Jim Kanichirayil sits down with Monte Erritt, Chief People Officer at Vermeer Southeast Sales & Svc.Inc, to talk about what early AI adoption looks like inside a business with 12 locations, roughly 330 employees, and a strongly frontline, customer-facing workforce. Rather than treating AI as a trend to watch from a distance, Monte explains why his team started seeing it as a real strategic issue, especially in a market where technician talent is hard to find and leadership consistency matters.

Monte walks through the first practical use cases that helped the conversation gain traction, from improving job descriptions and speeding up email writing to thinking through diagnostic support for technicians and internal coaching support for supervisors. A major theme in the episode is that AI becomes much more useful when it is grounded in the company's real language, legacy materials, assessment data, and leadership expectations.

The conversation also focuses on change management. Monte shares how executive alignment, required reading, small-win storytelling, and an internal podcast helped his team create a more consistent message across the organization. Instead of positioning AI as a threat, Vermeer Southeast is working to normalize it as a daily thought partner that helps managers, service leaders, and support teams make better decisions faster.

Monte also talks through the lessons they learned along the way, especially around guardrails, data handling, and the need to train at a much more practical level than most leaders first assume. For HR and people leaders trying to build momentum without hype, this episode offers a grounded look at what adoption can look like in the early stages.

Topics Discussed:

• Why Vermeer Southeast saw AI as a competitive priority
• What AI adoption looks like in a frontline-heavy business
• How technician retention shaped people strategy
• Using AI to improve job descriptions and everyday communication
• Building internal coaching support from assessments and leadership materials
• How to get the CEO, COO, and supervisor buy-in
• Why sharing small wins helps AI adoption spread
• Using an internal podcast to scale communication and consistency
• The difference between ChatGPT, Copilot, and internal guardrails
• What success looks like when AI becomes part of daily work

If you are leading HR, people operations, learning and development, or operations in a skilled-trades, field-service, or frontline-heavy environment, this episode offers a practical starting point for rolling out AI in a way that supports managers, protects trust, and connects directly to day-to-day work.

Additional Resources:

Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot

Future Proof HR Community

Connect with Monte Erritt on LinkedIn

it's just repetitive.

2

if one machine has it, there's probably

gonna be a hundred machines that have it.

3

And once we figure out how to fix that,

if we can feed that into some type of AI

4

system, it can reduce our diagnostic time

drastically with a piece of equipment.

5

we don't want you embarrassed

if you don't use it, I want you

6

embarrassed if you're not using it.

7

'cause you're costing us

time, you're costing us money.

8

the only reason AI would ever replace

you is if you are gonna make the

9

decision that I'm not gonna adapt to ai.

10

Speaker 2: now, everybody should

realize that implementing AI into any

11

organization is gonna be a team sport.

12

It's not something that

you can do by yourself.

13

So how do you get started in

that implementation process?

14

Well, in broad terms, you need to

have executive buy-in, and you need

15

to have, as an HR leader, tight

coordination with the IT organization.

16

And the exact mechanics of how

you actually pull that off is

17

what we're gonna cover in today's

conversation featuring Monty Errett.

18

So Monty, who's been with Vermeer

Southeast Sales and Service, is

19

the current chief people officer.

20

Now, what's interesting about

Monty's background is that

21

he didn't come up through HR.

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He actually came through the

sales and revenue organization.

23

That gave him a unique perspective

And he's leveraged that perspective

24

to drive Vermeer into the age of AI.

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As a people leader who's committed to

coaching, team building, and cultivating

26

strong leadership foundations, he

values loyalty, integrity, consistency,

27

intentionality, and excellence in

all of his endeavors, and he strives

28

to inspire others to contribute to

a work environment that prioritizes

29

collaboration and development.

30

In today's conversation, you'll

get a feel for how that shows up

31

when Monty and his team started

implementing AI and how that's gonna

32

take shape over the next few years.

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Jim Kanichirayil: Monty,

welcome to the show.

34

Monte Erritt: Ah, thanks for having me.

35

I'm looking forward to it.

36

Jim Kanichirayil: Yeah, it's gonna be a

fun conversation and, I'm particularly

37

interested in digging into this because

you're at a very early stage of getting

38

started with AI within your organization.

39

So it's gonna be a good conversation

for those folks who are listening

40

and don't know where to start.

41

And once they get started, okay, what's

the path forward getting, momentum?

42

So looking forward to that.

43

But before we dive into that, I

think it's important for us to get

44

a little bit better picture of not

only your background, but also,

45

the lay of the land for Vermeer.

46

So why don't you walk

us through that first.

47

Monte Erritt: Yeah.

48

So as far as the, company goes, company

is Vermeer Southeast we're the Vermeer

49

equipment dealerin the southeast, which

would be Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.

50

We have 12 locations

throughout those three states.

51

our, we, handle the Vermeer

construction equipment, so the

52

parts service and sales, for that.

53

And that industry really

is your, utility industry.

