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As a top executive in a government ministry, department or agency you have tried to inspire staff around Vision 2030 Jamaica. But the limited results so far have only made you hungry for answers. Here’s a practical approach built on my column of September 28 that uses new technology to motivate.
Most CEOs still communicate like it’s 1995 - a pre-digital world. They craft a single message and expect it to connect across all levels. Unfortunately, they remain stuck in a fish-bowl in which the C-Suite can be engaged, but department heads are only cautiously optimistic while supervisors are sceptical. And frontline staff? They are counting the days until the next three-day weekend…or retirement.
This pattern has effectively killed Vision 2030 Jamaica as an inspiration. It’s more damaging to strategic initiatives than a hurricane, pandemic or fiscal deficit.
But what if you could use an AI assistant for help? One that never gets tired or judges bad ideas? What follows are three-10-minute prompts that require simple copying, pasting and editing. By the end, you’ll have fashioned a new Super Colleague who works for free in several ways.
The level-specific translator
Your passion for Vision 2030 Jamaica, or some other project, resonates at the top, fades in the middle and falls apart at the lowest tiers of your institution. One size-fits-all messaging cannot work.
To win this battle, you can start with a basic LLM or large language model prompt:
“I need to communicate our possible Vision 2030 contribution to different levels of my organisation. Here’s our core message: [ Insert your own message]. Please create 4 versions tailored for:
• Senior executives (focus on strategic impact);
• Middle managers (focus on operational changes);
• Supervisors (focus on team implications);
• Frontline staff (focus on daily work impact).
For each level, address their specific concerns and use language they relate to.”
To deepen this message, upload supplementary documents such as Dr Wesley Hughes’ ‘Forward to Vision 2030’ and ask the LLM to adopt its tone. This would be a fine start, but there’s more.
Behind great communication lies genuine empathy for your audience. Fortunately, modern tools like ‘Jobs to Be Done’ can take you far into the experience of your staff. Once there, you could tap into deeper motivations than ‘getting my pay cheque’.
Feed the results of this work into your LLM and ask it to generate multiple options to choose from.
The resistance detector
Even if your messaging is perfect, you probably expect scepticism. While employees nod along politely, their real objections remain unspoken, quietly sabotaging your efforts. You’re fighting invisible resistance because people won’t share their true concerns in public.
To prepare, use your LLM to anticipate pushback before it derails your project. The “deep empathy” mentioned before should help. Here, a prompt will take you deeper.
“I’m rolling out Vision 2030 initiatives in my [ insert the type of organisation]. Based on typical employee concerns in Jamaican [ government/for profit] organisations, what are the likely unstated objections from:
• Middle managers worried about implementation;
• Supervisors concerned about their teams;
• Frontline staff sceptical about change.
For each group, identify their top three unspoken concerns and suggest how I should address them in my communication.”
Once again, you may supplement your query with data from employee focus groups and engagement surveys. Your super colleague will use every scrap of it simultaneously – a feat no human can perform as quickly.
Consequently, you should expect some surprises.
At the same time, you’re going to have specific strategies to address lurking issues before they become problems.
Your tactical action generator
If you are able to gain some traction with the above methods, congrats, but you are far from finished. The success of initiatives like Vision 2030 Jamaica relies on thousands of individuals taking tactical actions that fall way outside the realm of business-as-usual.
In fact, that’s the point. Visions are meant to drive action.
Now you are searching for projects to place in the organisation’s strategic, corporate and operational plans. Prompt your LLM:
“Our organisation supports Vision 2030s goal of [ insert specific goal]. We are a [ insert type of organisation] with departments including [ insert list of departments]. For each department, create 3-5 specific actions they can take in the next 90, 180, 360 and 720 days that directly contribute. Make sure each action is SMART.”
The answers you receive won’t be perfect, but they’ll accelerate your thinking.
Naysayers may point out that your team has discussed these questions many times before. While this is correct, a new human or virtual member of the C-Suite can shake up stale perspectives considerably.
Your AI super colleague is waiting, ready to join. The prompts are here. The choice is yours. Start today.
Francis Wade is a management consultant and author of Perfect Time-Based Productivity. To search past columns on productivity, strategy and business processes, or give feedback, email: columns@fwconsulting.com
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