Do you remember the last time HR announced the "super" end-of-year team building event? Your polite silence and forced smile, just at the thought of your lost Friday, trying to escape from an escape room with members of other teams (oh yes, long live cross-functionality).
Now, imagine this instead: Friday 7pm, your offices are buzzing with energy. Teams from all departments are raising their glasses to the collective building of a brand new AI solution. No one is checking the time. No one wants to leave. That's the good vibe of an AI hackathon.
Here is what every leader must understand: many members of your teams are secretly terrified at the thought of AI replacing them. And traditional team-building activities fail because they ignore the elephant in the room—the AI revolution that is transforming every profession.
Isn't it time to start turning this fear into fuel? AI hackathons do exactly that. In just 48 hours, your employees go from fearing AI to creating with AI. They become drivers of innovation rather than victims of change.
It's not just another corporate event. It's the moment when engagement meets transformation.
1. Why traditional engagement fails in the age of AI
Let's be honest: your employees are afraid. Not of their manager, not of quarterly targets, but of something much deeper. They are afraid that AI will make their jobs obsolete. This silent anxiety undermines their productivity, creativity, and willingness to engage. Meanwhile, what are we doing? Team-building workshops where we build towers with toothpicks or Legos.
Escape games do not answer the question "Will I still have a job in 5 years?". Lunchtime yoga sessions do not teach how to collaborate with AI. And afterworks do not turn fear into skill.
Result: a toxic paradox. The more you need innovation to remain competitive, the more your employees withdraw into themselves. They see AI coming into the company and think "threat" rather than "opportunity".
2. The AI Hackathon: From Fear to Fascination
An AI hackathon is 48 hours where the magic happens. But what magic exactly? First, we break down the silos. The accountant who thought AI was "a thing for IT people" finds herself creating a tool that automates her reports. The salesperson who was afraid of ChatGPT builds an assistant that qualifies his leads. The HR professional, who saw AI as a threat, develops a chatbot to improve onboarding.
The secret: an AI hackathon is not just about solving business problems. It addresses the three fundamental psychological needs that team buildings completely lack.
- Autonomy: participants choose their challenge and their approach.
- Mastery: they learn by doing, not by listening.
- The meaning: they are creating something that will have a real impact on their daily work.
When these three elements combine, the transformation is instantaneous. Fear becomes curiosity. Curiosity becomes skill. Skill becomes confidence.
3. The domino effect that changes everything
The true power of an AI hackathon is not measured by the 48 hours of the event, but by the months that follow. Participants become natural ambassadors for AI within their departments. They do not preach, they show. "Look at what I've created" becomes the new "Did you know AI could do that?". The contagion is positive and rapid.
The hidden impact? The transformation of corporate culture. Instead of enduring change, your employees create it. Instead of waiting for directives from headquarters, they propose solutions. Instead of seeing AI as the enemy, they see it as their superpower. This creative energy doesn't stop at the hackathon. It permeates the entire organisation, creating a culture of continuous innovation that all your team buildings combined could never have sparked.
4. Convince and start
"We are not Google." "It's too expensive." "Our employees are not ready." Stop. These objections reveal exactly why you need an AI hackathon. The best innovations often come from "traditional" companies because their employees understand the real problems to solve.
The cost? Cheaper than your last two failed team buildings.
The preparation? That's precisely the point—learning by doing.
Here are your three pillars of success.
- First pillar: the right challenge. Choose real problems that your employees face on a daily basis. "How can AI reduce repetitive tasks in your job?" works better than "Invent the future of the company".
- Second pillar: mandatory diversity. Ban single-department teams. Magic is born from mixing.
- Third pillar: the aftermath. Before you even begin, announce that the best ideas will be implemented. Nothing kills commitment faster than a nice prototype that ends up gathering dust.
5. The courage to take the plunge
Your first steps this week?
- Identify 5-10 curious employees (not necessarily tech) as ambassadors.
- Define 3-5 challenges based on daily irritants.
- Block out two days in the calendar (a Thursday-Friday works well).
- Find AI mentors to help you moderate this event
Initiating an AI hackathon is not a matter of budget or technological maturity. It is a matter of courage. The courage to acknowledge that old recipes no longer work. The courage to trust your employees. The courage to turn fear into strength.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: organise a pilot AI hackathon within the next three months. Start small, 20-30 people. Measure the energy, not just the deliverables. Then watch the domino effect. You will thank me in six months—or rather, your employees will thank you.
Ready to take action? Contact me for a 30-minute chat. I will share the mistakes to avoid and the quick wins to look for. Because the real question is not "if" but "when" you will transform your teams' engagement.