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We really serve the markets

that put in all your utilities

55

underground, your, water, gas, sewer.

56

So our equipment puts that in.

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And also the equipment that,

that clears the land for that.

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So you gotta get rid of

the trees and so forth.

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So our equipment does that.

60

And then we have, a few other products as

well, like with the solar field business.

61

it's big, and we, we serve

the, what I would call our

62

mothership, so Vermeer Corporation.

63

it's based out of Pella, Iowa, and

64

And so we are the exclusive dealer

for the Vermeer Construction

65

equipment in those three states.

66

as far as for me, I guess started

in the sales world, sold for

67

several years, sales management.

68

I worked my way through regional manager,

director of sales training and so forth.

69

And, so where I am today and

currently serve as the, the

70

chief People officer, for our 12

locations and our 330 ish people.

71

Jim Kanichirayil: So there's a couple

of questions that I have on that.

72

So considering that the space that you're

in from an employee landscape perspective,

73

what's the split between salaried.

74

White collar employees versus hourly,

blue collar employees, how does that

75

break down within your organization?

76

Monte Erritt: Yeah, we're, a little unique

in, are such a frontline, face company.

77

In other words, our sales managers, even

us sometimes we are out on the job sites.

78

We are very, I'd say almost

exclusively blue collar to some degree.

79

I totally get your question,

but that we're, it's a little

80

bit different in, that respect.

81

As far as the split, I would probably say,

oh, you're probably right, about a half or

82

probably gonna be like, parts and service.

83

So that's really frontline

serving our customers.

84

probably a little more than that.

85

Probably around 200 plus.

86

Then you have, some regional managers in

there, some sales managers in there, and

87

then of course exec team and so forth.

88

service and parts is really a big,

piece of our organization, though.

89

Jim Kanichirayil: So would it be safe

to say that if you look at the entire

90

employee population, there isn't

really anybody that's purely strategic.

91

Everybody has, at least

a little customer-facing.

92

Monte Erritt: Yeah, if you get to the

C-Suite, I would say we probably, we,

93

do still go see the customer a few times

a year to stay close to the front line.

94

but yeah, on a day-to-day basis, we're,

at that point our VPs and, c-suites,

95

probably not very customer-facing,

but once you get below that, they're

96

very customer focused and in front of

customers on a pretty consistent basis.

97

Jim Kanichirayil: The other thing

that was interesting about what you

98

described was how you grew up in the

company and the sales side, and now

99

you're in a, like hr, HR adjacent role.

100

What's the story behind that?

101

Monte Erritt: Yeah, Probably five,

six years ago, we were really

102

starting to see this shift in hr.

103

HR, as everybody knows, listening

to this podcast especially, used

104

to be very compliance-driven,

benefits packages and so forth.

105

And I would say five, six years ago

I had a talk with our, as a regional

106

manager and had to just talk with

our CEO and said, Hey, I really

107

see this shift starting to happen.

108

You got this HR role starting to

shift into really this people side

109

and employee engagement and retention.

110

the reality was at that point, it was

really getting hard for us to find people.

111

And so the, if we can't find them,

then we have to keep who we have.

112

And not that our turnover was bad, but it

was higher than what we wanted it to be.

113

And so I've, through my whole career,

I've always really been involved with,

114

training and leadership and development.

115

And, so he asked me, he's Hey.

116

I, see where that's headed as well.

117

Would you be interested in moving

over from your regional manager role,

118

since you understand the business and

that's often one of the challenges

119

on the HR side is, hey, understanding

the HR side, but also understanding

120

the business and how it runs.

121

And since I had that piece of it, he

said, would you consider going into

122

our VP of employee development role?

123

And so really Middle management.

124

And a big piece of that is because

we put these people in leadership

125

positions and then we wonder why

they're not being successful.

126

And the reality is, 'cause

we gave them no training or

127

development to, for that position.

128

And so we wanted to stop that trend.

129

And, so we put a lot of focus on that.

130

that was my focus for probably four years.

131

And then last year in June, he asked

me if I'd consider taking on the

132

chief people officer role, which

really means I'm just overseeing hr.

133

We have an amazing director of HR.

134

She's great.

135

And so she really helps me,

complements me very well there.

136

And she runs that compliance side.

137

I run the, people side, if you will, on

the leadership development, engagement

138

and retention, side of the business.

139

I guess it's influence and at end of

the day through my sales career, I'm

140

able to take that influence and just

slide it over into leadership and how

141

we train and develop our leadership.

142

And really, culture is a big, piece of,

I think most companies, but ours as well.

143

And protecting that culture, and,

training our leaders how to do that.

144

Jim Kanichirayil: So what I find

interesting about what you just

145

described is, you're getting into

areas that are like my wheelhouse.

146

I'm, a retention and turnover guy.

147

That's what my doctoral research is

in, and I speak, write, and create

148

content a lot of times about the

challenges that first line managers

149

face, or first time managers face

when they step into those roles.

