leaves boards exposed and teams uncertain.
We help organisations close that gap—not through generic AI literacy programmes, but through discovery-based engagements that start with your context and build capability at every level: boards who can govern with confidence, leaders who can implement with clarity, and teams who can adopt with purpose.
We work across three levels of organisational AI capability. Where would you like to start?
Award winning delivery
ChangeSchool, in partnership with King's College London won Silver Award with the European Foundation of Management Development (EFMD) and their Excellence in Practice Awards in the category of Talent Development the Silver award
We work across three levels of organisational AI capability.
Where would you like to start?
Boards and Governance
Strategic oversight, risk frameworks, and the questions boards need to ask
Senior Leaders
Building AI fluency, leading implementation, and developing your teams
Teams and Practitioners
Practical application across content, proposals, and market development
Entrepreneurial systems leadership
Creating decent jobs for the youth are high on national agendas. ChangeSchool works with the leadership teams of HEIs, ecosystems and foundations to transform entrepreneurial education, support, and teaching practices to transform graduate capabilities to be start-up and 21-century skills job ready.
AI Governance for Boards
The Challenge
Seventy percent of Fortune 500 organisations report having AI risk committees. Only fourteen percent say they are fully ready for AI deployment. The gap between governance structures and governance readiness is where institutional risk lives -and where competitive advantage is lost.
Our Approach
We help boards move from governance theatre to governance capability.
This isn't AI literacy training. It's a discovery-based engagement where we start with your organisation's actual AI landscape, which systems exist, which decisions they influence, where governance succeeds or fails, and help you derive frameworks from operational reality rather than consulting theory.
The result is governance that enables your AI ambitions rather than constrains them, and strategic clarity that cascades through your senior leaders and teams.
What Boards Gain
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A clear-eyed view of where AI creates value and where it introduces risk in your specific context
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Governance frameworks built from your operational reality, not generic best-practice guides
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The ability to ask better questions, of your executive team, your technology leaders, and your risk function
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Confidence to make decisions about AI investment, deployment, and scaling
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A foundation that enables senior leaders and teams to act with clarity
The Questions We Help Boards Answer
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Which AI systems are actually operating across our organisation, and what decisions do they influence?
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Where does AI create genuine business value for us, not in theory, but in our specific context?
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What risks are we carrying, and do we have the monitoring and escalation systems to manage them?
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How do we move from experimental pilots to production deployment with appropriate governance?
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What capability do our senior leaders and teams need to execute our AI strategy?
Week 1
The 70/14 Paradox
Why governance structures don't equal governance readiness
21/01/26
Week 2
The Invisible Intelligence Layer
Why your governance gap is bigger than you think
28/01/26
Week 3
The AI Literacy Illusion
The misdiagnosed problem
04/02/26
Week 4
From Observer to Multiplier
Redefining the board's role
11/02/26
Week 5
Governance as Growth Engine
How governance accelerates deployment
18/02/26
Week 6
The 2026 Inflection Point
Why the time to act is now
25/02/26
AI capability for Leaders
AI Leadership for Senior Leaders
The Challenge
Senior leaders are expected to drive AI adoption without the fluency to evaluate tools, the frameworks to make decisions, or the confidence to lead teams through change. The result is paralysis disguised as caution, or adoption without direction. Neither serves the organisation.
Our Approach
We develop AI fluency in senior leaders,not technical expertise, but the understanding required to lead AI initiatives with confidence. This means knowing where AI creates value in your function, how to evaluate tools and vendors, when to trust AI outputs and when to apply human judgement, and how to build capability in your teams. Our engagements are built around your context, not generic scenarios.
Engagement Areas for Leaders
Developing AI Fluency
For senior leaders who need to understand AI well enough to lead it
This engagement builds the foundational understanding senior leaders need to make sound decisions about AI. We work through the landscape of available tools, the principles of effective AI use, and the critical question of where human judgement must remain central. Leaders develop confidence to evaluate AI opportunities, ask the right questions of technical teams, and guide their functions through adoption.
Outcomes:
Confident evaluation of AI tools and opportunities; clear criteria for when AI adds value versus when it introduces risk; the language to engage productively with technical teams
Identifying Where AI Creates Value
For leaders responsible for implementation planning
Many organisations adopt AI without first identifying where it creates genuine value. Random experimentation wastes resources and creates disillusionment. This engagement provides a systematic process for discovering use cases that align with business priorities, evaluating tools against real requirements, and building a prioritised roadmap. Leaders gain methods they can apply repeatedly as AI capabilities evolve.
Outcomes:
A structured process for use case discovery; methods to evaluate AI tools against your specific needs; a prioritised roadmap tailored to your context
Protecting Decision Quality
For leaders concerned about bias, cognitive overload, and AI-assisted decision-making
AI can amplify human biases as easily as it amplifies productivity. Non-deliberate use of AI tools can produce anchoring, confirmation bias, and outcomes worse than not using the tools at all. This engagement helps leaders understand where biases enter AI-assisted work, establish team practices for safe and effective use, and build a learning culture that improves outcomes over time.
