This week, we’ve been looking at AI workflows. In my first article, I showed you how to design an AI workflow to conduct your next 1:1 performance review, so you can get the best out of your employee, help them work on their goals, and boost their performance.

After that, I shared an AI workflow you can use to design engaging and powerful presentations that move from boring PowerPoint slides to slide decks that actually resonate and are scientifically proven to be psychologically effective as well.

Then yesterday, I demonstrated how to use AI tools in a smart workflow for writing a report, such as a monthly or end-of-quarter report.

Using these tools and workflows can halve your time.

What would’ve taken days or hours to accomplish as a busy manager can now be done within a fraction of that period, giving you back much more space in your calendar for the most important aspects of your work–talent development, and operational strategy.

Today, I’m closing out this series with a new AI workflow: how to use AI to onboard new hires.

How To Use AI To Onboard New Hires

Here are the AI tools you’ll need:

ChatGPT (Team/Enterprise Plan) or Claude
Microsoft Copilot
Custom GPT (this is only if you have a technical team to support, as you would require IT to be involved with Custom GPT integration).
Microsoft Teams, Slack, or employee internal web chat via the intranet.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Create a knowledge bank of all the most commonly requested/needed resources, policies, SOPs, manuals, KPIs, SLAs, etc., and the FAQs that arise during the onboarding. ChatGPT and Copilot can help you refer to internal policies and SOP documentation to assist you with this, and these tools can also simplify processes and terms to create onboarding documentation for junior, less experienced hires.

Step 2: Ask Copilot or Gemini to help you identify the most common documentation, SOPs, and answers that would be needed, role specific, for your team (depending on if you use Google Workspace or Microsoft Office).

Step 3: Connect your generative AI tool to your company’s knowledge management system so that it can retrieve the data from those documents, thereby preventing hallucinations and inaccurate answers for slash data. (Or use Copilot/Gemini)

Step 4: Create a custom GPT based off this documentation for role-specific onboarding.

Step 5: Refer your new hire to the chatbot (as an example, it can be integrated via Zapier and enabled in Slack, Teams, etc.) The new hire asks questions as they need to instead of constantly pinging you with a quick question. The AI answers instantly, directing them to documentation for clarification where needed.

Step 6: You record step-by-step walkthroughs via Loom AI or Scribe to save you from having to constantly answer a team member’s call and share your screen to walk them through a process. The steps are all pre-recorded and the chatbot can refer the new hire to the Loom screengrabs or Scribe documentation.

Step 7: Anything that is still unclear and hasn’t been resolved will be escalated by the AI to you as the manager.

Throughout this process, keep checking in with the system to ensure it’s working properly, without hallucination, without freezing or redirecting to incorrect information.

Also, ask your new employees for feedback on how the system is working and anything they feel could be done to improve their onboarding experience.

One of the most time-consuming tasks that I faced when leading a fresh team that was constantly recruiting for new staff was having to almost daily go back to square one, repeating myself with the same explanations, the same on-screen walkthroughs, the same onboarding policies and documents as I did for the last new employee.

And this would take up a significant chunk of time (this was before AI became the huge deal that it is today).

Now don’t get me wrong, manager/employee time is very important, especially during the first 90 days, because it solidifies their:

Understanding of the company
Confidence in their role
Employee engagement and experience
Mutual trust

AI workflows help you provide 24/7 access to resources and information to support your team, even when you’re away

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However, it would be a much better use of your time to spend an hour or two each week getting to know them, solidifying your relationship with them, and understanding their career goals and job aspirations and how they’d fit into the company culture as a whole, rather than spending hours each week walking through simple tasks when you could easily automate these.

Not only is it easier for them because they have 24/7 access to information, but it’s also better for you as a manager because you don’t have to feel like you’re “always on.”

This concludes my AI workflow series.

Next up, I’ll be exploring the impact of Davos, key takeaways from what’s unfolded at the World Economic Forum’s summit, and what leaders can pull away and actions that can be taken as a result of the discussions surrounding AI and the global workforce.

See you next week.

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