Navigating the skills gap: How to future-proof your team with machine learning training

There’s no question that AI has a role in modern business. But while most organisations are investing in AI tools, far fewer are investing in what will determine whether these tools succeed or fail – leadership capability.

In this article, we explore how strategic, role-relevant AI training for business leaders can help unlock the full potential of technology investments. To explore this topic, we’ll cover the following core questions:

• ​​​Where’s the ROI of AI?
• ​​​What’s the business case for investing in AI training for business leaders?
• How is strategic AI training different?
• What are the risks of not investing in leadership training?
• ​​​Is it time for you to unlock the ROI of AI training?

So first, let’s tackle the elephant in every boardroom when the topic of AI is raised…

Where’s the ROI of AI?

Research from Accenture found that the majority of business functions and more than 40% of all US work activity could be augmented or automated with generative AI.  And the use cases are everywhere. Marketing tools that accelerate content creation and campaign testing. Sales platforms that streamline lead generation and improve pipeline predictions. Finance applications that are generating faster reporting with fewer errors. Chatbots that can resolve customer service issues in minutes, not hours.

It’s undeniable, AI is powerful. The productivity-driving potential is immense. And the bottom-line benefits could be transformative. But for too many organisations, the returns just aren’t materialising. Even after investing heavily in AI pilots, hiring in talent and undertaking rigorous vendor selection processes, research by BCG found only 22% of companies have progressed beyond the proof-of-concept stage, and just 4% are generating notable value.

So, what’s going wrong? In most cases, it’s not a lack of enthusiasm – that’s abundant. And the technology itself is more capable than ever. Instead, the challenges seem to centre around adoption and execution.

What’s the business case for investing in AI training for business leaders?

When it comes to adopting AI, too many organisations are caught in a loop of talking, trying, testing, but not actually delivering. The most successful organisations are breaking this cycle by investing in the single biggest influence on the success of their AI initiatives – their leaders.

When leaders are trained to understand the capabilities of AI and how to embed them across operations, they can unlock benefits across the following areas:

• Strategic alignment: Trained leaders develop the ability to identify and prioritise AI initiatives based on business impact and long-term goals. This ensures AI efforts are value-driven rather than opportunistic.
• Maximising ROI: AI efforts only deliver returns when they’re implemented effectively and adopted widely. Training gives leaders the frameworks they need to define success metrics, evaluate investments objectively and drive initiatives that deliver measurable, sustainable returns.
• Governance and risk management: AI comes with risk and complexity that need to be managed. Better informed leaders can implement governance structures that prevent unregulated experimentation from derailing initiatives.
• Accelerated adoption: Successful AI transformation requires a shift in mindset. When empowered with AI knowledge, leaders are able to model the behaviours needed to nurture an AI-ready culture across an organisation.
• Higher productivity: When leaders understand where AI fits into their processes, they can target technology investment more precisely to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce bottlenecks and enhance workflows.
• Faster, smarter decisions: With the confidence to use AI-driven insights, such as predictive analytics, risk modelling and trend analysis, leaders move beyond relying on intuition to more efficient data-backed decision-making.

The business case for leadership-level AI training is compelling. But leaders won’t achieve their aims by enrolling on a course designed for a data scientist or a sales executive. This is where AI for business leaders training comes in.

How is strategic AI training different?

Strategic AI training is specifically designed to provide leaders with the knowledge, outlook and decision-making tools to competently lead their organisation through AI-driven transformation at scale.

Unlike technical courses aimed at software developers or frontline roles, leadership-focused programmes recognise that the AI skills required by a CEO, marketing director, finance lead or COO are fundamentally different. It isn’t about learning how to build machine learning models or crafting the perfect prompt in ChatGPT. Instead, it focuses on overcoming some of the key barriers to successful AI adoption – lack of strategic alignment, absence of governance and ethical frameworks and cultures that aren’t ready to adopt AI responsibly or effectively.

But what does strategic AI for business leaders look like in practice? Go Tech Training’s AI training for business leaders course demonstrates the core elements of a well-designed programme for leaders, including:

• Explaining how key technologies, such as generative AI, predictive analytics and NLP apply to real world business scenarios.
• Introducing frameworks to help pinpoint the challenges within an organisation where AI could make the biggest impact.
• Aligning AI strategies with business goals, including resource planning, ROI evaluation and building investment cases.
• Establishing governance structures that address ethical considerations, compliance and risk management.
• Evaluating tools and vendors for strategic, operational and cultural fit.
• Developing change management strategies to support AI adoption and foster an AI-ready workplace culture.
• Designing an implementation roadmap with clear milestones, KPIs and performance tracking.

In other words, rather than focusing on how to use AI tools like chatbots and copilots, it focuses instead on empowering leaders to spot opportunities, avoid common pitfalls and learn how to apply AI tools to solve actual business challenges.

What are the risks of not investing in leadership training?

As AI becomes more embedded in day-to-day operations, the cost of inaction is rising. Failing to invest in AI training for leaders introduces several risks:

• Failed AI investments: When AI initiatives are disconnected from business objectives, they often stall or fail to deliver meaningful returns.
• Low adoption and engagement: Without the advocacy of leadership, AI programmes can struggle to gain traction. Tools go underutilised, and when AI is implemented, it tends to be in silos, which means its impact is limited.
• Increased risk exposure: Untrained leaders may overlook critical governance, ethical and compliance considerations, unwittingly exposing their business to reputational damage, regulatory breaches and legal risk.
• Loss of competitive advantage: As competitors embed AI more effectively into their operations, organisations that fail to upskill their leaders risk falling behind, both in terms of speed of innovation and ability to respond to market changes.

Is it time for you to unlock the ROI of AI training?

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 highlights that 60% of employers anticipate that by 2030, broadening digital access will have transformed their business. AI is a big part of this. But unlocking the ROI of AI doesn’t come from technology alone. It relies on leadership that understands how to integrate AI into strategy, drive adoption across teams, and manage risk responsibly.

Organisations that delay investment in building strategic AI capabilities risk falling behind competitors who are proactively building business critical capabilities, putting their long-term resilience and success in jeopardy.

Explore Go Technology Training’s strategic AI training for business leaders to find out how our course could give your organisation the leadership advantage it needs to thrive in the age of AI.