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What do ping pong coaches know that AI implementation teams don't? A lot, it turns out.
I've been taking ping pong lessons again lately. And beyond discovering that my backhand needs serious work, I've noticed something fascinating: the psychological principles behind effective sports training mirror exactly what organizations need for successful AI adoption.
The psychology of skill mastery
My ping pong coach makes me repeat the same basic stroke for an hour straight. It's maddening, but it works. This deliberate, repetitive practice creates what psychologists call "automaticity"—when an action becomes so ingrained you can do it without conscious thought.
In "Peak: The Secrets of the New Science of Expertise," Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool reveal that all experts share one trait: structured practice with immediate feedback. This research, which inspired the "10,000 hours" concept, found no shortcuts to expertise—deliberate practice is essential.
Why is repetition so powerful? Two reasons:
It creates automaticity, the ability to perform actions without conscious thought. Think about how you drive a car: you're not actively thinking "now press the brake," your body just does it.
It builds confidence faster than performance improves. A 2018 study by Sanchez and Dunning found that as people repeated tasks, their confidence increased more rapidly than their actual abilities. This confidence is crucial because learning is hard, and when we fail quickly, we lose motivation and give up.
Why your internal AI rollout may fail
These principles of skill mastery reveal exactly why most AI implementation efforts fall flat. Organizations invest in powerful tools but miss the psychology of how people actually develop new skills and habits.
If you've launched AI tools only to see minimal adoption, you're probably making these two critical mistakes:
Mistake #1: Workshop-and-pray (a.k.a. passive learning)
You gather everyone for a demo of the AI features, maybe run a training session, and then... hope that people will start integrating these tools into their daily work.
This is like watching a YouTube video on ping pong technique and expecting to beat your friends at the table. That's not how skill development works! One-off exposure rarely leads to behavior change, no matter how impressive the initial demonstration. This is called passive learning and there’s very little research to suggest it drives real change.
Mistake #2: Learning how AI works vs. workflow integration
If my ping pong coach spent our sessions explaining the aerodynamics of spin instead of making me practice creating it, I'd never improve. Similarly, your team doesn't need to understand how an LLM works—they need to know exactly how to integrate AI into the specific workflows they already perform. Yes, it’s fun to understand the nuances of neural networks but it won’t help you or your team be more productive with those neural networks.
The ping pong playbook for AI adoption
Want your team to actually use those expensive AI tools? Use this four-step approach, drawn from research and our work at Irrational Labs.
1. Choose ONE high-value workflow
Don't try to transform everything at once. Pick a single, frequent workflow with clear value. For sales teams, this might be prospect research or follow-up email drafting. For product teams, perhaps it's summarizing customer feedback.
The key is selecting something people do regularly that AI can meaningfully improve. We're looking for the workflow equivalent of a ping pong backhand—foundational and frequently used.
2. Schedule dedicated practice time
This isn't optional "when you have time" exploration. Block calendar time specifically for practicing this AI workflow. Research on habit formation is clear: consistency matters more than intensity.
Create structured opportunities for your team to practice using AI for this specific workflow repeatedly. Yes, it will feel boring and repetitive. That's the point.
3. Get immediate feedback
A meta-analysis in the Review of Educational Research found that immediate feedback is among the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, with effect sizes that are more than twice other educational interventions. Without timely guidance, people typically develop inefficient techniques or lose motivation when progress stalls.
Set up peer mentoring, AI coaches, or regular review sessions where people can get fast feedback on their use of the tools. The ping pong coach correcting my grip after each swing is the difference between developing muscle memory and reinforcing poor technique.
4. Repeat. Do it again. And again.
Progress isn't about learning fancy new features or trying every tool on the market. It's about making basic AI interactions automatic.
When the ping pong ball is coming really fast at you, you should still do the same stroke as when you’re in an easy rally.
But it’s hard. It’s way easier to swat at the ball and fall back into your old habit.
When the boss asks you for a deliverable by EOD and it’s 4pm, you need to automatically use the AI tools vs. rely on your old Word and PowerPoint habits.
The goal isn't to create AI experts who can explain how RLHF works. It's to develop teams who automatically reach for AI tools in specific workflows because it feels as natural as picking up a ping pong paddle.
Start simple, then expand
Ping pong lessons always start with backhand practice. Why? Because it's mechanically simpler than forehand. The same principle applies to AI adoption: start with the lowest-hanging fruit.
If your marketing team struggles with blog introductions, start there. Don’t try to automate their entire content pipeline. Once they've mastered that workflow, they can expand to more complex applications.
The path to mastery in both ping pong and AI adoption follows the same principle: consistent, focused practice of foundational skills before attempting anything flashy. Master your backhand before you worry about topspin smashes.
💬 Want help driving AI adoption and behavior change in your organization? Our team at Irrational Labs can help. Shoot me an email: kristen@irrationallabs.com
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📧 Questions about product adoption? Shoot me an email: kristen@irrationallabs.com.
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