TELUS's Case study in Hybrid AI Leadership
Company
TELUS
Industry
Telecom
Size
+100,000 employees
Team
Business Customer Experience
Executive Summary
TELUS Business Customer Experience (BCX) set out to help leaders grow, leverage AI, and achieve productivity gains. Recognizing that tools alone do not create lasting value, BCX partnered with Impro.AI to embed a Hybrid Human AI leadership model. Leaders strengthened core leadership behaviors, then applied AI to decision making, and execution, converting work into TELUS capstone projects with measurable outcomes.
Through this model, BCX achieved:
$22M
In annual recurring savings
Over 100×
return on investment
The Challenge
BCX leaders operate in a fast‑moving environment shaped by rising customer expectations and operational complexity. Early AI usage across teams revealed several constraints:
- Leaders were stretched thin by competing priorities
- AI usage was inconsistent, making productivity gains difficult to measure
- Leaders needed to adopt AI without sacrificing accountability
BCX concluded that scaling AI required changing how leaders think and act, not just what tools they use.
The Hybrid Human‑AI Leadership Approach
The program focused on:
- Making leadership behaviors like prioritization and judgment visible in daily work
- Applying AI to communication, planning, and execution
- Reinforcing actions until they became habits
Why the Results Sustained
Coaching gains were supported by system‑level changes
Human‑first design
Leaders strengthened thinking before automation
Behavior over tools
AI adoption was embedded in observable leadership actions
Capstone translation
TELUS projects converted leadership decisions into financial impactShape
From Leadership to Business Impact
TELUS capstone projects served as the conversion point between leadership action, AI usage, and financial outcomes. Leaders applied AI‑enabled decisions to real operational challenges, including efficiency improvement, cost reduction, and customer‑impacting initiatives.
By anchoring AI usage to capstone projects, BCX ensured outcomes were measurable, repeatable, and owned by leaders rather than tools.