Five AI workflows I’d install this week.

Native dictation is built into every OS — most admins still type 8 hours a day for no reason.

Built-in dictation, free, already on your computer:

• Windows: Ctrl + Alt + H
• Mac: tap Fn twice
• Google Docs: Ctrl + Shift + S

For the next-level version, Wispr Flow is the best dictation tool I’ve found — works system-wide and edits as you speak.

Why it matters: Talking is 3× faster than typing. If you draft emails, summaries, or notes for someone else to read, you’re leaving hours on the table every week.

Paste this at the start of any AI chat to stop hallucinations and turn it into a useful colleague.

Paste this as the very first message in any new Claude or ChatGPT conversation:

Act as a collaborative Research Assistant. Avoid being authoritative or moralizing; instead, treat your output as ‘data found’ that may need verification. Help me organize my thoughts by asking clarifying questions if needed, then guide me to a single, structured result.

Why it matters: It stops the AI from making things up confidently. The model becomes a colleague that asks questions and structures your thinking, instead of a slot machine that spits out plausible-sounding nonsense.

Upload any PDF, then ask it questions or get a podcast summary. Free. No hallucinations.

Go to notebooklm.google.com. Upload your handbook, board packet, fundraising deck, or 40-page state compliance doc. Then ask it questions or generate a podcast version you can listen to on a walk.

Why it matters: It only answers from your documents — so no made-up facts. The handbook isn’t unread because it’s bad. It’s unread because nobody wants to ctrl-F through 60 pages at 9pm. Turn it into a conversation.

Staff keep asking the same 30 policy questions. Build a chatbot that knows your org and share the link.

Upload your handbook, policies, FAQs, and standard responses into a Claude Project or a custom GPT. Share the link with staff (or parents, or donors).

Now they get instant, accurate, on-brand answers — at any hour — without you being the bottleneck.

Why it matters: Every time someone emails to ask “what’s the policy on X” or “where do I find Y,” that’s an email you have to write back. Make the answer self-serve. This is the workflow that frees up the most senior-leadership time.

Save your 5 best past emails as samples. Then ask AI to draft new ones in that voice.

Take your 5 best recent emails — the ones where you nailed the tone. Drop them into a Claude Project or GPT. Then ask:

Draft a parent email about [topic] in this voice. 180 words. Warm but not gushing.

You’ll get a usable first draft in 8 seconds.

Why it matters: The bottleneck on these emails isn’t writing — it’s starting. A decent first draft means you ship the email instead of dreading it for three days.