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Written by Codex, an AI assistant from OpenAI, with review and editing by Sandy Nash. This article explores practical ways small organisations can use AI. The featured image was also created using AI, with direction and approval from Sandy.

Artificial intelligence can sound much grander and more complicated than it needs to be. For a small organisation, its most useful role is often quite ordinary: helping someone get started, organise information, reduce repetitive work or see a familiar problem from another angle.

It does not need to transform the whole organisation. In fact, beginning with a few contained, low-risk tasks is usually more practical.

Getting a first draft on the page

AI can help create a starting draft for an email, article, policy, agenda or social media post. This can be particularly useful when someone knows what they want to say but is struggling to begin.

The first draft should not automatically become the final version. It still needs someone who understands the organisation to check the facts, adjust the tone and decide whether it says what was actually intended.

Used well, AI removes some of the effort involved in facing a blank page. It does not remove responsibility for what is eventually published or sent.

Summarising information

Meeting transcripts, survey responses, background notes and lengthy documents can all take time to review. AI can help identify recurring themes, produce a short summary or extract a preliminary action list.

This can make it easier for a person to find the important points, but the original material should remain available for checking. A summary will always involve decisions about what to include and what to leave out, and an AI system may occasionally misunderstand something important.

Improving existing wording

Not every use of AI needs to involve writing something new. It can also help make existing material clearer, shorter or easier to follow.

For example, it can suggest:

• a clearer structure for a complicated page;
• headings that help readers scan an article;
• plainer alternatives to formal or technical wording;
• shorter versions for social media or email; and
• questions a reader may still have after reading a draft.

The organisation’s own voice should remain recognisable. If every sentence begins to sound polished in exactly the same way, some of the personality has probably been lost.

Organising ideas and planning work

AI can be useful as a thinking partner. It can turn a collection of notes into a possible plan, suggest categories for information or help compare different approaches.

This does not mean it should make the final decision. It can present options and draw attention to possible gaps, but people still need to apply their experience, priorities and knowledge of those affected.

Handling routine administration

There may also be opportunities to use AI for repetitive administrative work: producing standard templates, categorising non-sensitive information, creating checklists or turning agreed actions into a workable task list.

Before automating anything, it is worth checking whether the process itself makes sense. Automating a confusing or unnecessary process only allows it to go wrong more efficiently.

How small organisations can use AI collaboratively

AI does not always need to complete a whole task from beginning to end. It can be more effective to divide the work according to what the person and the AI can each do best.

For example, a person may be quicker at navigating to the right page, supplying background information or deciding whether something looks and sounds right. AI may be more useful for developing a first draft, reorganising complicated material, comparing options or handling a detailed technical task.

This article itself was produced collaboratively. Sandy chose the subject, reviewed the arguments, identified an important point that was missing and questioned the original title. I helped develop and organise the wording, suggested a shortlist of new titles and, when Sandy gave me the final choice, selected Practical ways small organisations can use AI.

Neither of us needed to do every part of the process. The aim is not simply to hand work to AI. It is to create a useful working partnership in which time is spent where it adds the most value.

What should not simply be handed over?

AI-generated information can be incomplete, out of date or confidently wrong. It should not be treated as an unquestionable source of legal, financial, medical or safeguarding advice.

Care is also needed with personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information. Before entering information into an AI service, an organisation should understand what it is sharing, why it is necessary and how the service handles that data.

Decisions that materially affect people should remain subject to meaningful human judgement.

Start small and check the result

A useful first AI project has a clear purpose, limited risk and an output that someone can easily review.

Ask:

• Has this saved useful time?
• Is the result accurate?
• Does it sound like us?
• Has any sensitive information been shared unnecessarily?
• Is a person still clearly responsible for the final decision?

AI is most useful when it supports capable people rather than trying to replace them. Small organisations can use AI selectively, where it genuinely makes work clearer, quicker or more manageable, rather than trying to use it everywhere.

P.S. Sandy suggested asking readers to spot the intentional error in this article. I checked it again, but I’m not confirming whether she actually left one.

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Would practical AI support help?

Sandy can help you explore practical uses of AI, improve a process or work through a particular task without losing the judgement and personality behind your organisation.

View services or get in touch.

Have you considered outsourcing some work but kept putting it off because you are not sure where to start?

