Can ChatGPT be used as an on-demand partner for development planning?
What if you had access to an on-demand brainstorming partner who could help you build your development plan?
In today’s article, I’m going to show you how you can use ChatGPT to do just that.
As I’ve written in the past, generative AI is a big deal, and I strongly encourage everyone to learn and experiment with it. The technology is here, it will continue to advance, and it’s changing our world quickly whether we’re ready for it or not.
Because of my background and interests, I am especially curious about how generative AI will change Human Resources, Talent Management, and Executive Coaching.
According to Bersin’s article, Understanding AI in HR, second-generation AI tools like Eightfold AI have advanced capabilities that are helpful in talent management and career planning. For example, if the AI is fed an individual’s skills, it can also predict other skills the individual may have, help them identify career options, and provide development suggestions.
I wondered, how helpful is just plain ChatGPT in performing similar tasks, without expensive, specialized HR functionality?
So, I tested it out. And I found vanilla ChatGPT is pretty helpful as a development brainstorming partner.
You can view my ChatGPT test in the video linked below.
In this video, I show you how to use Chat GPT to brainstorm development planning ideas.
A few caveats about ChatGPT
Many people’s expectations of ChatGPT are beyond the current capabilities of the technology.
They expect ChatGPT to be completely accurate, and when it’s not, they dismiss the technology. It’s better to think of ChatGPT as a really smart intern who knows a lot about a lot of things, but thinks it knows everything. When it doesn’t really know the answer, it often makes stuff up.
I don’t fully trust ChatGPT because it’s inaccurate, at times, and occasionally hallucinates.
But I find it extremely useful as a brainstorming partner. It can stimulate my thinking and help me come up with more ideas.
My prompts and the results
Below are the prompts I used for this test.
I encourage you to try this out for yourself. I’m sure you can come up with even better prompts than these. If you do, please share them with me. I’d love to see what you come up with.
Prompt 1
“Act as a talent management expert. An individual is aware that they have the following skills. Psychological Assessment, Team Effectiveness, Career Development Coaching, Leadership Development Coaching, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Change Management, Career Counseling, Succession Planning, Organizational Effectiveness, Workforce Planning, Organizational Design, Performance Management, Organizational Development, Onboarding, Employee Engagement, 360 Feedback, Talent Acquisition, Executive Development, Leadership, Interviews, Coaching, Career Development, MBTI, Human Resources, Training, Strategy, Recruiting, Process Improvement, Management Development, Performance Improvement, Personnel Management, Hiring, Needs Analysis, Consulting, and Management. What other skills are they likely to have?”
Prompt 2
“This same individual has 25 years of experience in talent management and lists the following jobs on their resume. Founder and Executive Coach, Managing Consultant, Independent Consultant, Vice President of Talent Management at TIAA, Sr. Director, Performance Management and Talent Assessment at TIAA, Senior Vice President, Consumer, ECC, and Business Banking Leadership Development Programs and Processes Manager at Bank of America, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Leadership Development Manager at Bank of America, Independent Consultant, Senior Vice President, Learning and Leadership Development at Bank of America, Various positions in Organization Effectiveness at The Home Depot, Management Development Intern at BI-LO, and Intern. What are the best potential career path options for this individual over the next 1, 5, and 10 years?”
Prompt 3
“Build a ten year development plan to become the founder of a leadership institute.”
Prompt 4
“Please create a 90 day plan to gain momentum on the 10 year plan.”
Prompt 5
“Please give me more detail about industry research and networking steps.”