AI Explorer: Work Smarter with Everyday AI

AI Explorer: Work Smarter with Everyday AI

Practical AI Productivity, Prompt Engineering, and Responsible Workflows for Steelcase - 1 day

Modern workplaces demand more than just knowing that artificial intelligence exists; they require the practical skill to integrate it smoothly into daily operations. Shift from treating AI as an intimidating technology to leveraging it as a capable work partner that accelerates research, writing, and analytical tasks. This single-day course grounds AI in real enterprise context using Steelcase-supported tools like Microsoft Copilot Chat.

Led by an instructor with over 30 years of industry experience, the course avoids academic theory in favor of practical, business-focused applications. Participants will learn to write effective prompts, build reusable templates for recurring workflows, and establish responsible AI habits that preserve data privacy and output quality.

Learning Outcomes

• Transition from seeing AI as a search tool to utilizing it as a collaborative thinking partner
• Integrate Microsoft Copilot Chat directly into everyday business tasks and communications
• Draft, summarize, and refine text, reports, and meeting notes rapidly
• Design reusable, personal prompt templates to automate repetitive writing and analysis tasks
• Apply re-prompting and iterative feedback techniques to improve AI output accuracy
• Evaluate AI outputs for hallucinations, bias, and context gaps
• Adhere to Steelcase data safety, privacy, and confidentiality guidelines
• Identify future opportunities to progress from an AI user into a low-code solution builder

Prerequisites

• Basic familiarity with web browsers and general desktop applications
• Access to an active Steelcase account with Microsoft Copilot Chat
• Basic awareness of daily administrative or operational workflows within your functional role

Target Audience

• Employees across all functional areas seeking to improve personal and daily work productivity
• Professionals looking to build confidence in using corporate-approved AI tools responsibly
• Non-technical staff interested in applying AI for drafting, summarizing, brainstorming, and basic analysis

Training Outline

1. Modern Workplace AI and Mindset Shift
   1. The AI work partner model
      1. Shift from search engine mechanics to thinking partner collaboration
      2. AI capability boundaries in daily tasks
      3. Productivity versus quality considerations
      4. Human oversight and judgment in AI-assisted outputs
   2. Enterprise tools and environment
      1. Microsoft Copilot Chat capabilities and interface
      2. Ecosystem integration within standard enterprise environments
      3. Safe input boundaries and enterprise data privacy
2. Productive Prompting for Daily Workflows
   1. Core prompting mechanics
      1. Task specification and contextual framing
      2. Persona, tone, and format alignment
      3. Plain language translation of complex material
      4. Iterative re-prompting and output refinement
   2. Text generation and document synthesis
      1. First draft creation and human-led polishing
      2. Summarizing lengthy reports, emails, and documents
      3. Transforming raw meeting notes into actionable follow-up items
      4. Structured brainstorming and format diversification
   3. Reusable prompt engineering
      1. Common prompt patterns for recurring administrative tasks
      2. Structuring prompt templates for personal reuse
      3. Storing and sharing effective prompts across teams
3. AI-Assisted Data Analysis and Insight Extraction
   1. Analytical prompting techniques
      1. Using AI to parse, organize, and interpret text-based data
      2. Extracting key insights and data trends from unstructured text
      3. Formatting raw inputs into structured communication tables
   2. Balancing speed, accuracy, and verification
      1. Knowing when to trust and when to verify outputs
      2. Detecting hallucinations and factual gaps
      3. Cross-checking AI findings against source documents
4. Building Smarter Work Habits and Next Steps
   1. Practical AI rituals
      1. Morning planning and task decomposition prompts
      2. Midday execution assistance and midday check-ins
      3. End-of-day summary and reflection routines
   2. Responsible AI usage and policy compliance
      1. Confidential data protection guidelines
      2. Ethical standards, transparency, and proper citation
      3. Human-in-the-loop review checklists
   3. Path to advanced AI capabilities
      1. Evaluating personal productivity gains and time saved
      2. Recognizing opportunities for agentic workflows and low-code automation

Disclaimer

This course outline is provided as a general training framework and proposed scope of coverage only. It does not constitute a fixed agenda, binding commitment, official certification pathway, partnership representation, or guaranteed delivery sequence. The trainer reserves the right, at his professional discretion, to amend, expand, condense, reorder, replace, or otherwise modify any portion of the content, emphasis, structure, tools, demonstrations, or delivery approach without prior notice, based on participant background, organizational requirements, technology changes, platform availability, security considerations, and instructional judgment.