Play With It – The 30 Minute AI Test (WT792)

Play With It – The 30 Minute AI Test (WT792)

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by Shirley Dalton | 29 Aug, 2025 | Blog, Business, Leadership

WT 792 Play with it, the 30minute AI test

I was showing a client what can be done with AI.

I showed him how easy it is now, compared to 20 years ago when I first started my business helping business owners streamline their operations.

Twenty years ago, it would take me 3-4 hours offsite to draft procedures for every hour I spent onsite.

These days with the help of AI, I can get a draft procedure is less than 15 minutes.

That saves me and the client.

A few days later he came back to me and asked if “that thing” I showed him could analyse data.

“Let’s find out.”

We trialled a pdf which didn’t work so well.

We trialled a single tab from an excel spreadsheet and gave it specific instructions for what we wanted analysed, including suggestions for categories of expenses plus a total for the number of items and the amount spent.

Amazingly, we had all the information we wanted within about 30 minutes of trial and error.

What we found in 30 minutes could save hours and hours of painstaking data analysis, not to mention eye strain.

We were both amazed and thrilled and excited at what we could do.

He almost skipped out the door as he headed home.

If you’re not using AI you’re going to get left behind.

If you’re not using AI, your competitors are—and they’re delivering better outcomes, faster, at a sharper price. And no, AI won’t make you dumber. It makes you more strategic and creative because it rewards better questions.

We didn’t know if what we wanted could be done. We took the attitude of playing with it.

Here’s your challenge for this week:

Identify one thing you could potentially get AI to do for you and play with it. Have fun.

  • It could be data analysis.
  • It could be writing copy for a Facebook ad.
  • It could be creating a procedure.
  • It could be as simple as using a recording and transcription service such as Otter.ai or screen capture your procedures using Loom.com

You might be surprised at how much help you can get and how much smarter you can become.

Let me know what you find.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

A Coffee Isn’t A Consulting Fee (WT791)

A Coffee Isn’t A Consulting Fee (WT791)

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by Shirley Dalton | 22 Aug, 2025 | Blog, Business

WT 791 A coffee isn't a consulting fee

This week a past client messaged, “Got time to pick your brain over coffee?” I felt the familiar tug — I love helping. But I also know unpriced advice often lacks context, commitment, and outcomes. So I tried a new reply and offered for him to book in a professional consultation.

I didn’t hear back.

I love this quote, from an unknown source, “Boundaries aren’t walls; they’re doors with handles.”

Pricing is a promise — when we value our expertise, we show up at our best and invite clients to do the same.

Saying “yes” with structure is kinder than a vague “sure” that breeds frustration.

A similar thing happened when Ross and I had The Family Foto Man. When we offered additional prints for free, the clients didn’t value them as much as the ones they paid for.

Ben Harvey says that “Buying Begins Their Breakthrough”. What this means is that once a person commits to paying for the service, they show up differently. They take it more seriously, they do the work and they get better results.

And from another angle, I have a colleague whom I like to get advice from and I always preface my enquiry with, “this is a paid consultation” because if she doesn’t invoice me, I feel like I can’t ask her and I would prefer to ask her because:

  1. she has a brain the size of a planet and has the best advice, and
  2. I want to support her, and if I can’t pay her, I would feel like I’m taking advantage of her, which means, I’d have to take my business elsewhere.

As much as I love to help, I’ve had to learn to put boundaries in place, because consulting is what I do for a living. It’s how I earn my money. A coffee isn’t a consulting fee.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love catching up with my friends and colleagues over a coffee, breakfast or lunch, but that’s different. It’s a different dynamic.

Your mission this week is to look at your own boundaries. Have you got any? If not, now might be the time to set some. Boundaries make it easier to say “Yes” when you want to.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

Stay In Your Lane (WT789)

Stay In Your Lane (WT789)

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by Shirley Dalton | 8 Aug, 2025 | Blog, Business, Teamwork

WT 789 Stay in your lane

The past few weeks I’ve been working onsite with a client on a major project.

Parking is tricky, so Ross has been driving me to and from the premises.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I found myself clinging to the seat.

“God! Look out! They’re coming over.”

“I know!” replied Ross.

This didn’t happen on just one occasion.

It seems to be a daily occurrence.

What happened to people’s ability to drive and stay in their lanes?

Are they on the phone?

Are they reading a text message?

Hopefully, they’re not trying to watch a youtube training, like the guy in Melbourne this week who got fined for “driving whilst distracted”.

Anyway, as we navigated our way to work, I reflected on the metaphor.

At work, it’s also important to stay in your lane.

The clearer your role descriptions are, the easier it is for people to stick to their lane.

Unless, of course, they happen to be people who can’t help themselves and have to do everyone else’s job except their own.

You know the ones. They exist in every business.

In our leadership experience participants complete an activity where they work with a team member to build a business.  This activity requires them to separate their roles, stick in their lanes and trust their team member to do their job.

It’s amazing to see the reaction when participants realise how much they CAN actually trust their team mate to do the work and that in fact, they MUST TRUST them because they can’t win if they try and do everything themselves.

Your mission this week is to reflect on your role.

Are you staying in your lane, or are you veering off into someone else’s lane?

If you don’t trust others to do their job, ask yourself how come?

If they’re really not capable, are they unable or unwilling? If unable, do they need more training?

And if they are capable, then maybe you need to look at yourself and get out of the way and let them do their job.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

Make A Procedure (WT782)

Make A Procedure (WT782)

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by Shirley Dalton | 20 Jun, 2025 | Blog, Business, Systems and Processes

WT 782 Make a Procedure

Before we get into this week’s thought, Ross and I were debating about the correct way to write the title.

Should it be “Write a Procedure” or “Make a Procedure”?

