In Episode 5 of How's Work?, the employment branding podcast from Kindling Culture Agency, Dori Armstead, our Vice President of People and Culture, sits down to talk about what it really means to bring AI into the workplace with people leading the way. The conversation is candid, grounded, and worth your time.
AI adoption doesn't start from the same place for everyone. Some team members are ready to experiment. Others need a clearer understanding of what the technology means for their work before they can move forward with confidence.
At SoftWriters, that difference is a reason to invest in shared learning, not leave people behind.
Dori's conversation explores employee-led innovation, the everyday practices that shape culture, and why AI should serve as a copilot rather than an autopilot.
New technology can create uncertainty long before it changes a workflow. Giving people access to AI is only part of the work. They also need context, opportunities to learn, and a clear understanding of the role their judgment will continue to play.
"We took the approach of crawl, walk, run," Dori explains.
That approach brings learning into the adoption process. Dori describes an AI lunch-and-learn series that began with the idea of humans at the helm, establishing a shared understanding before moving into more technical topics.
The starting point matters. People need room to build confidence before they're expected to change how they work.
The people closest to a workflow often see its friction most clearly. They know where a task slows down. They also know which improvements would make a practical difference.
Dori describes how that perspective helped shape our Innovation Showcase, an opportunity for employees below the VP level to propose ideas for using AI. The initiative received 50 submissions, with 25 moving into the showcase and five winning ideas advancing as prototypes.
"Our team members know best," Dori says.
The showcase gave employees a way to help shape the work rather than simply respond to a technology decision. In the conversation, Dori also describes an AI enablement team and hackathon sprints designed to help teams work through the operational challenges they identify.
Experimentation needs a clear principle behind it. At SoftWriters, Dori describes that principle as keeping humans at the helm.
AI is a copilot. It isn't an autopilot. The people who understand the work remain central to defining the problem and deciding how to move forward.
For us, the conversation connects internal innovation to the responsibility behind our work. SoftWriters develops FrameworkLTC®, pharmacy management software built for long-term care pharmacies. Understanding the people doing that work, and the patients their pharmacies serve, gives improvement a practical purpose.
Culture is more than a statement on a website. Dori points to the care people show customers and colleagues, the relationships built across teams, and the support employees receive through important moments in their lives.
She also shares a simple way to think about the employee experience: how people feel on Sunday evening about returning to work.
That perspective keeps culture grounded in daily experience. A learning series or innovation showcase matters because of what it makes possible for the people participating, not just because it appears on a calendar.
AI adoption shouldn't separate progress from the people making it possible.
Watch Humans at the Helm with Dori Armstead on How's Work? Episode 5.