Digital Transformation, AI & Data
AI for Executives and Decision-Makers
A two-day closed executive session for leaders who must approve artificial intelligence investment, set organisational policy and answer for AI-assisted decisions. It is built to produce a documented organisational position, not to provide a technology overview.
The business challenge
Why organisations commission this programme
Executive groups are being asked to make consequential AI decisions without a working understanding of what the technology does, where it fails and what governance it requires. The usual substitutes — vendor briefings and conference material — are optimistic by construction, so the questions that would expose a weak business case are not asked until after commitment.
Executives are asked to approve AI investment, set AI policy and answer for AI-assisted decisions without a working understanding of what the technology does, where it fails, and what governance is actually required.
Who it is for
Participants
- Audience
- Board members, executive committee, directors and senior functional leaders
- Recommended cohort
- 8 to 16 participants
- Prerequisites
- Board, executive committee or senior functional leadership position. No technical background assumed or required.
Outcomes
What participants will be able to do
- Explain in business terms what current AI systems do, what they cannot do, and how they fail.
- Evaluate an AI proposal against value, feasibility, data readiness, risk and organisational capacity.
- Identify the governance, accountability and record-keeping an AI-assisted decision requires.
- Ask the questions that expose a weak AI business case before money is committed.
- Set a realistic organisational position on AI adoption, use boundaries and workforce capability.
Learning objectives
- Give the executive group a shared and accurate working understanding of current AI capability and limitation.
- Equip participants to evaluate an AI proposal against value, feasibility, data readiness, risk and organisational capacity.
- Establish the governance, accountability and record-keeping an AI-assisted decision requires.
- Produce a documented organisational position on adoption, use boundaries and workforce capability.
Indicative content
Programme structure
Content is confirmed during design and adapted to your context.
Session 1
What the technology actually is, in business terms; capability, limitation and failure modes.
- What the technology does, in business terms
- Capability and limitation
- Characteristic failure modes
- What has gone wrong elsewhere
Session 2
Where value is realistic: use-case patterns, value and feasibility assessment, and what has gone wrong elsewhere.
- Use-case patterns and value
- Feasibility and data readiness
- Cost drivers and total cost
- Interrogating a vendor business case
Session 3
Governance, accountability, data protection, intellectual property and acceptable use.
- Governance and decision accountability
- Data protection and confidentiality
- Intellectual property
- Acceptable use and workforce policy
Session 4
Executive decision workshop on the organisation's own candidate use cases, and an adoption position statement.
- Executive decision workshop on client use cases
- Prioritisation
- Adoption position statement
- Actions and owners
Delivery and customisation
Configured around your organisation
- Typical duration
- Two days (one-day board briefing variant available)
- Formats
- Classroom or virtual; frequently delivered as a closed executive session
- Language
- English by default. Other languages subject to facilitator availability and materials translation, agreed during design.
How it can be tailored
- The organisation's own candidate use cases and any existing AI policy position.
- Sector and regulatory environment, including data protection regime.
- Delivery as a one-day board briefing where a decision workshop is not required.
- Inclusion of a technology or data leader as a participant or contributor.
- Cascade design for the wider management population as a separate commissioned programme.
Methods
- Confidential pre-session interviews with participants so that the session begins from the group's real disagreements.
- Worked examination of the organisation's own candidate use cases rather than generic illustrations.
- Structured challenge exercise in which participants interrogate a realistic AI business case.
- Facilitated drafting of a position statement in the room, with named owners for follow-up actions.
Materials, assessment and completion
Materials
- Participant workbook containing session content, frameworks, exercises and space for applied work.
- Client-contextualised case material and scenario packs used during the programme.
- Job aids, checklists and templates designed for use in the role after the programme.
- Assessment instruments and the marking criteria applied to them.
- Individual action plan template and a manager briefing note.
- A short executive reference note and a question set for interrogating future AI proposals.
Reinforcement
- Individual action plans agreed during the programme and shared with line managers where the client permits.
- Manager briefing material setting out what was taught and what should be reinforced in the role.
- Toolkits and templates issued in editable form for continued use.
- Follow-up session at 30, 60 or 90 days where commissioned, reviewing action-plan progress and obstacles.
- A follow-up session at 60 to 90 days reviewing action progress and any live proposals, where commissioned.
Completion
- Attendance at no less than 80 per cent of scheduled contact time, recorded daily and reconciled against the registered cohort.
- Participation in the assessed practical components of the programme.
- Submission of the assessed work product and the individual action plan.
- Achievement of the assessment threshold where the client sets one; where no threshold is set, results are reported without a pass or fail determination.
Participants who meet the completion criteria receive a Knull certificate of completion recording the programme, dates, duration, content covered and, where assessed, the assessment outcome. Knull does not award accredited or regulated qualifications and does not hold third-party training accreditation. Attendance and assessment records are retained under the engagement terms and provided to the client with the completion report.
| Component | Weighting | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-session interviews | Input | Confidential synthesis of participant positions, used to design the session; not reported individually. |
| Decision exercise | Formative | Facilitated observation of reasoning quality and use of evidence; feedback to the group, not to individuals. |
| Documented outputs | Primary | The position statement, prioritised use cases and action list produced by the group. |
Next step
Make it fit your organisation
Dates, cohort, format and fees are agreed in a proposal once scope is defined. To register interest in a closed cohort, use a corporate booking request — Knull reviews every request; it is not a confirmed reservation.
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Discuss this programme for your organisation
Tell us about your priorities, capability gaps or business challenges. We'll help identify an appropriate next step.