Before screen-capture tools like Loom.com or transcription services like Otter.ai or AI in general, the only way to capture a procedure was to write it, hence “Write a Procedure”.

Today though, there are many ways to capture a procedure, hence “Make a Procedure”.

So, whichever one you think is correct, use that.

To get us started, I have a question for you.

Have you ever been employed in a role and been asked to complete a task but there were no instructions for how to do it?

I thought so!

Here’s the thing. When we write procedures, we aren’t writing for ourselves, because we know how to do the work.  We are writing for the people who come after us.

And if you answered “Yes” to the question above, then you know how much we appreciate the thoughtfulness of those who created procedures for us to follow.

As a general rule, if you’re going to do something more than once, make a procedure.

If you only do something once a year, make a procedure because the odds are you will forget between now and next year.

With today’s technology, it’s not hard to make a procedure.

Here’s a tip. You might even call it a procedure.

  1. Name the procedure. For example, How to Make a Procedure.

2. Subscribe to Otter.ai or similar transcription service and download it to your phone or desktop.

3. Press Record.

4. Verbally describe the steps and any important information.

5. Use the format – Why, What, How and What If.

a. Why is this important? (Give the person a reason to follow the procedure.)

b. What is it?  (Give a bit of context or history or definition.)

c. How (List the steps and always start with a verb because people want to know what they have to DO.)

d. What if?  (These are questions people may have, “What if this happens? What if that happens?” Answer the questions.)

6. Stop the recording.

7. Upload the transcription to ChatGPT or other similar AI.

8. Prompt AI to create a procedure using verbs and numbers for each step and sub-step.

9. Review and edit the procedure.

10. Copy or download the procedure.

11. Update the version history (version number and date).

12. File the procedure in your document management system.

13. Inform those who use the procedure of the new version.

14. Request acknowledgement from users that they have Read and Understood the procedure.

15. Follow the procedure.

If you’re looking for a good document management system, I recommend TKO Docs (https://tkodocs.com).  It’s built on wordpress, has search availability and soon to have voice activated conversations like, “What’s our procedure for writing a procedure?”

There are many more features, like version control, being able to select who sees what, ability to create personalised manuals for different roles and the list goes on.

I trust I have encouraged you to think about your procedures and motivated you to start making them, if you haven’t already.

More information can be found in my book, The Loyal Lieutenant: How The Second-in-Command Brings The CEO’s Vision To Life.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

Fifteen Years (WT780)

Fifteen Years (WT780)

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by Shirley Dalton | 6 Jun, 2025 | Blog, Business

WT 780 15 Years

Oh my golly goodness!

Today marks our 15th anniversary of Weekly Thoughts and I haven’t missed one single week in all that time.

This is something I am very proud of – my commitment to you.

I don’t want to miss a week because I don’t want to let you down.

How about you?

What or who are you committed to?

Let’s take a minute to reflect on the past fifteen years.

What’s happened in your life?

Where has your journey taken you?

Ross and I travelled Australia and lived in a motorhome over Covid.

We lived in the USA for 7 months.

We lived on the Gold Coast for a year.

Like gypsies, we’ve bought and sold properties, we’ve packed and unpacked.

I wrote and published two books and contributed to 3 others.

We travelled the world and studied with the best of the best, expanding my knowledge and my certifications to become an internationally certified R.A.P.I.D. Results Coach, a Transformational Mindset Coach, an authorised instructor for Thomas Gordon’s Leader Effectiveness Training and the list goes on.

And most of all, we’ve met and worked with the most amazing clients who inspire and teach us every day.

Anniversaries come and go, so this time, I invite you to take some time and not only reflect on the past 15 years, but look to the future as well. 

Who do you want to be in 15 years?

Where do you want to be in 15 years?

Thank you for being part of our community. Your presence inspires me to keep writing one more thought and one more thought and still another thought.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

Just Do Your Job (WT779)

Just Do Your Job (WT779)

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by Shirley Dalton | 30 May, 2025 | Blog, Business, Mindset

WT 779 Just do your job

Every now and again we have a conversation with someone and something they say gives us goosebumps and chills all over.

I call these “truth bumps” because they indicate to us that what we are hearing is the truth.

This week my body tingled with truth bumps.

I was talking with a colleague about making sales calls.

Prospecting is something that a lot of people resist.

We were discussing how important it is to include a request for introductions or referrals.

My colleague even encouraged me to reach out to past Leading Yourself and Leading Others Graduates to check in with them and also invite them to pass on any referrals, which I did.

As were discussing the various scripts, he gave an example from real estate.

“If I was speaking to Joe Blow, who moved away from the area 10 years ago, I would still end the call by asking Joe if he knew anyone locally who might be looking at selling their home.”

And then came the truth bump moment, he continued, “I’m just doing my job”.

Of course he’s doing his job. He is a real estate agent. Real estate agents have to find their own stock before they can sell it.  It’s not like selling computers where you can simply order more when you sell all your stock.

So, how about you? What’s your job and are you doing it?

Do you need a shift in mindset to get yourself to do it?

As I contacted previous graduates of the Leadership experience, it would have been easy for me to cherry pick and to decide who might want to hear from me and whom I thought might not.

Instead, I shifted my mindset and thought, if I delegated this job to an admin assistant, they would  simply send the message to the phone number and not even think about it. And so I did, I didn’t enter into Automatic Listening and make up stories.  In fact, quite the opposite, I did think of all the wonderful leaders I have met and trained and I got a warm fuzzy feeling.

It was wonderful to be back in touch with so many people.

Just do your job, whatever your job is.

Afterall, you signed up for it.

P.S.  Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thought delivered directly to their inbox.

Go to https://shirleydalton.com/Weekly-Thoughts.

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