How to Turn AI Skeptics Into Advocates: What I Learned From Melanie McDonough

"People duck when they see me coming."

Melanie McDonough said that on stage at the NH Tech Alliance Innovation Summit in Nashua this week, and the room laughed. I wrote it down fast, because I've been on both sides of that duck.

Melanie is the Chief Innovation and AI Officer for the City of Lebanon, New Hampshire. Her job is helping 13 departments, from the police to the library, change how they work with AI. GovTech named her to its 2026 Top 25 list, and she writes about her work on her blog, melbamorph.

Her coworkers are a lot like yours. Some love AI, some are nervous, and a few want nothing to do with it. She's figured out how to bring that last group along, and what she shared works just as well with a team of five.

Here's what I took away.

1. Find out why they're holding back

Melanie described the people who avoid AI even when it's right in front of them. They're nervous. They aren't sure how they'd use it. They "don't want to be the next headliner." And the big one: they have no time.

"They're so overloaded with workflows that look like they came out of the 1950s that they don't have time to experiment."

Getting comfortable with AI takes a lot of trying things, she added. If someone's day is already packed with old, slow processes, there's no room to play.

Meanwhile the people who did dive in are moving fast. Some are using AI to teach themselves tools the office has owned for years. Melanie said the two groups now sound "like they're not speaking the same language anymore."

So before you push, ask. Is your holdout scared of breaking something? Worried about the news? Too buried to try? Each one needs a different answer.

2. Bring them a problem they already have

When Melanie shows up, people hide their paper. They hide their processes. They know she's coming to change something.

What works, she said, is a real problem and a fix they can see. "When you come with a true problem and you come with an actual solution that they can see, they are more equipped to change their ways."

She also said "everyone has their story and why they're doing something the way that they're doing it." That clunky process usually exists for a reason. Hear the reason first.

3. Answer the only question they care about

Melanie likes to think about the big picture. She said so herself. Most people don't, and she's fine with that.

"They just wanna know, how is this gonna improve my day?"

That was the most useful line I heard all day. Your bookkeeper and your front desk person want to know one thing: will the job that eats their Tuesday afternoon finally go away?

So pick that thing. One person, one annoying task, one fix they can watch work.

4. Let the skeptics come around on their own

Melanie told the room about employees who, when she first brought up AI, told her they weren't going there with her "in no way." That was the polite version, she said.

"And now they are my biggest advocates."

What changed? She asked them to hear her out. "Let's look at a problem that you have right now, and then let me show you what I think a solution can be."

Once they saw it work, they wanted to try it. Then they came back with another problem, and another, until she had to laugh and tell them, "Okay, you need to stop."

You can skip winning the argument. Give them one good experience and step back.

5. Once they're in, show them what could go wrong

Once people get comfortable, some swing the other way and start handing AI more access than they should. Melanie gives them a reality check. She sits with them and shows them what the tool could do with the permissions they're about to give it.

"It's almost like a scare tactic in a way, but it's not meant to be a scare tactic. It's just meant to be a reality check around what the AI can actually do."

In a small business that can be one conversation. What goes into the AI, what never does (customer card numbers, passwords, anything private), and who to ask when they're unsure. I keep a starting list in what you should not use AI for (yet).

Some people won't come around

Melanie was honest about this part. "I think we can get there, but I don't know that we'll always get there. I think some people just don't want to."

She called that a decision for the organization to make. In your business, that's you. Your holdout's real strengths might be elsewhere, and the work can route around them. Or it can't. Either way, make the call on purpose.

What to try this week

1. Pick the person on your team who's least interested in AI.
2. Ask what part of their week they'd most like to never do again. Listen to why it's done that way.
3. Show them one fix for that one thing, using a tool you already have, like ChatGPT or the AI built into your email. Let them drive.
4. Once it sticks, walk them through what never goes into it.

Then wait for them to come back with the next problem. That's how Melanie's loudest holdouts became her strongest advocates.

To read more from her, start with her blog. She writes plainly about using AI at work, including a post on why being "ChatGPT'd" can be a good thing.

And if you want your AI to know your business before you hand it to your team, that's what Business Brain is for. It loads your voice, customers, and processes into any AI, so the first thing your skeptic sees is useful. If you'd like a hand bringing your team along, reach out. I'm always happy to talk it through.

More on why teams stall: Why Your Team Isn't Using the AI You Bought.