Outcomes:
Methods to identify and mitigate bias in AI-assisted work; team rituals for safe, effective AI use; a practical governance approach for your function
Multiplying Capacity Through AI
For leaders stretched across operational demands
Leaders who are pulled in multiple directions often struggle to build capability and delegate effectively. AI can multiply individual and team capacity when integrated thoughtfully into existing workflows. This engagement examines how AI supports work planning and knowledge building, introduces frameworks for allocating time between investment, maintenance, and optimisation activities, and develops improved delegation systems.
Outcomes:
Practical integration of AI into leadership workflows; time allocation frameworks; delegation
systems that build team capability
AI for Teams
AI Leadership for Teams
The Challenge
Teams are often left to figure out AI on their own,experimenting with tools, sharing tips informally, and developing habits that may or may not serve the organisation. The result is inconsistent adoption, quality risks, and missed opportunities. Effective AI use at the team level requires structured capability building, not just tool access.
Our Approach
We develop practical AI capability for teams working in specific functional areas. Each engagement is built around real tasks and genuine business challenges, not abstract exercises. Teams gain methods they can apply immediately and habits that improve over time.
Engagement Areas for Teams
Content That Maintains Your Voice
For marketing, communications, and content teams
Content creation is time-consuming but essential for visibility. Generic AI output damages credibility and fails to differentiate. This engagement develops practical techniques for using AI whilst maintaining authentic voice, covering the differences between specialised tools and general-purpose AI, methods for writing thought leadership content, and ethical considerations in AI-generated material. Teams develop a content system that scales their authentic voice.
Outcomes:
AI-assisted content workflows that preserve brand voice; techniques for thought leadership content; awareness of ethical considerations
Winning Proposals, Faster
For bid teams, business development, and proposal writers
Responding to tenders and writing compelling proposals places significant demands on limited team capacity. AI can reduce response times whilst improving persuasiveness and compliance,but only when used deliberately. This engagement covers AI-assisted market research and competitive analysis, techniques for overcoming writer's block, and methods for maintaining quality and consistency across submissions. Teams develop a repeatable framework that demonstrates impact.
Outcomes:
AI-assisted proposal workflows; methods for research and competitive analysis; a repeatable framework for demonstrating impact
Discovering New Markets and Opportunities
For business development and market research teams
Rapid market discovery can shorten sales cycles and reduce wasted effort, but it requires careful attention to compliance with platform rules and data protection regulations. This engagement develops AI-assisted approaches to customer discovery using established frameworks such as Jobs to Be Done, generates compliant outreach methods, and builds skills in synthesising qualitative inputs into actionable insights.
Outcomes:
AI-assisted market discovery workflows; compliant approaches to outreach; methods for synthesising research into testable insights
Meet The Team
Our engagements are delivered by practitioners with deep experience across higher education, financial services, and technology sectors. The team combines academic rigour with practical implementation expertise.
Viren Lall, FRSA
Managing Director, ChangeSchool
Viren leads ChangeSchool's AI capability development work, focusing on bridging the gap between AI's potential and organisational reality. He has designed and delivered AI engagements for the Royal Academy of Engineering's Leaders in Innovation Fellowship programme and serves as chief architect of the Made Smarter Workforce Development Programme in London. He is currently designing an AI governance programme for further education governance professionals.
Expertise: AI strategy and organisational design; workforce development; AI governance and ethics; knowledge institutionalisation
Neil Marshall
Development Director, ChangeSchool
Neil brings over a decade of strategic leadership in executive education, including faculty roles at King's Business School since 2019. He is leading a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with City University, developing advanced AI applications for executive education delivery. Neil has played a key role in ChangeSchool's AI-focused programmes for the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Expertise: Leading adoption of emerging technology; leadership transformation through discovery-based learning; knowledge transfer and capability building
Alex Mita
Banking Transformation Specialist
Alex is a senior transformation practitioner specialising in banking and fintech, with extensive experience in data strategy and AI implementation. He has led transformation initiatives for HSBC, Credit Suisse, Barclays, and Lloyds, spanning technical implementation through to strategic business transformation. His current focus is AI-enabled governance, reporting, and decision support in regulated environments.
Expertise: Technical-to-strategic translation; banking and fintech AI transformation; AI governance in regulated industries; compliance and risk
Ben Rayner
Consultant, Organisation Strategy & AI
Ben works alongside leadership teams to improve execution, decision-making, and commercial performance. With thirty years' experience across turnarounds, scale-ups, and founder-led organisations, he sits at the intersection of operations, strategy, and AI. Ben is creator of the AI Pathfinder Programme, running structured discovery sessions that produce business cases with quantified ROI and prioritised roadmaps.
Expertise: AI discovery facilitation and business case development; trusted advisor to CEOs and boards; change leadership and adoption
