Getting real work done · for leaders
Finishing real leadership work with AI
Leadership work counts when it is finished and acted on. The board approves the plan. The team understands the change. The employee receives fair, specific feedback. A draft that sounds polished but does not say what the leader thinks has not done that job.
Getting real work done means using AI to reach a finished result that reflects your judgment and survives scrutiny. It also means knowing which parts of a task you must do yourself. Positions, priorities, and assessments of people stay with the leader.
Where it comes up
A finished board paper
The paper must set out the decision, the options, the risks, and your recommendation. AI can structure and tighten it. Your recommendation and its reasoning must be your own.
Performance feedback for a direct report
Write the assessment from your own notes and evidence. Then use AI to check that the feedback is specific, tied to examples, and free of vague or loaded language.
A team announcement about a reorganization
The message must be accurate, clear about what changes for whom, and honest about what is still undecided. AI can help with clarity and anticipated questions.
What it looks like at each band
E1 · Foundational
Uses AI for first drafts and finishes most of the work by hand. Sometimes sends documents that still read as generic or machine-written. Final quality depends on manual effort.
E2 · Proficient
Uses AI to reach finished routine documents with moderate editing. Writes the positions and judgments personally. Work meets the need and holds up to ordinary review.
E3 · Distinguished
Delivers complete work on complex tasks, such as a strategy paper or a reorganization plan. Uses AI where it helps and personal judgment for priorities and people. The reader sees a clear position, not a balanced summary.
E4 · Exceptional
Consistently delivers work that sets the standard for the leadership team, including under deadline. Is deliberate about where AI helps and where it does not. Can show others how a finished piece was produced.
Common mistakes
A draft with no position
AI drafts tend to present every option evenly. A board paper needs a recommendation. If the draft has none, you have not finished the work.
Feedback that AI wrote
An employee can tell when feedback is generic. Write the assessment from your own knowledge of their work, and use AI only to improve its clarity.
Polished language that hides uncertainty
Fluent drafts can make an undecided plan sound settled. State plainly what is not yet decided.
A worked example
A board paper recommending a change to the product roadmap, due to the board secretary in two days.
Ask AI to "write a board paper about changing our roadmap" and send the draft after a quick read.
The paper lists generic considerations and stops short of a recommendation. Directors will ask what management proposes, and the paper will not say.
Write your recommendation, the two alternatives, and the main risk of each in rough notes. Ask AI to structure them into the board paper template and to list the questions a skeptical director would raise. Answer those questions in the paper. Check every figure against finance’s approved numbers. Read it once as a director would, then send.
The position, the options, and the facts come from the leader. AI structures the paper and tests it against likely questions. The board receives a paper it can decide on.
The full study guide for this skill, for every role, is Getting real work done. The other five skills for leaders are on the AI skills for leaders page. A one-page summary is in the AI-assisted work checklist.
See where you stand
The free check grades getting real work done and the other five skills in about fifteen minutes. Nobody sees the grade but you.
Then build the skills and prove it. The three steps for leaders list the courses and templates that fit the work.