Sheri Kitchen wrote (with the help of AI) a super-helpful article in last month’s Compass, focusing on how AI can help write emails, create safety meeting content and plans, or summarize jobsite reports and notes to save time and check items off your to-do list just a little faster.
So fine. You open up ChatGPT or click on one of those AI pop-ups in Word or Google (yes, they can be annoying, but still not as bad as “Clippy.”). Now what? You’ve got a blank box to fill.
What’s the best way to fill in those blank boxes – called prompts? Prompts are your input into the AI system to obtain specific results. You want a good “what” and “how” text in the AI, so it generates useful responses for you. Think of it as a machine you’re programming with words.
- What’s your topic?
Safety training email. To-Do list so site visit reports get filed on time. Best way to tie a shoe so it doesn’t come undone. Whatever.
- Provide context
Profession, years of experience, tone (professional, friendly, humorous, angry), audience (colleagues, interns, non-professionals)
- Be specific
Try adding a year, specific region of the country. Give a precise task, examples, rules and constraints. Being specific and providing more details helps you understand your prompt better and generates a more customized response with fewer errors.
Think of it more like a problem. What are you trying to do? “Write a humorous limerick that focuses on the importance of wearing safety gear at all times while on a job site in Tampa.”
Here’s what I got back within 5 seconds. It won’t win any awards, but it’s something to start with. And you can always ask it to redo – using certain words, phrases, tones. Or make it better yourself.
A worker down in hot Tampa Bay,
Skipped his hard hat one steamy day.
A wrench took a dive,
He barely survived—
Now he’s never bare-headed, come what may!
Feel free to adjust and refine your prompts as you go. You might not get the results you’re looking for with your first prompt, but think about adding a word or changing how you phrase something. Don’t abandon a prompt because it didn’t work the first time — try making some minor changes and see what you come up with.
There are also AI generators for AI prompts. They help you organize your thoughts in an AI-friendly way. Some to check out:
Take five minutes – on your phone, or whatever – check out Claude, ChatGPT, or another app you’ve heard about, and ask it to do whatever it is you’re thinking about, but just didn’t know where to start. Now you do.
