Unlocking Productivity: A Look Inside LOKAL's Practical AI Skills Workshop

CJ Masungsong, Director of Training and Marketing

Published August 6, 2025

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Why we chose Claude over Chatgpt
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Many workers spend hours each week stuck in low-value tasks—summarizing long reports, digging through email threads, formatting documents. It’s the kind of work that clutters the day but can’t be ignored. But there's a powerful new tool designed to streamline this very work—an assistant that functions like a calculator for the brain.


As LOKAL’s Director of Training and Marketing, I facilitated the “Unlocking Productivity: Practical AI Skills for Professionals” workshop, guiding participants on how to seamlessly integrate AI into their daily workflows and focus more on strategic, high-value work.


Our workshop reframed AI not as a futuristic threat, but as an accessible and transformative productivity tool available today. This article explores the key pillars of the training, from understanding AI's real-world applications and safety guardrails to mastering core skills in reading, writing, research, and automation.

What is Executive Search

AI Isn't Sci-Fi Anymore—It's Your New Co-Pilot

Our program began by grounding AI in reality. We are currently in the era of Generative AI, a form of Narrow Artificial Intelligence that must be trained on data. The self-aware AI of science fiction, known as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), is still projected to be 5-10 years away in development.


We presented an "AI-optimist" perspective, comparing the technology to the steam engine's role in the industrial revolution. Our core message was that while AI will remove redundant manual labor, it will simultaneously create new career opportunities centered on human-AI collaboration.

Our workshop's central concept was to view AI as a "calculator for the brain," a tool to process complex thinking easily. The goals are practical:



  • Write better by letting AI handle basic emails and letters.
  • Read better by having AI summarize long documents for quick review.
  • Think better by using AI as a thought partner to expand on ideas.

Essential Guardrails: Using AI Safely and Smartly

With any powerful tool, safety comes first. A critical part of our training focused on establishing AI Guardrails to protect sensitive information. The rules were simple but crucial:


  • Never Share: Company financial data, employee personal information, or passwords and access codes.
  • Safe to Share: Public company information, general work questions, and common office tasks.



In our workshop, we also stressed that AI is a co-pilot, not an autopilot. It does not create original concepts, and its answers, while confident, are not always correct. Before using any AI output, a human must always check the numbers, verify the facts, and review the tone for accuracy.

Chatgpt vs. Claude

Our workshop's central concept was to view AI as a "calculator for the brain," a tool to process complex thinking easily. The goals are practical:


  • Write better by letting AI handle basic emails and letters.
  • Read better by having AI summarize long documents for quick review.
  • Think better by using AI as a thought partner to expand on ideas.

Chatgpt vs. Claude

Mastering the Prompt: Your Key to Unlocking AI

Our practical training centered on ChatGPT, chosen for its unmatched accessibility, versatility, and widespread recognition. The key to unlocking its power lies in mastering the prompt.


  • Best Practices: I emphasized being clear and specific, providing context, defining the desired format, and setting constraints like tone or style. A good prompt is direct: "Write a professional email to a client confirming their meeting on Thursday at 2 PM. Keep it formal and polite, and include the meeting link."
  • Common Pitfalls: Attendees were warned against vague or overly complex prompts, like "Write something about our sales. Make it detailed and good."


The session then moved into hands-on activities, applying these principles to everyday office tasks like generating follow-up emails, creating tables to organize schedules, and summarizing documents into key bullet points.

AI as your new co-pilot

AI Isn't Sci-Fi Anymore—It's Your New Co-Pilot

Our program  began by grounding AI in reality. We are currently in the era of Generative AI, a form of Narrow Artificial Intelligence that must be trained on data. The self-aware AI of science fiction, known as Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), is still projected to be 5-10 years away in development.


We presented an "AI-optimist" perspective, comparing the technology to the steam engine's role in the industrial revolution. Our core message was that while AI will remove redundant manual labor, it will simultaneously create new career opportunities centered on human-AI collaboration.


Our workshop's central concept was to view AI as a "calculator for the brain," a tool to process complex thinking easily. The goals are practical:

  • Write better by letting AI handle basic emails and letters.
  • Read better by having AI summarize long documents for quick review.
  • Think better by using AI as a thought partner to expand on ideas.


Essential Guardrails: Using AI Safely and Smartly

With any powerful tool, safety comes first. A critical part of our training focused on establishing AI Guardrails to protect sensitive information. The rules were simple but crucial:


  • Never Share: Company financial data, employee personal information, or passwords and access codes.
  • Safe to Share: Public company information, general work questions, and common office tasks.


In our workshop, we also stressed that AI is a co-pilot, not an autopilot. It does not create original concepts, and its answers, while confident, are not always correct. Before using any AI output, a human must always check the numbers, verify the facts, and review the tone for accuracy.


Guidelines when using AI
Utilizing prompts when using AI

Mastering the Prompt: Your Key to Unlocking AI

Our practical training centered on ChatGPT, chosen for its unmatched accessibility, versatility, and widespread recognition. The key to unlocking its power lies in mastering the prompt.


  • Best Practices: I emphasized being clear and specific, providing context, defining the desired format, and setting constraints like tone or style. A good prompt is direct: "Write a professional email to a client confirming their meeting on Thursday at 2 PM. Keep it formal and polite, and include the meeting link."
  • Common Pitfalls: Attendees were warned against vague or overly complex prompts, like "Write something about our sales. Make it detailed and good."


The session then moved into hands-on activities, applying these principles to everyday office tasks like generating follow-up emails, creating tables to organize schedules, and summarizing documents into key bullet points.

Beyond the Basics: Automation and Customization

The final section of our workshop offered a look at the next level of AI integration. Our speaker introduced automation tools like Make, which use drag-and-drop interfaces to connect different apps. For example, a workflow can be created where a new WordPress blog post automatically triggers ChatGPT to generate and post social media content to LinkedIn.


I also demonstrated the power of creating custom GPTs—personalized AI assistants tailored to specific needs. In an example, the presenter built a "Dungeon Master" GPT for a tabletop roleplaying game by uploading the player's guide, maps, and adventure books. This turned the AI into a specialized game master, illustrating the vast potential to create custom tools for any industry or hobby.

From Workshop to Workflow: Your Action Plan

Our workshop concluded with a clear roadmap for continuous learning. Our core message was that AI is an accessible tool that, when used safely, can dramatically boost productivity. To get started, attendees were given a simple action plan:


  • Practice Specific Tasks: Use AI to create simple graphics, make tables for schedules, summarize documents, and draft emails.
  • Take the Next Steps: Pick tasks to try daily, practice the safety guidelines, and share successes with your team to build a culture of smart AI adoption.


Our final advice was to start small and simple. For those ready to dive deeper, LOKAL offers advanced training on topics like building custom AI bots and AI for executives.

AI Action Plan

To learn more about LOKAL’s training programs, contact us at hello@lkl.ai or visit our website at www.lkl.ai.

Need Help With AI Training?

Don't let data bottlenecks slow you down. LOKAL provides a complete suite of automation tools, from intelligent document processing to streamlined workflows, designed to make your work easier and faster, so you can focus on what truly matters.

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