Giving your team a voice (activity)

Ongoing, with regular check-ins | Leader-led, with team participation | Moderate effort

Use this activity to create simple ways for staff to speak up about how AI affects their work, raise concerns or flag potential risks. Build stronger feedback habits as tools, policies and team needs change.

This activity supports our guidance on how to give your team a voice.

For more activities that support giving your team a voice, consider exploring uncertainty  and planning together.

Giving people a voice helps surface ideas and concerns before issues appear or decisions are locked in. It builds trust, improves decisions and supports safer AI use as tools and work practices change.

Bring your team together to discuss how they can raise ideas, questions and concerns about AI in ways that feel safe and practical. Encourage honest discussions about any potential risks that your team identifies.

Start by agreeing that:

• feedback is welcome and questions are useful
• team input is essential for positive outcomes
• concerns should be raised early, not managed quietly
• informal input is valid
• staff don’t need a perfect answer before speaking up.

Keep the approach practical. Focus on simple channels your team already uses.

Stage 1: Get started

Make it easy for staff to raise questions, share ideas, and flag concerns as part of everyday work.

Choose simple ways for staff to share input, such as:

• a board or page where they can add suggestions for AI ideas
• a shared space for open questions and discussion about AI
• an anonymous form to raise concerns or feedback
• a standing AI agenda item in team meetings.

Keep it light:

• Effective engagement isn’t the same as mass consultation.
• Smaller, targeted inputs are valid and useful.
• Informal approaches count.

Stage 2: Build momentum

Create a simple and consistent way to capture ideas, questions and concerns. Be clear about how staff input is being reviewed and what happens next.

Use a shared approach to record input as it comes in. For example:

• log ideas, questions or concerns in one place
• acknowledge input and clarify next steps
• find patterns in what your team raises.

Show impact by making follow-up visible. For example:

• tell your team what you heard
• show what changed, what didn’t, and why
• make next steps visible and easy to track.

This helps staff build trust and confidence in the feedback process.

Stage 3: Create results that last

At this stage, make team input part of how AI changes are planned, tested and reviewed over time. 

Regularly review how feedback is collected and handled by: 

• checking feedback channels still feel safe and easy to use
• updating the approach when new AI tools, laws or policies are introduced
• building feedback steps into onboarding so new staff know how to raise ideas or concerns
• continuing to gather feedback through pilots, rollouts and reviews.