150

What's interesting about your answer

is that you didn't have a, a massive

151

turnover issue as you described, so it's

hard to get the C-suite to buy into.

152

Long term retention plays when

something isn't burning down.

153

So tell me a little bit more about how you

talk through the shift in perspective and

154

the transformation that was necessary to

go from compliance oriented to retention

155

and people centric as a strategy.

156

What was the story there?

157

Because, sometimes, especially on the

CFO side, they're gonna look at you

158

sideways and say, this is all fluff.

159

Monte Erritt: Yeah.

160

Jim Kanichirayil: focus on this compliance

stuff that'll keep us from getting sued.

161

Monte Erritt: it's probably a couple fold.

162

One, our exec team is unique.

163

We, have all, been in the business

roughly 25 plus years together,

164

so I think the least amount of

time is 25 years on our exec team.

165

and so the CEO being, both

him and I started within about

166

two months of each other.

167

So there is just strong alignment.

168

where we see the company,

how we need to, run things.

169

also strong alignment in the,

importance of leadership training,

170

leadership development, personal

growth assessments and, so forth.

171

So it wasn't a hard, convince.

172

He, Scott, Coley's, our CEO, he was

already looking at that path as well.

173

So again, high level of trust there.

174

And it's also goes back to what I

talked about we're, pretty close

175

to the front line as far as really

knowing what's working and what's not.

176

And the one thing that we really

both a hundred percent agreed on

177

is where we do have turnover was

generally in our technicians.

178

So our mechanics that

are fixing the equipment.

179

that is also the place that

you can't find, mechanics are

180

getting harder and harder to find.

181

So now you, double that challenge.

182

And then the other reality was.

183

Generally service managers.

184

and if you buy into the whole 70% of

the reason somebody stays or goes is

185

because they're direct supervisor.

186

the challenge with that is our, service

managers oversaw the technicians.

187

So they had, those service managers

had the least amount of training

188

and development with leadership.

189

'cause generally service managers

historically just got there because they

190

were good at turning wrenches, which

has zero correlation to leadership.

191

so looked at that and really said, Hey.

192

If we're gonna improve retention with

our, really, our most, all of our

193

employees are important, but technicians

are like gold if they're, especially if

194

they're good 'cause you cannot find them.

195

We have to dive into training and

developing our leaders, our service

196

managers before they get in that

seat to minimize that turnover.

197

And if we don't do something different,

'cause we've known this for years

198

and we've done nothing about it

because of time and resources.

199

And we just realized both

together, Hey, if we don't focus

200

on this, it's not gonna happen.

201

And so that's when he said, Hey,

would you, mind focusing on that then?

202

And I said, absolutely.

203

So that's how it came about.

204

Jim Kanichirayil: Got it.

205

So we've gone around

this little side road.

206

We're talking about retention

and turnover, but this isn't

207

a retention and turnover show.

208

It's a, it's more about an AI show,

but here's where it gets interesting.

209

You're an organization that generally,

I wouldn't immediately think, oh,

210

this is gonna be an organization

that's even paying attention to ai.

211

So tell me a little bit about how AI

came into the view of your organization

212

and what started that conversation.

213

Monte Erritt: Yeah, I

would say what, started it?

214

I'll start with what started

and what gave it some traction.

215

what started it really was

probably similar to everybody else.

216

we'd heard about this thing.

217

somebody gave it a shot on a job

description and all of a sudden,

218

people are saying, wow, you can knock

out a job description, which is one

219

of the most mundane tasks there is

in about 10 seconds versus, an hour.

220

And so we started

playing around with that.

221

We started using, of course, the

coaching, co-pilot with emails and how

222

to, generate those and, partner with you.

223

So that's probably what got us

started, but what really gave it

224

traction was last October-ish.

225

coming up on year-end, I started thinking

about, hey, I guess coming from a

226

strategic background with sales and so

forth, I always try to think, Hey, what.

227

What could the competitors

do would maybe concern me?

228

if they started doing this, what

would really concern me if they

229

mastered it, it would maybe leave

us in the dust a little bit.

230

for whatever reason, that

weekend, and I really wasn't

231

sure what that answer was yet.

232

But over Thanksgiving, I read this book

called the AI Driven Leader, and after

233

I read that book, I was thoroughly

convinced that is what could happen

234

if, our competitors really started

doing that really, well and we didn't.

235

To me, I felt that was, something

that could possibly leave

236

us in the dust a little bit.

237

And so read that book, started thinking

about that and really, from there,

238

started talking to, again, our leadership

team and so forth about, hey, this is

239

what 2026 needs to look like for us,

and this is some area we really need to

240

gain some key traction in, next year.

241

So that's kinda how we got

where we're at now anyway.

242

Jim Kanichirayil: So I to dig into a

couple of things that you mentioned.

243

you started using copilot to assist

with some of the emails, but the

244

thing that caught my attention was

how you leveraged AI to streamline

245

your job description process.

246

And if we think about it.

247

In general terms that makes sense.

