Your people are already using AI. Here's how to talk about it.
AI is taking hours off admin, drafting and reporting across the business. It's also landing on your desk: tools nobody approved, checking work nobody counts, jobs that have grown while the titles stayed the same, and a policy everyone has been told to write.
If AI has landed on you on top of your day job, as the ops manager, the IT lead or the HR director, this is for you too. You don’t need a new title to run a good conversation about it.
- Nobody is asked to label themselves in front of colleagues.
- Ground rules on every card, including "pass is always a good answer".
- Honest about what a manager can and can't promise under UK GDPR.
- A "don't run this if" list on every pack: restructures, grievances, recent incidents.
- Character captions softened for team use, and a large-type sheet with no pictures.
Five things AI has quietly made HR's job.
Tools nobody approved
People bring their own AI to work, often on personal accounts, because it helps. The question isn't how to stop it but how to make it safe without driving it underground.
Work nobody counts
AI drafts in minutes; someone spends the afternoon checking it. That time rarely shows up in workload planning, appraisals or headcount decisions.
Jobs that outgrew their titles
Roles now include prompting, checking and running systems that weren't in the job description. Pay and grading usually haven't caught up.
Fairness and confidence
Some people race ahead, some quietly avoid it, and some worry about their jobs. Age, role and confidence all play a part, and none of it is visible from a dashboard.
A policy people actually follow
A policy written for the handbook gets ignored. One the team helped write, in its own words, gets used. That's what our first team pack produces.
The common thread: the human layer wasn’t removed on purpose. It just wasn’t in the plan. Every Charlie Jacks session puts it back, in the team’s own words. Why it matters
of people using AI at work bring their own AI tools to work.Microsoft and LinkedIn, Work Trend Index, global, 2024
Sessions a manager can run without a facilitator.
Before we switch it on
75 minutes. The team finds out which AI tools are already in use, without blame, and writes its own rules in its own words. Includes manager notes, three printable sheets, a version for leaders who haven't decided yet, and a follow-up checklist that includes when to involve your data protection lead.
Table Talk cards and the Hot Seat
Ten to twenty-minute discussion cards for team meetings, each starting with what AI does well. The Hot Seat is a sharper set for teams that already trust each other, run by someone outside the reporting line.
The Gap Check
A leader and a team member answer the same eleven statements. Works for any department. Run it as a room exercise at a team day.
Where did the time go?
Hours saved against hours spent checking, in pounds. Useful evidence for workload and job-design conversations.
The Phrasebook
What leaders say and what teams hear, and the other way round. Useful for manager training.
Cast your NEIL
NEIL is what we call the AI. Give each AI agent a personality and a job card, with what data it may see and who approved it. Includes two example HR agents.
For use across your organisation.
All five team packs with a company licence for internal use: £395 up to 100 staff, £695 for 101 to 500. Or start with one team for £79. If you'd like to pilot a session with one team first, free, get in touch.
General guidance, not legal or employment advice.