A practical guide to AI in leadership: 9 ideas and templates to start today

Summary

In this guide, you will learn:

• How AI transforms time-consuming leadership tasks into instant, structured workflows

• The Miro AI approach: generate templates instantly, collaborate with teams, refine for specific contexts

• Nine proven frameworks from RACI matrices to quarterly business reviews that accelerate decision-making

• Best practices for combining AI automation with human strategic insight

• Step-by-step implementation roadmap for successful AI adoption across leadership functions

Who is this article for: Team leaders, project managers, and executives who want to eliminate manual planning overhead, accelerate strategic processes, and focus more time on high-value leadership activities rather than administrative tasks.

Your team is ready for AI. Miro’s research shows two-thirds of knowledge workers are positive about its benefits, yet nearly half feel their companies lack a clear plan for adoption. With 78% of organizations now using AI, leaders can no longer afford to wait. The time to act is now.

But where do you begin? This guide cuts through the noise. We'll give you concrete, actionable ways to integrate AI into your leadership workflows immediately. Forget abstract theories; here are nine specific ideas—complete with templates—that you can use to start leveraging AI today.

9 ways to use AI in your leadership workflow (with templates)

Think of these proven frameworks as your launchpad, not a final destination. Instead of starting from scratch, let Miro AI create a first draft for you. It can instantly populate, structure, and analyze information using specific formats, giving you a strong starting point. From there, you and your team can refine and improve the output to perfectly match your project's unique needs and context.

1. Define project roles instantly with a Simple RACI Matrix

The Challenge: Project kickoffs are often delayed by ambiguity over who is responsible for what.

How to use AI: In the "Create with AI" panel, select the Table format. Prompt it with the project details, for example: "Create a RACI table for the website redesign project, including roles for UX, Engineering, Content, and SEO." Miro AI will generate a structured table defining who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, which you can drag onto the board and refine with your team. Use the RACI Matrix template to give the final touch.

2. Build a stronger business case, faster

The Challenge: Crafting a compelling business case that gets executive buy-in is time-consuming.

How to use AI: Start with the Simple Business Case template to brainstorm ideas with your team. You can use the Mind map format to expand your ideas. To write the narrative sections like the executive summary or proposal, use the Doc format in Miro AI. You can prompt it to "Draft a proposal for a new customer support chatbot."

3. Visualize market opportunities with an Innovation Matrix

The Challenge: It's hard to see where your company should innovate next without a clear view of the market.

How to use AI: On the Innovation Matrix template, use the Sticky notes format to brainstorm a list of potential ideas or market trends. Then, select those sticky notes and ask the Diagram or mindmap format to "Organize these ideas onto an innovation matrix based on their potential for disruption.". This visualizes where your most promising opportunities lie.

4. Explore growth strategies with the Ansoff Matrix

The Challenge: Deciding whether to enter new markets or develop new products requires careful strategic thinking.

How to use AI: Open the Ansoff Matrix template. Use the Sticky notes format to generate ideas for each quadrant (Market Penetration, Product Development, etc.). Then, use the Doc format to create a summary of the pros and cons for each strategic direction, helping your team make a more informed decision.

5. Accelerate strategic planning with an Opportunity Canvas

The Challenge: A great brainstorm can lose momentum if the ideas aren't quickly translated into an actionable plan.

How to use AI: After a brainstorming session on the Opportunity Canvas, group the raw ideas on digital sticky notes. Select a group and use the Doc format in Miro AI to "Summarize these ideas into a problem statement and a potential solution for the Opportunity Canvas.". This rapidly turns scattered thoughts into structured, strategic components.

6. Proactively manage project risks

The Challenge: Unforeseen risks can derail even the best-laid plans.

How to use AI: In the Risk Matrix template, use the Sticky notes format to brainstorm potential risks for your project. Once you have a list, use the Table format to "Create a risk register from these notes, with columns for Likelihood, Impact, and Mitigation Step.". This creates an organized backlog for tracking and managing threats.

7. Streamline your OKR planning

The Challenge: Setting clear, motivating, and measurable Objectives and Key Results is a difficult balancing act.

How to use AI: Kick off your quarterly OKR Planning by using the Doc format to "Draft three strategic objectives for a marketing team based on the goal of increasing market share.". For each objective, use the Table or Sticky notes format to brainstorm and generate a list of measurable key results.