248

But there is a lot of setup behind the

scenes in terms of what's the language

249

that you use in job descriptions?

250

How does it need to line up with your job?

251

Families?

252

What, tell me a little bit about how

you covered those bases so that you

253

weren't getting just like generic

stuff that was, not relevant to, the,

254

roles that your organization has.

255

Monte Erritt: I dunno if we did it

on purpose or not, but we really,

256

it was very ad hoc-ish, if you will.

257

everybody was just experimenting,

doing their own things, but we

258

really just started with what we had.

259

So I would say for the most part.

260

I don't know how many

we created from scratch.

261

I think a lot of it we took

for what we had, with existing.

262

We stuck that into copilot and

just said, Hey, make this better.

263

Shorten this, and so forth.

264

as we continue to learn, how to use

it better, I think we got better at

265

getting more efficient at using that.

266

but.

267

We did start a few, probably from

scratch, but I think that was the

268

consistent, that's why we had the

consistency is we took what we already

269

had, put it in there and just asked,

copilot to really make it better

270

Jim Kanichirayil: Got it.

271

So you used.

272

Legacy information to establish a library

and then ask the copilot to like refine

273

based on whatever prompts you use.

274

The second part that, that caught

my attention was your conversation

275

about reading AI driven leader

and thinking about a competitive

276

analysis of what would, what would

worry me if this happened in the

277

marketplace for my competition?

278

I get reading a book, I get

doing competitive analysis.

279

What I don't get is that when I think

about companies in your space, I still

280

don't imagine them being an AI innovator.

281

So when you think about what are the

areas within your type of business that

282

could be innovated using ai, what were

some of the things that came to mind

283

that signal to you, Hey, if we don't act

on this first, we're gonna be behind.

284

Monte Erritt: I'd say probably

a couple ones really sparked me.

285

one is from, I talked about our

technicians and the challenge with

286

getting experienced technicians

and we started realizing a lot of

287

these things, are common fixes.

288

Once, once there's a number of,

certain number of issues with

289

the machine that are out there.

290

it's just repetitive.

291

if one machine has it, there's probably

gonna be a hundred machines that have it.

292

And once we figure out how to fix that,

if we can feed that into some type of AI

293

system, it can reduce our diagnostic time

drastically with a piece of equipment.

294

So that was the first thing

we started thinking on.

295

a second thing that really, started

just getting me thinking is a lot

296

of these companies that, approach

me specifically really on leadership

297

training and development, and they want

you to team with them and so forth.

298

One of the things that they had talked

about was, Hey, we're working on

299

this coaching co-pilot that you take

everybody's assessments, you download

300

'em, and then when you ask questions

of how to coach them or lead them, that

301

it can just spit out an answer based

off all their assessments and so forth.

302

And, which caused me then to go, Hey,

we've got an amazing director of it.

303

Why?

304

Why can't we do something like that?

305

that seems like something we

could probably do internally.

306

And when I, Reached out to our director

of it, he said, it's funny you asked that.

307

I said, I've already been working on

something with basically all of our

308

assessments, utilizing all the material

that you use for coaching, growing, and

309

training our, our leaders and our company.

310

And so he's already experimenting with

something that it would ask questions

311

around employees or employee issues,

and then giving consistent feedback.

312

So again, if it's just me giving

feedback, of course it's consistent,

313

but with 50 some supervisors,

how do you get consistent?

314

And so we're thinking of,

hey, how do they type that in?

315

Give consistent feedback around how

Vermeer Southeast would want you to answer

316

that based off stuff I've trained on.

317

So those were just some big ones, and

then it just started Rabbit trailing

318

into, all, sorts of different things.

319

not just hr, but in our parts department,

our service department and, we just from

320

the, AI driven leader book, it really.

321

I think what stuck out to me is it

just talked about how few people are

322

actually using this right now you

should every single day be thinking

323

about how can AI help me with this?

324

And so it just, it, it really just

started gaining traction as we use best

325

practices and shared 'em and so forth.

326

And, yeah, I think that's, I

dunno if that answers the question

327

fully, but that's where we're at.

328

Jim Kanichirayil: It, it does.

329

And I I wanna dig in a little

bit deeper into those areas.

330

I, think the, TLDR of what you just

described is, you're using this as a

331

leadership development tool by integrating

all of your assessments, your coaching.

332

training elements and also the language

that's internal to your organization

333

to provide an on demand coach.

334

so if I'm getting that correctly, walk

me through a little bit of the lift that

335

was involved in, compiling all of that.

336

So it's, to, to the

point where it's usable.

337

Monte Erritt: Yeah, that's a, I had

never really thought of it from that

338

perspective, but thank goodness my role

started five years ago because most of

339

that assessments and everything that

we've been building has been actually

340

the past five years worth of material.

341

Had I not had the VP of

employee development role.

342

we wouldn't have any of this.

343

we started assessments five years ago.

344

You certainly can't give all of your

employees assessments overnight,

345

we just slowly but surely took some

of the key assessments out there.

