5 Questions Every Executive Should Ask Before Investing in AI Training

Every business conversation ends up with a discussion on AI in some form and there is no shortage of AI courses to choose from – but how do you select which AI training is right for you?

Here are five questions worth thinking through when choosing AI training for your firm, with tips on how to put them to any provider directly, before you sign on the dotted line.

• Is this training built for people at our precise level, or is it one-size-fits-all?
• How will we measure whether this was worth it?
• Is the training designed to transfer, or just to inform?
• How much effort does this require from us?
• Is this provider keeping pace with the subject they’re teaching?

1. Is this training built for people at our precise level, or is it one-size-fits-all?

There is a meaningful difference between training designed for people who will build AI systems, and training designed for people who will use them or lead organisations that will. C-suite execs and business leaders need to understand:

• How AI affects competitive advantage
• How to ask the right questions of their technical teams
• How to make confident, informed decisions about AI investment

Also worth asking is how the provider handles mixed-ability groups? When a team spans a wide range of AI familiarity, a good trainer will adapt their delivery in the room; working to the level of the group without losing either extreme.

Tip: Before committing to any programme, it’s worth asking the provider directly: who else have you trained at this level, and what outcomes did they benefit from? A good provider will be able to give you real-world use cases and peer references

2. How will we measure whether this was worth it?

This is the question so often skipped, yet arguably the most important. Training without a success metric is a leap of faith. That might be fine for a low-cost experiment in the early days, but ongoing AI training is a significant investment.

What does good look like? The metric will depend on your context but examples might include:

• A shift in how confidently your leadership team discusses AI in strategy meetings
• A reduction in outsourced AI consultancy spend
• The launch of an internal pilot that wouldn’t have happened otherwise

Tip: A provider worth working with will actively help you define what success looks like. If a provider is resistant to that conversation, or vague and generic, that tells you something important.

3. Is the training designed to transfer, or just to inform?

There is a distinction that doesn’t get enough attention in corporate training decisions: the difference between a session that informs people and one that equips them. The former is an interesting afternoon, the latter changes how people work on Monday morning.

Knowledge transfer will be designed into any effective training program, through mechanisms like interactivity, sticky content, reinforcement and repetition, and applied tasks.

Tip: Ask any prospective provider: what do participants typically do differently afterwards? Not “what will they know”, but “how will they act”. The answer should be specific and grounded in real examples.

4. How much effort does this require from us?

The operational overhead of organising training (booking, briefing, chasing, coordinating) has to fall somewhere. If that burden lands on an already stretched team, the true cost is considerably higher than the delivery invoice suggests.

The most straightforward providers make it all easy. It sounds obvious, because it is, and yet it isn’t universal. Look for:

• Responsive communication from a real person
• A booking process that doesn’t require heroic effort
• Flexibility around scheduling
• Trainers who arrive prepared without needing extensive hand-holding from your side

Tip: When evaluating a provider, it’s worth asking past clients (or reading reviews) not just about the quality of the training, but about the experience of working with the people and the technology associated with it.

5. Is this provider keeping pace with the subject they’re teaching?

AI is not a stable topic. The tools, applications and implications are changing at a rate that makes last year’s curriculum feel outdated. Intelligent training builds frameworks for thinking about AI, not just learning about today’s specific tools. On top of that, the best providers will employ trainers who are practitioners as well as educators, and a curriculum that is kept current through regular revisions.

Tip: Ask how frequently the curriculum is reviewed, and whether trainers are also practitioners. If AI training is simply an add-on to a wider generic catalogue, the answer will give it away.

Putting it together

These five questions won’t take long to ask, but they’ll do most of the heavy lifting in terms of helping you choose the right provider.

Go Tech delivers AI training built specifically for the people leading organisations, rather than teams building the technology. Organisations including Flannery Plant Hire, Motel Rocks, Hall Hunter and Trainline have trusted us to upskill their teams. Here’s why they choose us:

• Trainers who adapt to the room, working to the knowledge level of each group, from complete beginners to those already using AI tools day-to-day
• Consistently high feedback: 4.7/5 satisfaction scores and above
• Available in-person at your offices anywhere across the UK, or live online. Whichever suits your team
• Low-effort booking and fast, responsive support from a real person – we consistently deliver multiple courses in different locations and take care of the admin for you
• Practical, applicable training. Not theory, not off-the-shelf, not pre-recorded

If you’re in the process of evaluating your options, we’d be delighted to chat through all the above and more. You can reach us here.