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As a leader, continuous improvement should always be part of our work. We must never arrive but should always be in progress. Over the last year, I’ve used AI a good bit to help me with my tasks at work and am working on creating a culture where AI is okay to use in strategic ways.
More recently though, I’ve begun using AI to help me in my leadership development. From practicing tough conversations to working through difficult decisions, AI has helped me think through all angles of complex challenges and make the best decisions I can.
Seven Questions for Leaders
Here are a few questions that I have been using to help me work through situations and make sure I’m focused on my team as a leader.
1- “What’s a blind spot I might have as a leader?”
Carrie’s Take: I like this question because it’s so easy to only see our own experience. Giving ChatGPT the situation and challenging it to help me see other perspectives allows me to better understand how others might react or feel on a topic and ensures I’m thinking of all possibilities in decision-making.
2- “Can you help me reframe this message with more empathy?”
Carrie’s Take: As someone on the move, I have been told I’m too blunt sometimes. This question helps ensure that while we’re working for change, I’m also seeing the team and taking care of them. To me, this question isn’t a question of “what” but of “how”.
3- “Can you play Devil’s Advocate for me?”
Carrie’s Take: I think critique makes decisions better and stronger. I like to use AI to help play out an opposing opinion. If I can justify and explain my rationale, it helps ensure the decision has been thought through and all opposing viewpoints have been intentionally considered. Sometimes, the critique makes me rethink a decision or explore a better way to discuss it.
4– “What’s a more inspiring way to communicate this change?”
Carrie’s Take: Too often when communicating things, we get bogged down in the details, and we don’t focus on why this change matters. When announcing news, I like to work with ChatGPT to make sure I’m using the opportunity to articulate where I see the team going and how this change plays a key point in that direction.
5- “What am I not considering that could go wrong?”
Carrie’s Take: I’m an optimist. I try to see the best in situations and in things. However, blind optimism is bad for leaders. It’s really important to think about what could go wrong. Understanding that on the front end can help in planning and help spot potential small issues before they become big problems. I like asking ChatGPT for help in this, but I have to say it can give you more points of failure than I’d like to see.
6– “Can you help me explain the ‘why’ behind this decision in one sentence?”
Carrie’s Take: People want to understand why particular decisions are made, especially when big changes are involved. This particular prompt helps me drill down to that message quickly and in an easy-to-follow way. If I can’t do a good job with articulating why a message matters, then I may need to rethink the decision and what’s driving it.
7- Can you help me turn this challenge into an opportunity?
Carrie’s Take: Change is scary, but there is usually a silver lining. This prompt helps me quickly pivot from the challenge and instead focus on the way navigating it can support shared goals. It helps me flip the script and be more optimistic in my approach.
AI for Leaders
This is my latest use of AI, and I find that I can use these questions almost daily as I think about leading a team. Good leaders ask great questions. AI can be another tool to help us ask better questions and think about outcomes we might otherwise miss.
As a leader, I’m grateful to have this resource to bounce ideas off of (without identifying details). I think it can be one of the most powerful leadership tools we’ve ever had.
And Carrie On 