346

Started putting those in.

347

started adding in the, some of the

leadership and training development

348

material that I've developed obviously,

over those four and five years.

349

And with it all being in copilot, within

our framework of our company, our IT guy

350

was able to just take all that stuff,

start downloading it into one area.

351

And so it knows the answer things

based off of that input, And

352

so are certainly not there yet.

353

he's playing with it with

the, chat bot and so forth.

354

but without all those four or five years

worth of material, we wouldn't be anywhere

355

with that right now, except for an idea.

356

Jim Kanichirayil: Got it.

357

so I think one of the things that I draw

from that is, one of the foundational

358

steps in building anything to solve a

problem like this is to gather as much

359

of the legacy documentation that you

have that gives the proper context for

360

whatever bot that you want to build.

361

the other thing that, that I'm

curious about is what motivated you

362

or prompted you to bring it into the

conversation as you're working through?

363

the build out of this.

364

Monte Erritt: I don't know that

I would've a few years ago.

365

we, we, our director of IT

is just, he's incredible.

366

And, he's actually, we have a

second, a branch-off company

367

called Lighthill Solutions.

368

They hire us to come actually and

come in and do all of their IT

369

basically everything behind the laptop,

anything once it passes that laptop.

370

That's what they do.

371

He's, so he's president of

that company, but he is, he's

372

our southeast director of it.

373

And so when I saw what these other

companies were proposing to us, just

374

man, there's, I know I'm not smart

enough to do all that, by any means.

375

And so I was like, but I don't

see why Nick couldn't do this.

376

And obviously when I reached out to

him, he, like I said, he was already

377

laughing saying, yeah, I've already been

playing with that behind the scenes.

378

that's really what sparked me.

379

I knew we had someone

capable of, doing that.

380

Jim Kanichirayil: So one of the

things I find interesting is that

381

you're starting to build collaborators

early and right now you have, you.

382

Who's read the book and thought about

competitive analysis, now you're bringing

383

your IT leader into the conversation.

384

but it's gonna take a lot more

than just two to get momentum.

385

So what was the process that you

went through to get not only your

386

executive team, but buy in from your

leadership layer underneath you?

387

Because without both of those,

you're not gonna get anywhere.

388

So walk us through how

you, managed to do that.

389

Monte Erritt: Yeah, so I think that

the timing of it was good because we

390

were coming up on year-end anyway.

391

And so as I was evaluating that, one

of the things I sat down with our

392

CEO, as everybody knows, if you don't

have the CEO on board, you're probably

393

not gonna get a lot of traction.

394

so the CEO, the COO, and I sat down and I

was just talking to 'em about, hey, really

395

think as far as key initiatives for 2026.

396

this has gotta be one of the key ones.

397

this has taken off and, we're

gonna get left behind if we

398

don't gain some traction here.

399

Those two, both, bought into

it completely from there.

400

Obviously there's, you still

gotta get your team involved.

401

we call our core team.

402

It's every direct supervisor and our

company and we meet once a month,

403

virtually to just keep alignment

and talk about things like this.

404

And so we rolled out to them really

the, importance of where we see

405

this AI thing going and how we

406

and I talked to 'em about the book

that we were gonna go through.

407

That was a, it's gonna be a

required read for them as well.

408

And they bought into that.

409

And then really it just came down,

to two other really key things.

410

One is celebrating the small wins.

411

So we really spent that time,

Hey, let's make sure we are

412

sharing those best practices,

sharing those wins as we get 'em.

413

And that allowed us to really

create this culture of.

414

I guess the way I would look at

it is, there's still a lot of

415

people out there that aren't sure

if they're supposed to use ai.

416

Can I use copilot?

417

Can I use chat GBT?

418

Is that the right thing to do?

419

And I compare it to back in the day when

these dating apps, people were embarrassed

420

to say they met through dating apps.

421

and now in today's world, they're like,

why would you not use a dating app?

422

It's way quicker, way faster.

423

And so we're trying to drive that

culture within our organization to

424

our, all of our employees that hey.

425

You shouldn't be embarrassed

if you do use copilot ai.

426

You should be embarrassed

if you're not using it.

427

'cause it's costing us money,

time, and efficiency if you're not.

428

So please use it and

probably use it daily.

429

And I believe we're really getting

that culture driven throughout the

430

organization and that's what's really

allowed us to start gaining some,

431

momentum with this as we head into 2026.

432

Thomas Kunjappu: This has been

a fantastic conversation so far.

433

If you haven't already done so,

make sure to join our community.

434

We are building a network of the

most forward-thinking, HR and

435

people, operational professionals

who are defining the future.

436

I will personally be sharing

news and ideas around how we

437

can all thrive in the age of ai.

438

You can find it at go cleary.com/cleary

439

community.

440

Now back to the show.

441

Jim Kanichirayil: So what's,

interesting about what you described

442

is a change management piece that

happens at the frontline level.

