Vic Sol · Decision DeskEditable template · 15 min to use
Teaching AI is like teaching someone to drive: a plan by levels
For HR, learning teams and leads who are about to design (or pay for) AI training and want someone to work differently on Monday.
When to use it
You already paid for an AI course, everyone finished it and nobody changed how they work.
You were asked to "train the team on AI" and the first proposal that arrived is a course catalog.
You have one or two people who already use AI well and do not know how to put them to use.
The sheet
Nobody learns to drive with the keys and a manual. You learn with someone beside you, in a real car, in stages. The same applies here.
Level
Driving
Company: who
Practice on a real task
Pass criterion
Who accompanies
Time
1 · Parking lot
First laps in an empty lot
The whole team in the area
One task of their own from this week, done with AI and reviewed. [Write the task, not "learn the tool".]
Delivers the task with AI and explains what changed versus how they used to do it.
The co-pilot: someone on the team who already uses it well.
2 weeks · 1 h a week
2 · Street
Real traffic with a companion
Whoever passed level 1
Three recurring tasks from their role, every week, with AI. [Illustrative: meeting summary, first draft of an email, spreadsheet check.]
Two of the three tasks are now done differently without anyone asking.
The co-pilot reviews one sample a week.
4 weeks
3 · Highway
Drives alone and teaches someone
Whoever passed level 2 and wants to accompany
Accompanies one new person through level 1.
The person they accompanied passes level 1.
The area lead, once a month.
Ongoing
Rules of the road (first session, not the last one): which data can be pasted into AI and which cannot. If they do not exist, write them before level 1 starts.
What gets measured at the end: not how many finished, but which tasks are now done differently. List: ____________________
How to fill it in 15 minutes
Name the co-pilot. Ask the team who already uses AI well; there is almost always someone, and it is almost never the boss.
Pick the level 1 task with each person. Their own work from this week, not examples from the internet.
Write the pass criterion as something you can see: a delivered task, not "understands the tool".
Set the time and a fixed hour in the week. Without a fixed hour, practice collapses at the first urgent request.
Add the rules of the road to the first session.
The most common mistake: measuring attendance. A finished course is the keys and the manual. Measure which tasks changed.
The line that is almost always missing
The co-pilot. Companies buy the course, set the dates and forget the person on their own team who already uses it well. It is the piece missing most often and the cheapest: already on payroll and familiar with the real tasks. Companies that move forward learn from their own people.
Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution. This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.
Open the .docx in Word (or the .xlsx in Excel) or print it before the meeting.
Fill the fields with the team; leave the blanks visible, they are the discussion.
Close with one owner, one date and one next action. Nothing else.
Prompt
Generate this sheet for your case
Paste this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini together with your proposal, process or policy. It reproduces the sheet with your data and flags what is missing.
Act as a learning and development lead with experience in mid-sized companies who has seen many paid courses that changed nothing on Monday, and who designs training the way people learn to drive: in stages, with someone beside them, on real tasks.
Context I am giving you:
- Area and number of people: [ ]
- Roles and the tasks each one repeats every week: [ ]
- Approved AI tools: [ ]
- Person on the team who already uses AI well, if any: [name or "not sure"]
- Rules on which data can be pasted into AI: [paste or write "none"]
What I need: a three-level training plan with exactly these columns: Level · Who · Practice on a real task · Pass criterion · Who accompanies · Time.
1. Level 1: one task of their own per person, with a co-pilot beside them.
2. Level 2: three recurring tasks from the role, with sample review.
3. Level 3: the person accompanies someone new through level 1.
After the table, add: (a) the rules of the road for the first session and (b) the list of tasks we will measure at the end, not attendance.
Output format: one table and two short lists, maximum 350 words. No introduction.
Rules:
- Practice tasks come from the roles I gave you; do not invent generic tasks.
- Every pass criterion must be observable (a delivered task), not "understands the tool".
- If I did not give you a co-pilot, do not invent one: write [CO-PILOT PENDING] and tell me which question to ask the team to find one.
- Flag every assumption as an assumption.
- If critical information is missing, ask me at most 3 questions before answering.
- Answer in plain, direct business English, with no sales adjectives.
What to check in the answer:
Does each level have a real task from the role, or did it fall back to "sample exercises"?
Is the co-pilot someone on the team, or did it swap in an outside vendor?
Is what gets measured at the end which tasks changed, or how many finished?
Vic Sol