Contents · 5 min read
01 / 05 · The commitment
What does the management team commit to?
In short
The CEO and management team join three workshops over three to four weeks. No live-system access is needed.
Take a MedTech company. It needs the business to hold its regulatory and commercial knowledge. That knowledge cannot stay with individuals. Its CEO and management team join three workshops over three to four weeks.
The first commitment is three hands-on workshops. The people who run the firm take part in each one.
GRAIL starts with the management team and works in weeks. The first phase needs no live-system access.
| Point in the work | What happens |
|---|---|
| First phase | Three workshops take place over three to four weeks. |
| First workshop | Working agents start with material the firm chooses to share. |
| Across the workshops | The team uses the agents on its actual business. |
| After the third workshop | The closing document arrives within five working days. |
The work follows the three workshops. That makes the first workshop a start, not a briefing.
02 / 05 · First workshop
Working agents start in the first workshop
In short
The team does not wait until the end for a tool. Working agents start in the first workshop. They use material the firm chooses to share.
For the MedTech company, that material comes from its own work. Its leaders choose what goes in. The agents may also use public facts and stand-alone tools.
The company shares only the material it chooses.
The phase can start without CRM access or another system link. It needs no IT project. The Nordic program uses this approach before deeper access is agreed.
For the MedTech company, the agents can reflect its own business logic.
Working agents start in the first workshop, not after a long report. The team must now use them before it can judge where AI matters.
03 / 05 · Practical use
Use builds the fluency to judge
In short
The management team builds fluency through use. It applies the agents to its actual business.
For the MedTech company, the work stays on the business. GRAIL does not judge clinical proof or filings. The team looks at how key know-how can become part of the firm.
Leaders inspect the agents' work, correct missing context and decide where a person must make the call.
The first phase puts AI into real management work before a wider program starts. That is how the team builds fluency on its own business.
For the MedTech company, fluency is not the end goal. It lets the leaders judge which bets deserve time and funds. That shared view lets the team rank what comes next.
04 / 05 · The road map
Rank the bets and set the next 90 days
In short
The team ranks three to five opportunities worth acting on. Its choices become a road map for the next 90 days. The road map also records what will not start now.
For the MedTech company, the team narrows its options to three to five opportunities. The team ranks each bet by its likely impact. The team also ranks each bet by feasibility.
Some bets start now. Some come next. Others are parked or dropped. A GRAIL strategy workshop ends with this ranked road map.
The road map records each choice. It says who made the call and when. A parked bet includes the point when it should return.
The closing document arrives within five working days after workshop three. It covers the next 90 days.
For the MedTech company, the result is a set of choices it can act on.
05 / 05 · The decision
The next step must earn approval
In short
The company owns the agents and road map. It can stop after the first phase and keep them. Step 2 starts only if the best bets have earned more proof.
Each step must earn the one after it.
After the workshops, make the decision in four steps:
The CEO checks the choices
Confirm which bets start now and which do not.
Each function names its first milestone
Put it on the 90-day road map.
IT confirms any later system access
Decide what Step 2 may need from live systems before that access begins.
The management team decides
Approve Step 2 only if the best bets merit proof.
If approved, Step 2 proves impact where the return is highest. Step 3 can then scale what works across teams or countries.
Make the next decision
The task now is to decide whether your management team should use these first four weeks to build working agents and turn what it learns into a ranked 90-day road map. GRAIL's See The Opportunity is the phase described here: three workshops over three to four weeks, with custom agents for each leader and no access to live systems. Its outline shows how the work runs so the team can judge whether the process fits the decision it needs to make.
Three to four weeks, three workshops with your management team: hands-on use of AI, custom AI agents for each leader, and a ranked roadmap of opportunities. Fixed fee, no access to your live systems.
Questions CEOs ask about this
What happens during the first four weeks of working with GRAIL?
Your management team completes three hands-on workshops over three to four weeks. This works without live-system access if your team chooses the material it shares. Working agents start in the first workshop. The team then ranks three to five opportunities and gets a 90-day road map. You decide whether the best bets merit a next phase.
What does GRAIL need from us before the work starts?
The CEO and management team commit to three workshops. The company then chooses the material its agents may use.
How much time does the CEO and management team need to commit?
The set commitment is three workshops over three to four weeks.
What happens in each week?
There is no set week-by-week plan. The fixed points are three workshops, with agents starting in the first one.
Does GRAIL need access to our live systems or sensitive data?
No live-system access is needed in this phase. The company chooses what it shares, so deeper access stays a later choice.
What do we leave with, and how does that lead into the next 90 days?
You keep the working agents. You also get three to five ranked bets and a 90-day road map. If Step 2 is approved, it tests impact where the return is highest.
Founder, GRAIL
Johan has spent fifteen years in management consulting and executive leadership, including as Chief Product Officer of a SaaS company. He founded GRAIL to help European leadership teams work out what AI changes at the core of their business. He is the author of The Execution Revolution and the host of the ThinkRoom podcast.
Related reading
Sources
- AI strategy workshop: how the three workshops produce working tools and ranked opportunities. (accessed October 8, 2026)
- AI consulting in Stockholm: why the work starts with management and needs no live-system access. (accessed October 8, 2026)
- AI consulting in the Nordics: the three-step program, chosen material and stand-alone phases. (accessed October 8, 2026)
- AI in MedTech: the aim to make key know-how part of the company. (accessed October 8, 2026)
- What we do: the use of actual business work to build fluency and a road map. (accessed October 8, 2026)
- GRAIL vs the alternatives: working agents from the first workshop and client ownership. (accessed October 8, 2026)
Next scheduled review: February 16, 2027