We all know this principle: we imitate before we create. It’s true in our earliest learning: a child repeats what adults do before inventing their own gestures.

It’s true in education: we first apply the methods we’re shown, line by line, before adding our own intelligence.

It’s true in every profession: we reproduce what our first trainer taught us before finding a way of working that feels more fluid, more adapted, more ours.

And in the organisations I accompany and observe, the same dynamic is happening with AI.

• Imitation is the starting point.
• It is normal.
• It reassures.
• It protects the mind when everything around is shifting.

But the real question is how long we stay in that phase. Because a child who remains in imitation never explores their creativity. A professional who only reproduces ends up producing very flat work.

And an organisation that imitates for too long slows down its evolution — often without realising it.
And when I talk about evolution, I simply mean the way you work: your methods, your priorities, your internal frame.

This is where everything happens: in the way you step out of imitation, and in what that transition reveals about your way of operating.

Imitation: A Normal but Limited Step

Why you start by copying the old model

Imitation reassures. It gives structure. It lowers the mental load, especially when everything around is changing. I see it regularly: it’s a human, predictable reaction.

AI used to reproduce the existing

In most organisations, AI accelerates the same tasks, the same reflexes, the same frame. Faster, yes. But not better.

Why Organisations Stay Stuck in This Phase

A posture issue, not a tooling issue

You approach AI with reflexes inherited from the past. You apply yesterday’s logic to today’s tools. And at first glance, everything seems to move: the writing is better, ideas appear faster, messages are clearer.

But in the organisations I accompany and observe, the pattern is obvious: the way of working does not change. It’s the same organisation. The same processes. The same decisions made with the same sense of urgency.

The tool changed. The field didn’t.

Optimising the existing is not transforming​

Many organisations confuse the two. They tell themselves: “Before, I wrote this in 40 minutes, now in 8. So we’ve transformed.”

In reality, you optimised a step — you didn’t transform the job.

Transformation isn’t about speed. It’s about rethinking how the work circulates: how you prioritise, decide, structure, transmit, coordinate.

And as long as the method stays the same, AI does exactly the same thing: it accelerates what already exists, amplifies your habits, and runs inside the frame you give it — even if that frame no longer matches your real challenges.

It feels like progress. It looks like movement. But the movement stays horizontal. It doesn’t touch the foundations.

The organisation moves on the surface, not in depth

On the surface, everything looks smoother: content is produced faster, emails are cleaner, ideas come easier.

But in depth, nothing has shifted: processes are still heavy, meetings still too long, decisions reactive, work fragmented, teams caught in the same urgency loop, and leadership still centred on producing rather than structuring.

This is where organisations get stuck: they haven’t taken the time to review the way they operate.

Not because they lack will. Because of pressure. Because of overload. Because of survival reflexes.

Yet I see it in every accompaniment: sometimes, small shifts are enough to bring coherence, breath, depth — without a revolution.

What’s missing is rarely a new tool.
It’s a moment to look honestly at how the work is done.
And a leader willing to say: “We’re not just going to accelerate what we already do. We’re choosing another field.”

That’s where real progress begins.

When Tools Move Faster Than the Organisation

AI doesn’t reward speed — it rewards clarity

If your posture is confused, AI becomes confused. This isn’t about tools. It’s about direction.

Urgency creates superficial work; meaning creates quality

When you go too fast, you produce hollow content. That’s exactly what I explored in mon article du 18 novembre. Meaning restores quality immediately.​

The tool advances, the organisation doesn’t

The gap widens. Organisational debt builds up. I explained this in detail in my December 16 article.

Change the Field Before Changing the Tools

The questions that signal the turning point

To open the transformation, the same three questions always come back:

• What work is essential?
• What needs to be redesigned?
• What is the real value of your métier?

The rupture isn’t technological — it’s cultural

• A different relationship to work.
• Internal coherence.
• An assumed frame.
• A clearer approach to transmission.

From imitation to creation
When you stop accelerating the existing, you can finally transform.
That’s where real evolution begins.
That’s where your internal maturity shows — the theme of an upcoming article.​

The Foundations to Build for 2026

Clarify the posture

Assume a frame. Step out of imitation. Set your level of expectation. This is leadership work.

Observe the real uses in the field

The signals are in daily practice, in gestures, in real work — not in dashboards.

Install coherence: methods, transmission, language

Transformation happens in the way people work together, in the alignment between intention and method.

Prepare the next step: 2026 as a creation year

Shifting from “we accelerate” to “we transform” is a posture change.
It’s the moment when an organisation stops chasing speed and returns to the essential: creating something that reflects who it is, that lasts, that builds real value.

2026 will be decisive for those who recognise this. Because at this point, speed is not what matters anymore. What matters is your ability to:

• Define the value specific to your field,
• Re-examine what makes you singular in a world that is becoming homogeneous,
• Reinforce a frame that is clear, coherent, aligned with your internal reality,
• Choose the trajectory that keeps your organisation resilient in a rapidly shifting landscape.

Leaving imitation means stopping the constant comparison, stepping out of standardisation, and returning to one simple question:
What do we want to build — us?

And that’s exactly where many organisations take the lead: by assuming their own model, clarifying their posture, and laying the foundations of a way of working that is more coherent, deeper, and more sustainable.

And it’s precisely at that stage that I intervene — accompanying management teams to clarify the frame, structure the uses, and install internal relays capable of sustaining this new way of working.

About the author

Micheline Boutrin Deroire

Founder of PAS À PAS DIGITAL, strategic consultant in AI applied to work practices and the human transformation of organisations.

She accompanies managers, executives and team leaders who want to integrate artificial intelligence into their practices while cultivating a conscious managerial posture and an aligned culture of change.

Her approach connects four pillars: AI, digital optimisation, usage practices and posture — to transform without losing oneself.

Book a meeting

www.pasapas-digital.com/appointment/1

Contact me

+596 696 37 66 90 • [email protected]

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelineboutrin

Awards (2024)

Best Innovation & Strategic Change Consultancy Leader – Western Europe

Digital Transformation Expert of the Year – France