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The New Friction Webinar June 11th
The New Friction Webinar June 11th
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AI | May 15, 2026

Organizations are no longer debating whether AI matters. They are being pulled into two very different futures. This post explores the growing divide between companies investing heavily in AI infrastructure and automation, and those focusing on the human capabilities required to make AI actually work inside organizations. Drawing from nearly a decade of experience in facilitation and AI transformation, it examines why trust, decision-making, collaboration, and organizational adaptability are becoming the real differentiators in the age of AI. A thought-provoking look at the widening gap between technological acceleration and human readiness, and why the middle ground is quickly disappearing.

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The 2026 Facilitation Lab Summit brought eight extraordinary facilitators together in Austin, Texas to explore the theme of Edges: the moments of tension, uncertainty, and emergence where the most powerful work gets done. Across two days of hands-on sessions, participants explored collective wisdom, whole intelligence, embodied presence, trauma-informed facilitation, the power of metaphor, and what it truly means to show up as a facilitator rather than just perform as one. This recap covers every session with links to the full blog post and video for each speaker, offering both a window into what happened and a practical resource for your ongoing facilitation practice.

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AI | May 8, 2026

Most organizations are investing heavily in AI adoption but seeing little return because traditional training models fail to create lasting behavior change. Research from organizations like Gartner and Anthropic reveals that employees quickly forget one-time AI training and struggle to integrate AI into daily workflows. While licenses and training programs increase, real usage and collaboration remain low. This article explores why AI adoption is a design problem rather than a training problem, highlighting emerging research, behavioral insights, and a new three-part framework that helps organizations build true AI fluency through practice, iteration, and collaborative ways of working.

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At the 2026 Facilitation Lab Summit, Trudy Townsend closed two days of deep work with a session that went straight at a topic every facilitator encounters but rarely names: trauma is already present in every room you enter, and it shapes how people show up, engage, and disengage. Drawing on the ACEs study, Dan Siegel's hand model of the brain, and years of practice, Trudy offered facilitators a grounded understanding of how the nervous system works, what dysregulation looks like in a group, and what it actually takes to create safety. Not a checklist, but a stance. A must-read for anyone committed to building spaces where participants can genuinely show up as their best selves.

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Podcast | May 5, 2026

New Friction is a podcast from Douglas Ferguson on the real organizational challenges of AI transformation. AI made execution almost free but most organizations are still stuck. Not because the technology doesn't work, but because the people problems got harder: decision-making, governance, and trust friction. Each episode features practitioners navigating AI change at ambitious organizations — what broke, what they tried, and what actually worked. We explore the shift from building to deciding, the 4x perception gap between leaders and the workforce, multiplayer AI organizations, and how the next generation learns judgment. Episode 1 drops May 26, 2026.

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AI | May 1, 2026

“Collaborative AI” is one of the most overused terms of 2026, often stretched to describe everything from multi-agent systems to solo prompting in tools like ChatGPT. This ambiguity hides what actually matters: how teams work together with AI in real-world settings. This piece cuts through the noise, challenging shallow definitions and offering a practical, experience-based perspective. Learn the difference between agent-to-agent workflows, individual AI use, and true team collaboration with AI—and why only one of these reflects the meaningful shift happening inside organizations today.

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AI | May 1, 2026

AI is accelerating execution, but many organizations are stalling. This post explores the hidden tradeoff behind AI efficiency, introducing concepts like Capability Debt and beneficial friction. Learn why over-automation can erode judgment, how contiguous AI workflows increase risk, and what leaders must do to preserve decision-making capacity. Drawing on research from MIT and real-world examples, it reframes AI transformation as a leadership and facilitation challenge, not just a technology rollout. Discover practical strategies to balance speed with resilience and build organizations that scale without losing their ability to adapt.