Vic Sol · Decision DeskOne-page sheet · 5 min to use
If the boss does not use AI, neither does the team: the Monday meeting
For directors and managers who sent the "from today we use AI" email and, the following Monday, asked for the report done by hand, as always.
When to use it
You asked the team to use AI and, weeks later, nobody does.
Your team has seen you write about AI but has never seen you use it.
You want them to adopt the tool without ordering it and without a two-day course.
The sheet
What to prepare the Friday before (20 minutes):
Pick a real task of yours from the week, not an example: the first draft of meeting minutes works well.
Do it with the AI and save the draft exactly as it came out, uncorrected.
Mark the mistake it made: a fact it invented, an agreement that never happened, a name it changed.
Note how you corrected it and how long that took.
The 15-minute Monday script:
Minute
Move
What you do
What you say (illustrative)
0–3
Show your real use
Put the task you chose and the request you gave the AI on screen.
"On Friday I did the minutes like this. This is the request I wrote."
3–8
Show the mistake
Show the uncorrected draft, point to the mistake and fix it in front of them.
"Here it invented an agreement we never made. I caught it because I was in the meeting. This is how I fixed it."
8–13
Open the conversation
Ask which of their tasks looks like this one and what makes them distrust it. Listen; do not sell.
"What part of your week looks like this? What worries you about using it?"
13–15
Close on one thing
Each person picks one task to try this week. Reviewed next Monday.
"One task each. On Monday we look at what came out and where it got it wrong."
Task I showed: ____________ · Mistake I showed: ____________ · Next Monday we review: ____________
How to prepare it in 5 minutes
Pick a task that genuinely matters to you. If you show something trivial, the team concludes AI is for trivial things.
Do not fix the draft before the meeting. The value is in them seeing the mistake exactly as it came out.
Rehearse the mistake line once. It is uncomfortable, and that is why it teaches: it gives them permission to use the tool and permission to doubt it.
During the conversation, count three of their questions before you answer any. The meeting is theirs.
The most common mistake: showing only what went well. A boss who presents AI as infallible teaches people not to review, which is the opposite of what you want.
The line that is almost always missing
The second move. Almost every manager who dares to use AI in front of the team shows the clean result. Showing where it got it wrong and how you corrected it is what teaches: the team does not copy what you ask for, it copies what it sees you do. And what it needs to see you do is use it and review it.
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 an operations director with 15 years leading teams, who adopted AI in their own work before asking anyone else to, and knows the team copies what it sees you do.
Context I am giving you:
- My role and the size of the team: [ ]
- The real task I did with AI on Friday: [e.g. first draft of the sales meeting minutes]
- The draft exactly as the AI produced it: [paste]
- My corrected version and the mistake I found: [ ]
- What has happened so far with AI in my team: [email sent, course, nothing]
What I need: prepare my 15-minute Monday meeting with exactly this structure:
1. Minute 0 to 3, show my real use: what I put on screen and the line I open with.
2. Minute 3 to 8, show the mistake: point to the most useful teaching mistake in the draft (invented, omitted, changed), how I explain it and how I show the correction.
3. Minute 8 to 13, open the conversation: three open questions for the team, with no right answer.
4. Minute 13 to 15, close: how to ask each person to pick one task to try this week and how it is reviewed next Monday.
5. What I must prepare the Friday before, as a four-point list.
Output format: a four-row table (Minute · Move · What I do · What I say) followed by the Friday list. Maximum 400 words. No introduction.
Rules:
- Do not dress up the mistake: the value of the meeting is in showing it as it came out.
- The lines must sound like a person talking, not a presentation. If they sound like a slide, rewrite them.
- Do not add a "benefits of AI" section; the meeting is not a pitch.
- If the draft I pasted has no visible mistakes, tell me and suggest which task would show one.
- 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:
Is the chosen mistake one the team would also make, or a minor detail?
Can the three conversation questions be answered with "I do not trust this"? If not, they are not open.
Does the close ask for one task per person, or did it turn into an adoption plan? One only.
Vic Sol