AI Essentials: Using AI for Strategic Thinking

As many users establish their routine for leveraging AI tools in education, I am noticing a pattern in many of these interactions.

Most user interactions with AI are A + B responses.

A user prompts ChatGPT or Claude for a specific deliverable, such as a lesson plan, agenda, or summary, and once the AI tool generates it, the interaction is over.

I have found myself engaging in long dialogue exchanges with ChatGPT — sometimes I may be asking for support around a specific deliverable but most of the time, I am not.

Instead, I am leveraging ChatGPT and other AI tools for strategic thinking. AI has helped me think more comprehensively around plans, projects, initiatives, and other aims I may be pushing towards in the various professional roles I play.

Oftentimes, strategic thinking happens with colleagues or individually by journaling or using a consultancy protocol but what happens when you introduce AI into the equation?

In today’s essentials, I will introduce a framework which synthesizes what many of my strategic thinking dialogue exchanges with ChatGPT look like:

Aim. Assess. Anticipate.

The framework above walks through all of the vital pieces of a strategic thinking experience with AI. At a fundamental level, your goal is to communicate a clear aim, assess it across one or multiple criteria, and then develop strategies or tactics based on the assess findings.

How does this look in practice?

I engaged in scenario one not too long ago in the context of my work. I was tasked with supporting a cross functional project across multiple teams and wanted to ensure I set them up for success with a thoughtful launch plan.

With this in mind, I began engaging with ChatGPT and Claude with the following prompt:

My initial goal here was to make sure I was thinking comprehensively around any unforeseen challenges which could arise across a complex cross functional project. While I had some initial ideas, I was curious what AI might illuminate for me. Here’s how ChatGPT (black) and Claude (white) responded:

On ChatGPT, you can see communication gaps, resource allocation, and scheduling conflicts were considered the most likely challenges based on the highest associated percentages alongside an explanation of how this might arise.

I entered this prompt on Claude also and it elevated similar challenges: it had conflicting schedules, transportation challenges, and limited resources and personnel as the top three.

At this stage, this is where the dialogue and curiosity really ramps up; depending on my specific reactions, I may do the following: ask for specific scenarios for how each of these challenges may come up, clarify the most common challenges, or if all seems steady so far, I may choose to get tactical and transition to the anticipate phase.

In this scenario, I decided that the most helpful layer would be a concrete next step I could take to mitigate the top three challenges. Here’s how ChatGPT and Claude responded:

In examining some of the steps recommended by ChatGPT and Claude as an individual who has managed people and teams, these steps are plausible and realistic for the scenario I presented. I could see myself working on these items.

At this point, the exciting piece is I have many options as to where I could go next. I could look to assess additional challenges or a different criteria. I could anticipate further by generating more next steps or getting more concrete now by asking AI to help me generate a project plan which considers the top three challenges.

I’ve found this framework to be helpful in my strategic thinking. At worst, it helps me to sound board my own thinking before engaging with a group and at best, generates drafts of actual deliverables I can use to achieve my aim.

For my AI enthusiasts: Do you use AI for strategic thinking? What does this look like for you?

Check out my full explanation here. Join the conversation at TheAIEducationConversation.com

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