Practical workflow guides
How to train new staff without repeating yourself
How do you train new staff and stop answering the same questions? Keep one playbook, draft guides from recordings, and let an AI assistant answer from it.
Write down how your team does each job, starting with the questions you answer most. Keep it all in one place, so new staff learn from the playbook instead of interrupting you.
An AI employee works as your team assistant. It answers staff questions from that playbook and drafts new guides from your recordings. A person approves each guide before staff use it.
How the workflow can work
- Record how the job gets done
Someone who knows the task records a short screen video and talks it through. Existing docs and checklists count too.
- A guide gets drafted
The team assistant turns the recording into a one-page guide in your format. A person you name corrects it and approves it.
- Staff ask the assistant first
Staff ask how to do a task, and the assistant answers from your approved guides only. If the guides don't cover it, it passes the question to a person.
- Gaps become new guides
When a person answers a question the guides missed, the assistant drafts it into a new guide or an update. A person approves it before staff use it.
Questions to answer before implementation
Which ten questions does your team ask you most?
Which jobs does only one person know, and what breaks if they're out for two weeks?
What's already written or recorded, where does it live, and when was it last updated?
Who approves each guide, and who keeps it current?
For each role, what does working alone look like at 30, 60 and 90 days?
What does a new hire already know on day one?
What may staff put into AI tools, and what's off-limits?
Who on your team is keen on AI, and who is wary?
What to define in the implementation scope
A playbook in one place, drafted from your own recordings and approved by you
A team assistant that answers staff questions from that playbook, and sends the rest to a person
New guides and updates drafted as your processes change, each approved before staff use it
Staff trained to review AI work, with an AI use policy
The questions that still reach you each week, counted against where you started in the Diagnostic
These are proposed workflow outputs, not a promise of results or a fixed monthly deliverable.
Map the work before implementing it.
The free Snapshot helps choose one workflow. The paid Diagnostic documents the current process, baseline, ownership, decisions and proposed scope. Nothing is built during the Diagnostic. Implementation requires a separate written scope.
AI Operations Snapshot: Free. AI Operations Diagnostic: $1,000 once for 1 week, documents only; no implementation is included. Partnership Tiers: Direct Advisory at $2,500/month with 4 engineering hours a month; Strategic Partner at $4,500/month with 8 engineering hours a month; Fractional Product Lead at $7,500/month with 15 engineering hours a month. Each tier has a 3-month commitment and no onboarding fee. Sprint Add-Ons cost extra and require an active Partnership Tier.
It renews for another 3 months at the same price unless you give 30 days' notice before it ends. Renewal reminders and written notice follow the agreement. Licenses, hosting and AI usage are billed separately by the relevant vendors.
Questions owners ask first
- What's the best way to train new employees?
Write a plan for the role before day one, with a named trainer for each skill. Give them one-page guides and short screen recordings. Have them do real tasks early, then explain the steps back to you.
- How do you write an SOP without it taking hours?
Start with the tasks people ask about most. Record yourself doing one and talking it through. An AI employee turns that into a one-page draft for you to fix and approve. Use the same format every time.
- How do you stop business knowledge from living in one person's head?
Start with the jobs only one person knows, and what breaks when they're away. Pair them with someone who writes things down as they learn. Keep every guide in one shared place, and keep it current.
- How do you stop answering the same questions from your team?
When a question comes up twice, write the answer down and point people to it. A team assistant can answer from your own playbook, so staff ask it first. Anything the playbook doesn't cover goes to a person.
- How do you train employees to use AI?
Set rules for what staff may share with AI tools. Train each role on its own tasks, including checking AI's work. In Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 survey, only 39% of AI users had AI training from their company.
- How can AI be used to train employees?
AI can draft guides from your recordings for a person to approve. Then it answers staff questions from those guides. In a 2023 study of 5,179 support agents at one firm, an AI assistant helped newer, less-skilled agents most.