For some people, it is obvious what can be handed over to someone else. For many, it feels like an overwhelming process. Working with a virtual assistant does not have to begin with a long, detailed specification or a decision to hand over a large part of your business. It can start with just the one or two tasks that are taking too much of your time.

For example, you might ask a VA to create an infographic, make a flyer to promote a new coaching group, update contact details on a website, prepare a transcription or set up a Mailchimp account.

These five steps offer a practical starting point.

1. Identify what is taking your time

By reading this guide, you are already thinking about the first step. You have recognised that something is taking you too much time and that there may be another way to deal with it.

Start by noticing the work that keeps being postponed, interrupts more important activity or takes you longer than it should. It might be routine administration, website updates, preparing reports, coordinating bookings, organising information or following up actions.

It is also worth considering who is currently doing that work. Valuable owner or management time is often spent on tasks that can be outsourced effectively, freeing that person to concentrate on the areas where they add the greatest value.

My original business strapline was Creating time for business. That is still relevant today, although the support I provide now extends well beyond “just” traditional administration.

2. Analyse what can sensibly be handed over

You do not have to complete this analysis alone. In fact, many clients prefer Steps 2 and 3 to happen together. They would rather have some help completing the analysis than face another task before they can ask for support.

This is where it is easy to become stuck in “analysis paralysis”. You know that support could help, but deciding what to hand over, and how to explain it, can become another task in itself.

List what needs doing, how often it happens and any timescales involved. Consider which skills, information, systems or access are needed, and whether the work requires your personal judgement or could be progressed by somebody else.

Not every task is suitable for delegation. Some decisions can only be made by you. Other work can be prepared, organised or completed independently before coming back to you for review or approval.

I can help you look at how the work is currently being done, ask the right questions and identify a sensible place to begin.

3. Connect and discuss what you need

The next step, which as already mentioned could begin during the analysis stage, is to speak to a virtual assistant. An introductory conversation gives us the opportunity to talk through what is taking your time, the result you are hoping for and any relevant deadlines or priorities.

You do not need to arrive with a perfectly organised brief. Notes, examples or a collection of half-finished tasks may be enough to start the discussion. If you are not sure exactly what support you need, working that out can be, and often is, part of the conversation.

This is also an opportunity for both of us to decide whether we are likely to work well together. A good working relationship depends on communication, trust and a shared understanding of what needs to be achieved.

We can then identify a sensible first task, or sometimes a group of tasks, to hand over. Starting with one or two clearly defined pieces of work allows us to learn how each other works without requiring you to commit to a large or longer-term arrangement.

4. Agree how the work will be done

Before work begins, we agree what is included (the scope), the proposed timescale, the cost, what information or access is needed and how we will communicate. Even for a small piece of work, there should be a clear proposal, written agreement and contract.

My payment terms are agreed in advance and payment is made before work begins. This keeps the arrangement clear for both of us and means there is no uncertainty once the work is underway.

Working with a virtual assistant is not the same as employing somebody. A VA is an independent service provider who brings their own experience, systems and way of working. You do not need to provide a salary, employment benefits, equipment or day-to-day supervision, and you pay for the support you actually need.

We will discuss whether the work is arranged with an hourly charge for time or a fixed fee for completion of a particular piece of work.

That does not mean the VA remains an outsider. A good VA can become a trusted part of your wider team, understand how your organisation operates and work autonomously towards the agreed result. In many cases, that combination of flexibility, experience and independence can offer better value than using valuable management time or employing somebody for work that is not needed on a full-time or even regular part-time basis.

5. Repeat, review and adapt

This is an ongoing process. As I begin working alongside you and become a trusted part of how your business operates, we can regularly review both what your business needs and how I can best support that need.

We can consider what has been useful, what could be improved and where you add the most value to your business. We can then revisit the earlier steps, identify other work that could sensibly be delegated and agree how I can best continue supporting your goals.

Support can remain occasional, develop into regular help or simply end when the task is finished. As your business or organisation changes, the support it needs may change too.

Reviewing the arrangement keeps it useful. As trust and rapport develop, these conversations usually become quicker and I can work increasingly autonomously, with less direction needed from you.

Could some practical support help?

If you have recognised work that is taking more of your time than it should, you do not need to complete any of the steps mentioned here at all before getting in touch. We can start with a short conversation about what you might need and whether I am the right person to help.

View my services or get in touch.