Most business owners I talk to already use AI.
They use it to write an email, tidy up a proposal or summarise a long document. It helps every time. And then the week carries on exactly as before.
I have been thinking about why that is. My answer is simple. They use AI for single tasks. They have not yet given it a regular job in their week.
That is what an AI Chief of Staff is. It is a set of routines, set up in the AI tool you already pay for, that prepare the work you do every week. You check what it prepares, and you make the decisions.
Why AI workflows for business owners matter right now
Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index found that people are interrupted around 275 times a day by meetings, emails and messages. Almost half of employees, and more than half of leaders, said their work feels chaotic and fragmented.
If you run a business, you probably recognise that week.
The 2026 Work Trend Index added something I find really useful. The way people work together, and the support they get from their manager, had more than twice the impact on AI results compared with individual effort.
For me, that confirms what I saw in twenty years of leading change at Cummins, ABB, Siemens and Worley. Technology works best when it fits the way you and your people actually work.
How an AI Chief of Staff works in practice
We start with three routines. Each one is linked to a moment that comes back every week.
Every Monday: your weekly brief. You give the AI your calendar, your task list and your notes. It prepares a short brief with your priorities, what is due, and what needs a decision. You read it with your coffee and adjust it.
After every meeting: meeting to action. You give it the transcript or your notes. It prepares the actions, who owns them, the follow-up email and anything to note for next time. You check it and send it.
Before a big decision: a decision brief. You give it the background and the options. It lays out the options, the risks, the questions you have not asked yet and what you need to confirm. You decide.
Each routine is saved as a blueprint in your AI tool, so you run it the same way every time. We test it in your real week, one routine at a time, and adjust it until it fits how you work.
Two things matter from the start.
First, use a paid business plan. Please never put client or business information into a free public AI tool, because some of them can use what you type to train their models. ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft Copilot all have business plans that protect your data.
Second, you stay in charge. The AI prepares. You review and approve anything that goes to another person.
Who these AI routines are for
This suits business owners and leaders who already use AI now and then and would like it to help with the week as a whole.
It suits you if your week is full of meetings, follow-ups, reporting and decisions, and the work that grows the business keeps moving to the end of the day.
It also suits you if you lead a small team and a lot still runs through you.
If you are just starting out and your processes are still taking shape, it can make sense to wait a little. Routines work best when there is a pattern to build on.
How to get started with your AI Chief of Staff
- Look at last week's calendar. Find one moment that comes back every week, such as Monday planning or a regular client meeting.
- Write down what you do in that moment. Note where the information comes from and what a good result looks like.
- Choose your tool. Use the one you already have on a paid plan: ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft Copilot.
- Set up one routine. Give the AI your steps and an example of a good result. Try it on real work.
- Run it for two or three weeks. Adjust what does not fit. Keep what helps.
- Add the next routine. Once the first one feels natural, move to the next moment in your week.
Your AI Chief of Staff is the first step
An AI Chief of Staff is where we start.
Three routines show how AI fits into your week. You learn what to hand over, what to check and what to keep for yourself. That makes the next steps much easier.
From there, the work grows with your business.
- Workflow optimisation. We look at the processes that run through your business, such as proposals, client onboarding, reporting and marketing, and redesign them with AI built in.
- Virtual AI employees. I build AI agents that take on a defined role in your business, for example preparing client updates, drafting marketing content or keeping your reporting up to date. You and your people stay in charge of the work and the decisions.
- AI across your team. We bring the routines and workflows to your team, so the business can grow without everything running through you.
What I would like you to take from this
Start with one moment in your week.
Give your AI a clear, regular job for that moment, and keep the decisions with you.
When that routine runs well, the next one is much easier. Over a few weeks, the routines add up to an AI Chief of Staff that supports your whole week. And you get more time for the work only you can do: your customers, your people and your decisions.
Would you like help setting it up?
I help business owners and leaders get their own AI Chief of Staff running in ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft Copilot. We set it up together, or I can do the setup for you.