How an AI can help you train others

Let’s say your new employee needs to learn “how things are done here.” Over the years, you have developed smooth routines and processes, but how do you convey them to the newcomer so they can quickly get into the business?

For you who prefer listening to reading, this post is also available as an episode of the ""Done!"" podcast:

Maps exist!

You are quality certified, so the most important processes are documented in the quality system and some other routines exist, hand on heart, mainly in the minds of you and the others who have been working here for a long time.

What does the flow mean?

But, different people are good at different things. Some are not as good as others at understanding process maps and interpreting what all these rectangles, diamonds and arrows mean in practice — for perfectly understandable reasons. And it is rarely enough to be told something once when you are new to the job and everything (!) is new.

Give me a recipe!

Then, it would be nice to have a checklist that guides the newly hired through the routine step by step the first time and that they can refer to whenever their memory needs refreshing. However, creating such a checklist takes time and effort!

You can let an AI do the rough work.

Do this

Open the AI chat you prefer. ChatGPT gave me surprisingly good results when I tested this, while Microsoft Copilot was somewhat less good.
Upload a process map to the chat and write a prompt like the one I used: “Here is a process map. Some people find it difficult to read those. Can you make a checklist out of this, where you step by step explain how the process works instead?”
Be amazed at how skillfully the AI interprets the map and translates it into a well-structured checklist.
If the process map is a flowchart with multiple actors, ask the AI to rewrite the checklist from your perspective if you are one of them.
Of course, the AI may not interpret the map correctly, so copy the list, make any necessary adjustments, and save it where your routine descriptions should be stored.
If the routine is instead “in your head,” record yourself explaining how it works, step by step. You do not have to describe it entirely correctly structured, but can redo it, correct yourself, digress a little, and so on.
Transcribe your recording into text. I used my own solution with OpenAI’s Whisper, but you can also try a service like Sonix.ai or Descript.
Paste the transcribed text into the AI chat and prompt like I did: “Here I have briefly described how a process works. Can you make a checklist out of this, where you step by step explain how the process works instead?”
Copy, adjust, and save the checklist as before.
Now you have created two checklists without much effort!

Easier to train

If you let an AI do the rough work of making process maps and “in the head” descriptions more accessible, you make it easier for the newcomer to learn how the job is done. You benefit from the hard work you have already put in so you do not have to double-document your processes. Additionally, what you have in your backbone is documented in a way that is easier to spread to others.

How do you do?

Have you used AI to document processes and routines differently? Write to me and tell me! I am fascinated by the simplification possibilities hidden here, and I would love to hear your best tips.

(Did you know you can also use AI to summarize long emails!)

Want to learn more?

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