Colaborix Pilot: Proof in the Real World

AI adoption only scales in an environment where trust abounds.

This is Part 4 in our series on the Colaborix Pilot Study. Here is the rest of the series: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

Earlier this year, we met a project manager named Elena who had been asked to “lead AI adoption” after Microsoft Copilot rolled out across her division.

Her team had done what most organizations ask of them. They completed the training. They attended the kickoff. They had the tools.

And still, nothing changed. “I feel like I’m failing at something I was never really taught,” she said. “When deadlines hit, the team falls back to old habits because AI doesn’t seem to fit the work.” What Elena was experiencing isn’t uncommon. And it definitely isn’t personal.

MIT’s Iceberg Index helps explain why. Their research shows that AI already has the technical capability to perform tasks representing 11.7% of U.S. wage value, yet organizations only see about 2.2% of that exposure today. The rest sits below the surface where real capability is hiding. 

That gap is caused by a surprising set of factors: low confidence, low trust, and unclear human systems.

We saw the same pattern in our own controlled pilot study. Two groups received identical AI training. One group also received four team-coaching sessions focused on experiential learning, collaboration, and real-world application of AI.

Eight weeks later, the difference was striking:

→ Training alone led to declining confidence and trust

→ Coaching increased confidence by 22% and trust by 26%

→ Productivity gains added the equivalent of 27 hours per person per year

Usage frequency didn’t change, but effectiveness did. Coaching didn’t make people use AI more. It helped them trust themselves enough to use it when it mattered. Elena didn’t need another tutorial. She needed a system that treated AI adoption as a human transition instead of a software rollout.

That’s the part of AI transformation so many companies keep missing. AI doesn’t scale until trust does, and that won’t come from standard AI training alone.

In our pilot, the coaching paid for itself in about three months through time savings alone. No big rollout. No reorg. Just a structured, human-centered system that helps organizations close the gap between AI intent and real-world adoption.

If you’re trying to move AI adoption forward without betting the farm, that’s exactly why we start with our AI Maturity Scan. It’s a no-cost, 7-minute tool that shows leaders where mindset and adoption readiness are misaligned with the AI tools already in place.