443

so when I think about an organization like

yours, I'm thinking, more of a skilled

444

trade organization than, like a white

collar, traditional office organization.

445

So I'm, wondering how you connected the

dots to like that frontline manager or

446

the the, maintenance supervisor, or the

service supervisor, in getting them to

447

use it and be more effective with it,

because that's where it'll break down.

448

You might have it at the executive

level, maybe even at the director level.

449

You get strong buy-in, but if

it doesn't stick at the front

450

lines, it's gonna fall over.

451

So how did you actually work this

down to build that culture of

452

utilization, at the front lines?

453

Monte Erritt: Yeah, I think it, it

probably seems oversimplified, but

454

I think it really came down to that,

Ability to share the best practices.

455

And we really made sure that we were,

after our core meeting and we shared

456

those best practices, we said, Hey,

now let's make sure we go back to our

457

employees and, show them how much time

we saved with this diagnosis, how much

458

time we saved with this job description.

459

how much money we saved by before we

went to our lawyer, with a question from

460

anything really, that we at least ran it

through an AI system to narrow it down.

461

I know we can't take everything as fact,

but by the time we went to the lawyer.

462

saved her 30 minutes.

463

So that saved us money.

464

So one of our other key objectives

465

having a mindset of cost awareness.

466

And so it all tied in

well together with that.

467

and I think the more we shared that, we

did an internal podcast as well, that

468

way it came from myself and actually

our director of it, to the team.

469

So the message was delivered in a

very consistent way to all 300 and

470

some employees versus relying on.

471

50 different supervisors

delivering 50 different messages.

472

So I think just that consistency

of message and the best practice

473

sharing is what really gains some

excitement I think, around it.

474

Jim Kanichirayil: Tell me a little

bit more about the internal podcast

475

as a communication channel for getting

traction and buy-in to this initiative.

476

How did that get pieced

together and rolled out?

477

Monte Erritt: Yeah, so probably five

years ago, that was something I've, just,

478

I've been a huge podcast listener and

so I'm not even close to where you're

479

at as far as how many you've done.

480

But, we started about five years ago.

481

Hey, how can we deliver?

482

A consistent message to 300

employees versus me giving a

483

message to 50 supervisors and

then that message gets delivered.

484

Who knows how it reaches

the rest of our employees.

485

I said, how do we get, so we know it's

consistent, we know it's, our voice.

486

So we started an internal podcast

back then, and we've been using that

487

ever since to deliver key messages

like this, Hey, how do we use ai?

488

What is ai?

489

just driving culture through our

organization as well, creating common

490

language through our organization.

491

and that podcast has really

been impactful for us.

492

And so we have that.

493

And then, I do another one just

for fun as well, just from,

494

leadership stuff that we talk on.

495

But, so yeah, that's how we use 'em.

496

Jim Kanichirayil: So, far as

we've been talking through.

497

This, it's, it's been, what are

the, building blocks that have been

498

put into place to, to establish a

foundation to jump off from, what did

499

the actual jump off process look like?

500

How did you, move this

from planning to execution?

501

Monte Erritt: I think the first step

of that really to create some momentum.

502

the AI Driven Leader book, is a required

read for all 50 of our, supervisors.

503

So we're going through that together.

504

That brings us back every month to discuss

the key takeaways from that chapter,

505

but also what have you done in the past

30 days that AI has helped you with?

506

I think that the thought we're trying

to drive through, of our employees.

507

'cause a lot of times people get worried

about ai, they think it's gonna replace

508

their jobs, they're gonna be gone.

509

And I think we've done a good

job of getting 'em to see,

510

hey, AI is a thought partner.

511

And which comes directly outta that book.

512

That's nothing from me.

513

It's think of it as a thought

partner and think of it as something

514

you should be using every day.

515

You should be asking that

question every single day.

516

And the only reason AI would ever

replace you is if you are gonna make the

517

decision that I'm not gonna adapt to ai.

518

If you make that decision,

then yes, AI might replace you.

519

but outside of that, it's

no different than when email

520

came out, anything like that.

521

the web, the internet when people

were going, I'm not gonna use the

522

internet, I'll just mail a letter,

I'm not gonna use email or whatever.

523

you can do that, but you would not still

be around if you wouldn't have adapted.

524

And AI's gonna be no different.

525

You have to learn how

to adapt and utilize it.

526

'cause it's, coming whether

we want it to or not.

527

Jim Kanichirayil: you, mentioned

something that I found interesting,

528

which is you, still had a sentiment

within the organization where people

529

were thinking, AI's gonna replace my job.

530

Considering the amount of messaging

that, or amount of investment that

531

you've put into messaging, how did you

tackle that particular objection, that

532

particular complaint or point of view

within the organization to get people

533

to think, about this in the right way.

534

Monte Erritt: I think we just use history.

535

if you go back to history on any

of those things we just talked

536

about, it was the internet.

537

They thought the same thing.

538

Wow, this is gonna.

539

this is gonna replace, they're not gonna

need me to look up this information.

