The Executive Guide to AI Upskilling

1. AI Training for C-Suite: Drive AI Strategy and Maximize ROI

Your C-suite should have formal training geared towards executives. This will inform the organization’s strategy by giving senior management a firm grounding in AI capabilities, how best to deploy, and which business areas to focus on. 

Here are some of the areas to cover in formal C-suite training:

• AI Governance & Ethics: Establish responsible guidelines and manage bias risk
• Strategic Deployment Frameworks:  Consider enterprise-wide scaling and whether to build or buy
• Risk Management: Identify data security vulnerabilities and compliance requirements 
• Measure Impact: Identify KPIs for success beyond cost saving, like impact on decision-making speed, revenue generation and employee retention.

Business and technology academic leaders, such as MIT Sloan or Harvard Business School, offer robust programs. These courses are expensive, but their ROI is substantial given their potential to transform your business and reduce the potential for frivolous AI technology spending. 

Once the majority of your decision-makers have completed these courses, your organization can move on to establishing an AI training strategy and use policy. If you skip this step to save time, make sure to eventually build these courses into your strategy.

2. Establish Your AI Needs and Use Policy

Before you start looking for courses, determine your company’s training needs. Some employees may need only the free courses that come with the tools they use, while others may need more in-depth training to use AI tools in their roles. 

Accountants, for example, likely don’t need anything beyond the free CoPilot training that Microsoft offers. Sales staff, on the other hand, may need more advanced training to incorporate AI into outbound efforts, account research, and other “non-selling” tasks. Prodoscore can help identify current AI usage gaps to inform your plan and strategy. 

It’s also important for senior leadership to provide clear direction, not a blanket “use AI” statement. Staff need clear direction on management's expectations for AI use. This policy, paired with your AI training strategy, will give you the data you need to find the right providers for AI upskilling. 

You can gauge AI tool adoption with Prodoscore, our employee productivity monitoring solution. The data highlights who is using AI and how, who may be struggling and needing support, and who your AI champions are.  

Prodoscore provides the initial quantitative data required to define your needs. For instance, if Marketing shows high tool usage but low output on their core activities, it signals a need for advanced, role-specific training. Conversely, if 80% of the sales team shows zero usage of AI-enabled CRM tools, the strategy must prioritize mandatory foundational training immediately. It’s helpful to roll out a solution like Prodoscore before implementing new AI tools in order to measure training success and establish the true ROI of both training and technology spend. 

When it comes to an AI use policy, ensure there are rules around confidentiality, attribution and verification, and inappropriate use. It’s also important to provide a list of sanctioned AI tools and a process for approving new ones.

3. Maximize Budget: Choosing Free vs. Paid AI Basics Training

Free AI basic training is easy to find. There are great courses available from Google and Microsoft that may be geared to their solutions, but still provide a basic understanding of what AI is and how your people can use it to get their jobs done more efficiently. The vast majority of spammy, expensive AI training courses are just repackaged versions of the free ones. 

Google and Microsoft courses are free for users of their services, with some modest exam costs if you want your staff to get certified. They should form the foundational building block of your AI training strategy, and all it will cost you is time each day or week allocated to learning. 

From there, paid training should be limited to those who request more in-depth information on how to use AI in their roles and specific roles that management selects for these courses. 

Basic training should include the following, at a minimum: 

• Basic engineering prompts 
• AI literacy (generative vs. predictive vs. conversational)

4. Advanced AI Upskilling: Finding Specialized Industry Training

Once everyone has the basics, look for AI training providers tailored to your industry sector. If you have a legal practice, you’ll want to look for schools or other organizations offering AI training for law firms. In most cases, these will be recommended by industry associations or other respected bodies. Don’t choose the first ones you find online, or free courses offered by AI technology providers who specialize in your specific industry. 

Your staff may also require specialized AI training tailored to their roles, such as IT or customer service professionals. 

Here are some examples of specialized AI training that go beyond general business applications: 

• For Financial Services: Training on specialized AI models for fraud detection, algorithmic trading compliance, or regulatory reporting automation.
• For Healthcare/Life Sciences: Courses focusing on AI for diagnostic support, drug discovery acceleration, or HIPAA-compliant data handling in medical AI systems.
• For Manufacturing/Logistics: Training in predictive maintenance algorithms, supply chain optimization using machine learning, or robotics integration.

When specialization is required, look for advanced courses from a reputable academic source. If that’s too expensive, there are e-learning options available. You’ll want to choose trusted providers like Coursera rather than an AI training company that just popped up last year. Look for providers who partner directly with top universities or industry bodies, ensuring the course is taught by active industry professionals rather than generalists.

AI upskilling will help any business but it’s important to consider the budget. AI is brand new and investing in AI training for your people will give you a distinct edge over your competitors. It’s not just an investment in your people, it’s an investment in the future of your business. 

True ROI on AI upskilling is not measured by certification completion; it is measured by behavioral change and productivity lift. After training, senior leadership needs visibility into which employees and departments are actively integrating new AI tools into their workflows. 

Only by analyzing real-time employee productivity data can you confirm AI adoption and quantify the time savings or output increase that validates your investment. This is the final and most crucial step in any successful AI strategy.