Discussion Guide for Teams

The Next Move was written for individual professionals — but the questions it raises don’t stay individual for long. When someone reads about the exposure spectrum, or works through the Working Picture, or sits with the chapter on uncomfortable questions, the first thing they want to do is talk about it. With colleagues, with their manager, with someone who understands the same pressures.

This guide is for the person who makes that conversation happen. Whether you’re an HR director, an L&D professional, a team leader, or an owner-manager who’s bought copies for the team, it provides the structure for turning a book into a working process — one that surfaces real concerns, builds shared understanding, and leads to something more useful than a single anxious conversation in the kitchen.

How it works

The Discussion Guide is organised around the book’s structure. Each session corresponds to a section of The Next Move, with discussion prompts designed to move the conversation from the book’s analysis into the team’s specific reality.

Session 1: The landscape (Part I of The Next Move). What the headlines say versus what the data shows. Where the team’s industry and roles sit in the broader picture. The purpose isn’t consensus — it’s a shared starting point. People arrive at this conversation with wildly different levels of anxiety and information. This session gets everyone looking at the same evidence.

Session 2: Where we stand (Part II — the Working Picture). This is where the conversation becomes personal. The book walks individual readers through an assessment of which parts of their work are most and least exposed. The group session doesn’t ask people to share their individual results — it asks the team to map the collective picture. Which of our functions are most affected? Where do we carry capability that doesn’t appear in our job descriptions? What do we know that the organisation has never asked us to articulate?

Session 3: What we can do (Part III of The Next Move). From understanding to action. The book’s framework for strategic investment — deepening what’s hardest to automate, building AI literacy, developing proof of adaptability, extending networks — translates into team-level questions. What should we be learning together? Where should we be experimenting? What support do we need from the organisation?

Each session includes:

  • Suggested timing (from a focused 45-minute meeting to a longer workshop format)
  • Pre-session preparation (which chapters to read, what to think about in advance)
  • Opening framing language (how to set the tone — honest, not catastrophising)
  • Discussion prompts that surface real concerns rather than abstract ones
  • Facilitation notes for common dynamics (the sceptic, the enthusiast, the person who’s quietly terrified)
  • A template for capturing outcomes and next steps

Who this is for

HR and L&D professionals who want to support their workforce through the AI transition with something more substantive than a vendor webinar. The Next Move provides the intellectual framework. This guide provides the facilitation structure. Together, they replace the perfunctory lunch-and-learn with a genuine process.

Managers and team leaders who’ve read the book and want to bring the conversation to their team. You don’t need facilitation training. The guide is designed so that someone who’s read The Next Move and cares about their team can run a productive session.

SME owner-managers who are simultaneously the manager, the HR department, and the person making the technology decisions. If you’re the person reading Making It Work while your team needs The Next Move, this guide helps you bridge the two — bringing the team into the strategic conversation rather than making decisions about their work without them.

What you need

The guide works best when participants have read at least the relevant section of The Next Move before each session. It doesn’t require everyone to have read the entire book — the sessions are designed to work with section-by-section reading, which respects the reality that not everyone will read ahead.

At minimum, the facilitator should have read the full book. The discussion prompts build on the book’s analysis, and leading the conversation requires understanding the framework it provides — particularly the Working Picture and the exposure spectrum.

Download the guide

Cover of Discussion Guide for Teams

Download Discussion Guide for Teams (PDF)

Free. No registration required.

Included at no additional cost with all organisational licences for The Next Move. If you’re licensing the book for a team, department, or member network, the discussion guide is part of the package.

For individual copies of The Next Move: £8.99 on Amazon and all major platforms.
For organisational licensing: books@youandai.help

Where this connects

Before the sessions, consider having team members complete the quick professional assessment — a five-minute condensed version of the Working Picture. It means people arrive with something personal to discuss, not just abstract fears.

After the sessions, the Frontier Model Orientation provides the practical skills layer. Once the team understands where they stand and what they want to invest in, this free guide gives them the working understanding of AI tools that most will need regardless of role.

For the business-level view, Making It Work provides the strategic framework for the organisation itself — the Business Reality Audit, the SME Readiness Filter, and a phased 12-month plan. The Discussion Guide helps with the human side. Making It Work helps with the strategic side. They address different dimensions of the same challenge.

Free. Part of You & AI’s commitment to substantive guidance at no cost.