540

They're not gonna need the

five people that go research an

541

encyclopedia, to go find this answer.

542

We're just gonna get on the internet.

543

That's gonna replace me.

544

I think we were able to get, if

we use history, we can see that

545

all through history, technology.

546

That's what people have

been worried about.

547

Technology's gonna replace me,

technology's gonna replace me.

548

And all through history,

technology hasn't replaced you.

549

If you've adapted.

550

yes.

551

We've had people that, back

when sales reps wouldn't adapt

552

to a laptop back in the day.

553

I've done this for 30 years, so

I've seen all this transition and

554

they wouldn't adapt to a laptop.

555

And they wanted to turn in

handwritten call reports, right?

556

if they wouldn't adapt.

557

And we did have a couple, and

we had to part ways 'cause it no

558

longer would sync with our system.

559

we just couldn't do that.

560

very few people sit in that

category, but you could.

561

think this is no different.

562

If they really wanna stick a stake in the

ground and say, Nope, not gonna do it,

563

gonna pass them by, whether they're at our

company or rather they're at any company.

564

and so I think our team has just

embraced that 'cause they've seen

565

that and we, don't have, we have

a lot of tenured people that work

566

here we try to invest into them and

that's where that podcast comes into.

567

But this is the message.

568

Here's a consistent message.

569

And if they're.

570

years old and haven't seen a lot of this.

571

then our job is to show them how

history repeats itself and it's no

572

different than what the internet is

573

Jim Kanichirayil: I like that.

574

the historical context is important

and when you are talking through it, it

575

reminded me of one of my very first real

jobs that I had was selling the yellow

576

page ads, and part of the yellow page ad

bundle that we had for the company that I

577

was selling for was a website companion.

578

And I had all sorts of

people that I was selling to.

579

I was like, what do I need that for?

580

That internet thing is never

gonna, it's never gonna take off.

581

it's a flash in the pan.

582

And, you, think about all the companies

that were now built, where the old

583

way was, you need a brick and mortar.

584

location to be successful.

585

And now you have all sorts of

companies that don't have like

586

physical headquarters anywhere.

587

You have webpage and an

e-commerce bolt-on, and they're

588

billion dollar companies.

589

Monte Erritt: Yep.

590

Jim Kanichirayil: so it's,

an interesting perspective.

591

It, so you've gotten started on it,

but I want you to hit rewind and

592

think through this entire process and.

593

Think about what could you have

done differently or what would you

594

have done differently if you had

an opportunity to go through this

595

initial transformation phase again?

596

What were some of the roadblocks

that you ran into that taught

597

you, Hey, the next go around, I

need to switch gears in this way.

598

Monte Erritt: that's a great question.

599

I the one that sticks out, and there's

probably several, but the one that

600

really probably sticks out is we

probably didn't train early enough on

601

the difference between say, a, chat GPT.

602

So if I was, talking to new

companies out there, just starting

603

to dive into this, they really

need to understand the difference

604

between chat GPT and like co-pilot.

605

Where is it safe to put information and

where do you not wanna put information?

606

And, did have some stuff get put in

chat GPT, where it was like, whoa, no.

607

You can't, don't put that back in there.

608

And it wasn't overly sensitive, overly

confidential or anything like that, but

609

it, was stuff we didn't really want out

there on the, open market, if you will.

610

and you, don't realize,

people don't know that.

611

Like they don't know the difference

between chat GPT and copilot.

612

A lot of people right now might

be listening and still not know.

613

you will have employees that like, I

have no clue what even chat GPT is.

614

I don't know what co-pilot is.

615

that's where we weren't

there that long ago.

616

And so I think that part could be really

dangerous if you didn't understand that

617

and where to put that also understand the

benefit of, when to use the, your internal

618

co-pilot versus your web co-pilot.

619

'cause we still didn't.

620

We didn't really educate well

on that initially 'cause we,

621

I guess we just didn't think

that people wouldn't know that.

622

and you gotta remember too, it really

drove our training and it's like

623

anything, when you know something

so well, you forget what the person

624

that's just starting doesn't know.

625

So you sometimes train at a 30,000 foot

626

And so if you were coming up with

some training, I would say make

627

sure you, realize that whoever's

leading your training probably

628

forgot what they didn't know.

629

When they were, we were

getting started in this.

630

that's probably the main, thing.

631

I don't, I feel we've done

a pretty good job here.

632

'cause we didn't jump into it.

633

It was a, crawl, walk, run.

634

and we, we realized we're not gonna master

this tomorrow, wanna slowly but surely

635

just start using some different things.

636

We'll see how it goes.

637

Jim Kanichirayil: So when I hear you

say that, it almost sounds if you

638

had a chance to do it over again.

639

You would established a guardrails

first and the compliance side of

640

it first, the rules of the road

before actually jumping into it.

641

Am I on track there?

642

Monte Erritt: Yeah.

643

Yeah.

