The AI landscape
What AI is and is not, explained for non-technical leaders, with a shared vocabulary for the rest of the program.
FEDERAL WORKFORCE EDUCATION
Federal AI
Enablement.
Helping government leaders connect AI learning to practical application.
Delivered training to over 175 unique federal participants across all courses through a subcontracted engagement spanning eight agencies. Fourteen of the 28 training days focused on generative AI and AI strategy.
The program was part of broader federal training delivery: 28 days across eight agencies, half in generative AI and AI strategy, and the rest in decision-making, data analysis, and professional skills.
- Reach
- over 175 unique federal participants across all courses
- Audience
- Federal employees, leaders, and managers
- Format
- Virtual, instructor-led, interactive
- Focus
- AI adoption, governance, change leadership
- Supporting materials
- Facilitator guides, speaker notes, and breakout guides
- Engagement
- Subcontracted federal delivery, June to September 2026
THE CHALLENGE
Leaders needed to lead AI adoption,
not just try a tool.
Federal leaders are asked to move on AI while working inside compliance requirements, security limits, and workforces at very different levels of readiness. They needed a way to sponsor adoption, govern it, and measure it.
The setting added constraints. Sessions ran virtually, rooms were often quiet or off-camera, and participants typically had limited access to AI tools during class.
THE PROGRAM
Four tracks.
One leadership arc.
The core program was provided through the subcontract. Axis Advisory delivered it to leaders and built the interactive and facilitation layer described below.
Change readiness
Readiness profiles, culture types, and the emotional arc of change, using ADKAR and the technology adoption curve.
Governance and ethics
Responsible use, human oversight, and bias, taught through documented public-sector and employment-context failures of automated decision systems.
Implementation strategy
Use-case selection, champion networks, common pitfalls, measuring success, and a personal and team action plan for this week, this month, and this quarter.
THE APPROACH
Built for the quiet room.
When people are off-camera and no one volunteers, discussion-based training stalls. Axis Advisory designed the interactive layer around four rules.
Synchronized, not volunteered
Everyone responds at the same moment through polls, word clouds, and chat drops.
Anonymous beats attributed
People answer honestly when no name is attached.
Always give a frame
Fixed options and sentence starters lower the cost of responding.
Trainer models, then harvests
The facilitator answers first, then collects and names what the group offered.
Access to AI tools varied by agency. Where an approved tool was available, participants practiced with it on non-sensitive material. Where access was limited, practice leaned on tabletop exercises, branching decisions, and case-based work such as grading a deliberately weak AI policy. The exercises were designed to support judgment through active practice.
TAILORING AND DELIVERY
Adapted to the workforce
in the room.
For agency-specific cohorts, scenarios and language were adapted to the work participants actually do, such as contract administration, procurement timelines, and workload across integrated project teams. Framing stayed on responsible use, reducing administrative burden, and mission delivery.
The interactive and facilitation layer came with facilitator run-of-shows, speaker notes, and breakout guides, so delivery stayed consistent from session to session.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND PARTICIPANT RESOURCES
Judgment.
Capability.
A next step.
- Objective: establish a shared AI vocabulary for non-technical leaders.
- Objective: assess organizational readiness and culture before selecting an adoption approach.
- Objective: identify human oversight needs and review weaknesses in sample policies.
- Resources and exercises: champion planning, resistance scenarios, and use-case selection.
- Participant resource: a personal and team action-planning exercise with dated next steps.
TOPICS COVERED
Delivered by Jenn Williams, Founder, Axis Advisory Co. Client and agency names are withheld.
LET’S BUILD WHAT’S NEXT
Planning AI adoption for a federal or public-sector team?
Let’s connect leadership learning to the needs of your workforce.
Talk with Axis Advisory