Reciprocal Pilot Circles
AI CONTAGIONENABLE
Lauren Kelly
Purpose Double your pilot wins by pairing two managers to copy-coach each other’s AI tasks.
Intervention type Behaviour-led peer mentoring & rapid experimentation
Audience Leaders and managers setting AI strategy, running roll-outs, and owning adoption KPIs
Time 90-min kick-off · 2 × 30-min check-ins · 60-min retro ≈ 4 h spread across 7 days
Expected outcomes
Users: Complete the pilot task on their own.
Teams: Two ready-to-use prompts, clear guardrails, and a shared KPI everyone can explain.
Business: Pilot runs twice as fast, with time, cost, or quality gains measured in 7 days.
Organisation: Two “Buddy Brief” slides shared with execs, showing internal proof, not vendor hype.
Run this when…
At least one team already has a small AI win (time saved, errors cut, etc.).
Two managers are willing to swap ideas and block 4 hours over a week.
You want low-cost, peer-based learning without extra consultants.
What to bring to the session
Buddy Brief Slide (one-page report template).
Prompt Mirror Sheet (below)
KPI Picker Sheet (below)
Steps
1 | Pair & Prep (organiser, 30 min)
Step 1: Pair the teams
Pick two managers with:
Similar metric (e.g. response time)
Different context (e.g. Sales vs Support)
Send calendar holds for Kick-off (Day 1) · Pulse (Day 4) · Retro (Day 7).
2 | Kick-off (Day 1, 90 min)
Step 2: Swap Briefs (20 min)
Each manager shares: task, baseline metric, prompt or settings, guard-rails.
Capture both in the Buddy Brief draft.
Step 3: Prompt Mirror (30 min)
Managers trade prompts and rewrite them using the Prompt Mirror Sheet (below).
Review cues:
Too long / multi-purpose?
Missing context or examples?
Would a new joiner understand it?
Step 4: Pick a shared KPI (10 min)
Use the KPI Picker Sheet. Log the metric in the shared tracker.
Step 5: Plan pilot window (10 min)
Block a 15-min daily slot (same time) for the task run. Add tracker links.
Checkpoint 1. Both prompts cleaned + KPI logged before leaving kick-off.
3 | Run & Support (Days 2-3)
Step 6: Daily Pilot & Log (15 min per day)
Each team: run the task once, log results in a tracker.
Step 7: Buddy Hot-line
When stuck, DM your buddy first. Time-box help requests to 10 min.
4 | Mid-Point Pulse (Day 4, 30 min)
Step 8: Share quick numbers
Time saved so far
Quality or error count
Planned tweak
Update shared KPI tracker.
Checkpoint 2. Each team shows ≥5 % improvement or has a clear tweak.
5 | Run v2 & Capture (Days 5-6)
Step 9: Apply tweak, log again
Repeat daily run with improvements. Aim for green numbers in tracker.
6 | Joint Retro & Broadcast (Day 7, 60 min)
Step 10: Compare final metrics (15 min)
Plot baseline vs AI in the tracker. Mark green / amber / red.
Step 11: Capture wins (15 min)
“What change made the biggest jump?”
“Which guard-rail mattered most?”
Add to Buddy Brief.
Step 12: Decide next step (10 min)
Scale · Iterate · Park. Note decision on slide.
Step 13: Publish Buddy Briefs (5 min)
Post slides in exec Slack with subject “Peer Pilot Wins, Week X”. Tag sponsor.
Checkpoint 3. Sponsor reacts + or asks a follow-up giving proof it landed.
Other tips
No baseline? Run the task once without AI on Day 1.
Metric fog? Pick time to complete, everyone can measure a stopwatch.
Feedback feels awkward? Use the card: “I’d keep … / I’d shorten … / I’d test …”.
Momentum sagging? Post a screenshot of the green cells in the tracker; public visibility nudges action.
Resources
Buddy Brief Template
Prompt Mirror Sheet
Example KPIs
Other methods within the enable block
Human-AI Performance
By Lauren Kelly
Contact: lauren@alterkind.com
© 2025 Alterkind Ltd. All rights reserved.
Human-AI Performance™ is a proprietary methodology developed by Alterkind Ltd using our Behaviour Thinking® framework. All content, tools, systems, and resources presented on this site are the exclusive intellectual property of Alterkind Ltd.
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Icons by Creative Mahira, The Noun Project.
Thanks to Nicholas Edell, Valentina Tan and multiple VPs implementing AI for your feedback during development.
LICENSE
Human AI Performance by Alterkind is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on work at alterkind.com
For commercial licensing contact: lauren@alterkind.com