8. Enhance your Quarterly Business Reviews

The Challenge: Compiling all the necessary data and narratives for a QBR can take days.

How to use AI: Use the Table format to import and organize performance data for your QBR Presentation. Create compelling visuals for your slides with the Image format by describing the concept you want to illustrate, like "A visual metaphor for growth and collaboration.". Use Miro Slides to create presentations that engage:

9. Facilitate meaningful self-evaluations

The Challenge: Team members often struggle with how to structure their self-reflections, leading to unproductive performance reviews.

How to use AI: On the Self-Evaluation template, use the Doc format to "Generate a list of thoughtful, open-ended questions for a self-evaluation focusing on growth, challenges, and collaboration.". This provides your team members with a structured starting point for a more meaningful reflection.

How Miro turns these ideas into reality

Miro is the innovation workspace where you can bring these ideas to life. Our platform is designed to turn powerful methodologies into dynamic, AI-powered workshops.

With Miro AI, your canvas becomes the prompt. You can select rough ideas, diagrams, or feedback on a board and ask AI to synthesize them into the structured templates mentioned above.

This unique capability ensures the AI has all the necessary context to generate truly relevant results. As Sandrine Veillet, VP of Global Product at WebMD, notes, "...The idea that this task can be done directly in Miro, leveraging all the discovery insights that are already in the board is brilliant and certainly a time-saver."

Your roadmap to successful AI adoption

Having great ideas is the first step. Here’s how to implement them effectively.

• Step 1: Identify key challenges and opportunities. Start small. Pick one template from the list above that solves an immediate pain point for your team.

• Step 2: Educate yourself and your team. Foster a culture that is open to exploring new technologies, a critical factor for success. With 69% of knowledge workers planning to develop more AI skills, they are eager for opportunities to learn.

• Step 3: Start small and experiment. Run a pilot project with your chosen template. Test Miro AI’s capabilities, see how it fits into your workflow, and gather feedback from the team.

• Step 4: Measure impact and scale. Track the right metrics. Did you reduce planning time? Did you accelerate project kickoffs? Once you see tangible benefits, you can introduce more AI-powered templates and scale the approach.

The bigger picture: lead innovation in a unified workspace

True leadership transformation goes beyond adopting a single new technology. It's about creating an environment where your teams can break down silos, centralize information, and collaborate effectively to innovate at speed. When you remove the friction caused by disconnected tools and scattered conversations, your team can achieve remarkable results.

This is the power of a single innovation workspace. For example, by uniting global teams in Miro to plan and deliver a new product, PepsiCo brought it to market 3.6x faster. They established a new best practice for complex innovation, not just by using one feature, but by fundamentally changing how they worked together on the platform.

When you layer powerful AI capabilities onto this collaborative foundation, the potential for acceleration grows exponentially. You're not just working better together; you're working smarter, automating routine tasks, and generating new ideas directly where the work is already happening. This combination of seamless collaboration and embedded intelligence is what truly redefines leadership, freeing you to focus less on managing work and more on guiding your team toward the next big thing.

Bring your team along on your AI journey

You’ve seen how AI can instantly generate diagrams, docs, tables, and more to kickstart your most important work. But that's just the beginning.

Miro AI is an entire suite of capabilities designed to enhance every stage of your workflow. Summarize complex research, cluster thousands of sticky notes by keyword or sentiment, or even create brand new prototypes from a text prompt.

The best way to understand the potential is to experience it yourself. Move from idea to impact faster, and see how the right AI partner can change the way you lead. Ready to put these ideas into practice? Explore all Miro AI features and start for free.

FAQs

How do I convince skeptical team members to adopt AI tools in our leadership processes?

Start with demonstrable time savings on routine tasks they already find tedious. Use pilot projects with clear before/after metrics - for example, show how AI reduces RACI matrix creation from 2 hours to 15 minutes. Focus on AI as a productivity enhancer that frees up time for higher-value strategic thinking rather than a replacement for human judgment.

What's the biggest mistake leaders make when implementing AI in their workflows?

Trying to revolutionize everything at once. The most successful implementations begin with one specific use case, measure results, and gradually expand. Leaders also often underestimate the importance of collaborative refinement - AI should create the first draft, but teams need to customize and improve the output for their specific context.

Author: Miro Team

Last update: August 8, 2025