Switching AI tools: preparing your team to keep working

Syntalith can prepare a workshop like this through our team training service. With IT, the person responsible for learning and development, and the team manager, we select tasks employees previously performed with AI. We compare their existing approach with the capabilities of the new environment. Those differences inform the training proposal: the practice needed, access to approved materials, and feedback on participants' work. Before booking the training, you can see a task we propose using in the sessions.

The trainer helps identify why familiar work is no longer going well in the new tool. Together with the team, they check whether the instructions clearly describe the task and whether the tool has received the necessary document. If a previously used feature is missing, the team needs to establish how to complete that work with the capabilities available.

Skills employees can carry over

Someone comparing supplier proposals still needs to understand the buyer's question, select the right documents, and check the basis for a conclusion. When drafting a customer response, the purpose of the message, knowledge of the recipient, and the distinction between confirmed facts and assumptions still matter. These decisions do not depend on where an application places a button. They remain useful even when providing materials or reading the output works differently. CIPD's description of its webinar on skills in the age of AI connects digital capabilities with skills such as problem-solving, communication, and collaboration.

A transition program can cover describing a task for the model again, analyzing documents, drafting text, and evaluating an answer based on fresh material. The team also revisits model limitations and the rules for using data in the approved environment. We select the scope around what employees can already do independently. If the difficulty concerns a single action, a short explanation or the tool's instructions may be enough.

What needs checking in the new environment

Knowing the task does not establish which materials an employee may share with the new tool or which features their account provides. IT clarifies access and approved uses. The process owner identifies the sources needed, and the trainer selects work that employees can repeat in that environment. Missing permissions should not be mistaken for missing skills.

Suppose an employee used to prepare a summary from a document referenced in the previous tool. They paste the same instructions into the new one, but the document is unavailable. The answer is generic. During the workshop, they can practice identifying the missing material, supplying it in a way the company permits, and checking whether the summary actually uses it. Their ability to select information remains useful; how they give the tool a basis for its answer has changed.

An old prompt may refer to a folder or feature unavailable in the new application. The trainer discusses with participants which parts still describe the work well and where the way sources are provided needs to change. Participants revise the instructions so they can use them for the next task as well.

Moving from chat to files or a code repository

Moving from a conversation in ChatGPT to ChatGPT Work can mean assigning a task that uses files and connected apps. Claude Cowork also supports document work, analysis and research. In this transition, employees can practice handing over a complete task and reviewing the resulting material. The team also needs to establish which sources the new environment can actually access.

For a development team, the change might involve Codex or Claude Code. Practice then involves working in a repository and reviewing code changes. We discuss that scope through our AI-Native course. General AI skills remain useful, while the team learns the capabilities and limitations of the specific tool.

Who needs the workshop?

People in the same department may have used AI quite differently. One wrote short messages, another worked with long documents, and a manager reviewed the resulting analyses. A shared session can cover changes to the rules and the tool's capabilities, followed by practice relevant to individual roles. Job title and professional experience do not determine familiarity with AI.

For individual practice, each participant completes a familiar task using new material in the approved tool. The manager can assess whether the work meets the recipient's needs and how much help the author still requires. Preparation, the number of sessions, updates to materials for later use, and any review of subsequent practice are agreed in the proposal.

If employees have stopped using AI and the cause is still unclear, see our article on low usage after purchasing AI licenses. A transition workshop makes sense when the company knows which tasks it wants employees to continue. If the obstacle is repeatedly moving information between systems, integration needs a separate assessment.

Talk to Syntalith about preparing your team for a new tool. Describe work employees used to complete and where they now get stuck. We can discuss what calls for training and what needs clarification with IT. See our pricing page.