644

That's probably would be a great way to

do this we sort of did from a 30,000-foot

645

level, but we did not get that to

our team before we started telling

646

'em to start trying this stuff out.

647

So we're, that would be a good lesson.

648

Okay.

649

Jim Kanichirayil: Got it.

650

I, wanna zoom back out like one of the

big things that you wanted to solve.

651

When you embarked on this was get

your line level managers better

652

equipped to be leaders and managers.

653

you started developing tooling to,

to help on that front, and you wanted

654

to also drive broader overall AI

adoption within the organization

655

in a number of different ways.

656

I want you to look out 12 to 18

months from now, you've laid the

657

foundation, the initiative's been

rolled out, you've gotten traction.

658

What does success?

659

Look like when it comes to this particular

initiative, when it comes to AI being

660

integrated into the organization.

661

Monte Erritt: I, think you got a couple.

662

I think it, if you're 12 to 18 months

from now, it's every single person within

663

the organization utilizing AI in some

way, shape, or form on a daily basis.

664

I think it is utilizing it, for some

of those tools that we talked about

665

is, Hey, how are we going to ai, first

to, as a thought partner to think of,

666

Hey, what would potentially be the

diagnosis for this piece of equipment?

667

Hey, are we going to AI first to

go, Hey, we need to rewrite some

668

things in our employee manual.

669

Let's have AI clean it up before

the lawyer signs off on it,

670

because those are real dollars that

you're putting to the bottom line.

671

So now your CFO's happy as well, that

they're seeing those things happen.

672

hey, with, say, leadership, one of

the difficult, the most difficult

673

things we train on is, how to have

maybe difficult conversations or

674

coaching conversations with employees.

675

Hey, I'm having a tough conversation with

Jim next week regarding these topics.

676

based off their assessments,

how would you go about that?

677

that's really where we wanna

go, that everybody would be

678

trained up at how to use.

679

And when to use our, copilot model.

680

And, that's just an everyday thing.

681

It'd almost be like saying,

did you use email today?

682

yes.

683

Every single day.

684

Just about, it would be same

thing, how did you use AI today?

685

Oh, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

686

and it'd just be common

occurrence, every day.

687

and, some better guardrails probably,

going back to your lesson, we still need

688

to probably get better there too and get

those guardrails and, rules around what

689

to do and what not to do, published.

690

Jim Kanichirayil: Great stuff.

691

If people want to continue the

conversation, with you, and I'm sure

692

you'll get a lot of interest, especially

from companies that are similar to the

693

space that you operate in, what's the best

way for them to get in touch with you?

694

Monte Erritt: easiest way is

probably DM me through LinkedIn.

695

I try to stay pretty active on there.

696

It's just, it's Monte

M-O-N-T-E and last name Erritt.

697

Jim Kanichirayil: I appreciate,

you hanging out with us, Monte and,

698

talking us through how you're actually

rolling out AI in a, in a space where.

699

Many people wouldn't even think that

this would be something that would be on

700

the radar of an organization like yours.

701

when I think back to this conversation,

I think there's a few things.

702

When you're thinking about getting

started on an AI initiative and

703

rolling it out, there's a few things

people need to pay attention to.

704

I think one of the first things

that you need to get aligned on.

705

Is, what's the communication

plan going to be?

706

What are you gonna tackle?

707

What's the vision for the

problem that this is gonna solve?

708

And then how are you gonna provide

unified messaging to your organization

709

so that there isn't any confusion

about what what we're actually doing?

710

And what's really unique about

what you did or how you did it, is

711

that you had an internal podcast

that you launched to help just.

712

Get more effective communication

across all sorts of initiatives.

713

But this one in particular, and

the lesson there is that for you

714

to get traction on any initiative.

715

And, For you to get any sort of

traction on an initiative, you

716

need to be able to scale it.

717

You can't rely on one-to-one

communication or one to many,

718

one-to-one communication happening

at all layers of the organization.

719

There needs to be a consistent message

that's unified and it's filtered in

720

the same way across all layers of the

organization, and that consistency

721

is what's gonna build momentum.

722

So clarity of communication, consistency

of messaging is what's gonna allow you to

723

get traction and scale that initiative.

724

And I really like how,

you leverage that piece.

725

That internal podcast is a way to

get traction in the AI initiative.

726

One thing that I'll be curious to find

out is a year from now, 18 months from

727

now, what does the organization look

like once this has gotten traction

728

and what's the next thing going

to look like that incorporates ai.

729

Monte Erritt: Yeah.

730

Jim Kanichirayil: So I appreciate

you hanging out with us and sharing

731

your thoughts across the initiative

and I'm sure that a lot of our

732

listeners are gonna find value in it.

733

For those of you who've been

listening to this conversation,

734

we appreciate you hanging out.

735

If you'd like the discussion, make

sure you leave us a five star review

736

on your favorite podcast player, and

then tune in next time where we'll

737

have another leader hanging out and

sharing with us their experiences on

738

how they're using AI to future proof hr