Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. If you practice long enough and in the right ways—feedback matters—you can get better at almost anything. Whether it’s preparing for a difficult conversation, getting ready for an emergency, or learning a new skill, practice can provide a safe space to build confidence, improve our responses, and learn from mistakes without real-world consequences.
Two new GPTs for practice
I recently built two GPTs designed for roleplaying practice. One—Compassionate conversations role playing—was created for school administrators to practice speaking with 2SLGBTQIA+ youth at risk. I built this one alongside my brilliant daughter, who is tasked with training school administrators to better support this often at-risk group of children and youth.
The other GPT—Coaching conversations—is a roleplaying companion that people leaders can use to practice difficult conversations with an AI generated employee.
If you’re wondering, a custom GPT is a version of ChatGPT that’s been tailored with special instructions, to focus on a specific task or style of interaction—kind of like having a personalized coach or specialist ready to help you.
Both GPTs I created provide feedback, advice, and gently guide you back on track if you lose your way. Feel free to try them out and send any feedback my way! Just a reminder: it’s AI, so please don’t enter any private, confidential, or proprietary information.
A moment of reflection
Using AI as a practice partner in teams
This past Tuesday, I attended the Apolitical webinar AI in Government Show & Tell: Using GenAI as a Practice Partner.
In case you’re unfamiliar, Apolitical is where government employees from around the world go to connect, share, and learn together.
Michael Baskin, a chief innovation officer, facilitated the session that asked, “How can AI serve as a ‘practice partner’ for scenario-based preparedness exercises?”
While my GPTs focus on individual roleplaying practice, Michael’s GPT focuses on helping create scenarios that teams can use to roleplay together.
I really loved the pace of the webinar—it was hands-on, participatory, and focused on guided practice, using Michael’s GPT or prompting our own AI to do the same thing.
Table toppers and translating practice online
I also deeply appreciated that Michael comes from an emergency preparedness background (as I do) and that he referenced “table toppers”—a tool used extensively in corrections, fire and safety, and community disaster preparedness.
Too often, we train people for what they encounter daily, not for high-risk, low-frequency events. The cost of training for low frequency events is seen as too high so it is not done, or not done enough. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make room for more of this kind of training and by extension how to translate the table topper experience into an online space.
The Apolitical page will soon have the video of the session. Although much of it was small group work, so the recording might be short. The page also includes links to additional resources, including Michael’s article Ready for Wildfire: Using GenAI as a “Practice Partner” for Future-Ready Governments.
How to use Baskin’s Practice Partner GPT
Here’s the link to Baskin’s Practice Partner GPT. You’ll need at least a free OpenAI/ChatGPT account to access it.
To use, just ask the GPT to help you create a group training session where your team can practice together. Don’t worry about writing the perfect prompt—the GPT will ask you questions to help it generate the right kind of practice session. And don’t shy away from scenarios outside of emergency services. Our small group focused on a speechwriting and communications scenario after a sudden change. I’ve also used it recently to create practice activities for choosing the best communication strategy for a given situation.
If you’re stuck for a starting point, just ask the GPT for help. “Help—what do I do here?” is a perfectly valid prompt.
Final thoughts
So go ahead, practice, have fun, and play around with it. And always remember: it’s AI—it can make stuff up, and unless you have an enterprise version, you should never put any private, confidential, or proprietary information into it.
Cross posted to LinkedIn