From doubting to doing

VERENA PLOBERGER

How the future took me by surprise

After a short career break – I was busy raising a tiny human after all – I returned to the agency in September 2023. And BAM: the world of work was different. Not just a little different, but fundamentally transformed, as if someone had clicked ‘install update now’ while I was offline. AI was suddenly the number one topic of conversation. Our CEO, Klaus, our innovation driver, threw himself into anything with “artificial intelligence” in the title with the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy shop. Me, on the other hand? Skeptical. I’m more of a “wait and see if it really works” type. While Klaus was already juggling tools in his early-adopter euphoria, I was busy debating internally: do we really need this? Do machines think for us now? And how am I supposed to survive in a world in which human creativity is constrained by algorithms? It was an uncomfortable start. But reality didn’t let me brood for long. The first projects came along and I had to deal with AI – whether I wanted to or not.

Trial and error or:
How I learned to love AI

Admittedly: My first attempt with AI felt like my first dance lesson – awkward, sometimes embarrassing, but also surprisingly fun. It started with in-house experiments in our AI lab. Generating texts, analyzing data, conjuring up creative ideas from a machine – a lot was new, some was incomprehensible, but some was also like, “Wow, it works!” And then came the moment when it clicked. A customer project, a seemingly impossible deadline and an AI tool that had my back. Suddenly I had results in hand that made me think: could I have done this on my own at this speed? Probably not.

Change is not something you like – until you suddenly realize that you do like it.
Verena Ploberger

Of course, it remains a trial-and-error process. Not everything works right away, and sometimes the AI spits out ideas that even a grumpy intern would have done better. But: I got faster, better and, above all, braver. Changes are uncomfortable, yes – but they also open doors to possibilities that you didn’t even know existed.

Change? Challenge accepted!

What have I learned from this journey? Change needs people who drive it forward without compromise – thanks, Klaus. You also need people who pull the team with them every step of the way, calm nerves, and show how change can be a win-win situation for everyone. How do we do this as an agency? Quite simply: we make ourselves into a blueprint. We have gone through this change – with all its ups and downs – and can now justifiably say: it works. With the right strategy, the right technology and a pinch of humanity, change is not only tolerable, but a real boost for creativity and productivity.

Could you use a little change?

Are you facing similar challenges in your company? As an agency, we can support you in not only mastering change, but actively shaping it. With our consulting services, we accompany you through the change process – step by step towards a successful transformation.

In the end, one conclusion remains: change management hurts, is exhausting and anything but comfortable. But with the right attitude, a great team and a bit of courage, it can be a great thing.

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