It starts with your PROCESS: Janet Hitchen on making AI work for you

Janet Hitchen:

If you don’t know how you work, you can’t add AI into your workflows (easily). 

AI took about one third of the conversation at the Comms Leadership Summit in Brussels in September. 

We don’t need to be preached at, “should”ed or shamed “oh my god, how are you not using it for everything?” 

We do need to discuss how we can work together and integrate different AI tools into our workflows, processes and general “how”. 

But that’s not sexy is it? Or is it…

I bloody love process for one simple reason: once you know how you do what you do and why, everything else becomes so much easier—stakeholder conversations, understanding what you can legitimately say no to cos you don’t have the time, resource or money available. 

Yet far too often when I have asked comms pros to tell me their process I am met with a blank look 85% of the time. This means that 85% are fully in reactive mode, can’t say no with a legitimate reason to back them up, are dealing with daily chaos and are likely burning out. Eugh. 

The 15% who do know are ahead of the game as they can act more proactively and are saying no and better planning out their work. 

What they are also able to do more easily is look at their processes, the architecture and tools they use and figure out where AI can seamlessly fit and support without too much effort. 

AI won’t solve your process problems but it will amplify them. 

Many will tell you their platform will magically fix your problems. It won’t. 

Many will share how you can save time and write better by plugging in the standard AI your workplace may provide. It won’t. 

In the first conversation of the new series of Navigating Disruption, we talked with Dan Södergren and shared how different tools are better for different jobs: Claude is great at writing, Gemini is great at analysis, Copilot is not really great at anything right now but watch this space…

I digress back to AI and comms. 

My question is How can you integrate new tools into your workflows, your “how” if you don’t have a defined “how”? 

How do you know which AI models you should investigate if you haven’t defined the gaps in your process, because your process is one big gap. 

How can you operationalise parts of your work using AI if you change how you operate every time you speak to a different business partner? 

You can’t. 

So, before everyone jumps on the bandwagon (although I fear that ship has sailed) take a beat and map how you believe is the best way for you/your team to work—how you would like partners to engage with you, how you would like to achieve success— and then, and only then, look at which tool(s) is best adapted to help you in your specific set of circumstances. 

If you don’t do this, you’ll be adding more stuff to your plate and not really understanding why and how this is all going to make your life easier; apparently. 

Frankly, I predict more burnout as teams and individuals frazzle faster cos “you have AI now so you should be more productive…” Eugh x2. 

Understanding how you work may not be sexy but it is essential and that, for me, makes it the sexiest and smartest thing you can do right now.

+++

Janet Hitchen is a communication consultant and writer based in London. She is a Strategic columnist and co-host of the Navigating Disruption Podcast