How to Train Your Employees to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a powerful tool that can help you and your employees write faster, better, and more creatively. Copilot AI is an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can generate text for various purposes, such as emails, reports, presentations, blogs, stories, and more.

What is a prompt for generative AI?

A prompt for generative AI like Microsoft’s Copilot is a topic, a purpose, a tone, or a word-count length. In Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI uses the prompt to compose a piece of text for you. You can also give feedback to Copilot to help it learn and match your preferences.

For all the hype about AI, many IT leaders are concerned about a measurable return on investment when it comes to deploying AI in their organizations. Gartner reported early in 2024 that by the end of 2025, businesses will abandon 30% of their generative AI projects after the proof-of-concept stage “due to poor data quality, inadequate risk controls, escalating costs or unclear business value.” One simple way businesses can gain value from using Copilot AI is by training current Microsoft 365 users on how to write effective prompts for completing their tasks.

Contrary to the marketing fluff, Microsoft 365 Copilot AI is not a magic wand that can do everything for employees. The best way to think of Copilot AI is as a collaborative helper that partners with you to complete specific tasks. As with any helper, though, you must provide clear instructions, contextual details, and oversight (any parents out there who have tasked their kids with cleaning their rooms will back me up on this).

To get the most out of Microsoft 365 Copilot, you need to train your employees on how to use the AI effectively. Here are ten tips on how to train your employees on writing AI prompts for Microsoft 365 Copilot that will make your employees more efficient and give your entire organization a productivity boost:

How to write a Copilot prompt

• Use the right Copilot. Keep in mind that there are multiple Copilot interactions available—as a browser-based chatbot on the web, a cloud-powered software code development assistant in GitHub, et cetera. This is important because each distinct version of Copilot often uses different data sets, has different capabilities, and therefore provides different types of responses than the ones for Microsoft 365 Copilot we are discussing in this blog post.
• Be clear and specific. Provide specific instructions to the Copilot AI, such as topic, purpose, tone, and required length. For example, instead of asking Copilot to write “an email”, ask it to write “a formal email to a client to confirm a meeting, with a polite and professional tone, and no more than 100 words.” This will help the Copilot AI generate a more relevant and appropriate response.
• Keep it conversational. Give feedback to Copilot based on the quality of its responses because this helps the AI to learn and match your preferences. For example, if Copilot writes something that you like, you can say “Good job, Copilot” or “I like this.” If Copilot writes something that you don’t like, you can say “This is not what I asked for” or “This is too informal.” After you receive a response, you can also ask Copilot to revise, rewrite, or continue its response. For example, you can say “Please rewrite this sentence in a more concise way” or “Please continue this paragraph with more details.” This iterative feedback from you will help the Copilot AI improve its writing skills and adapt to your style.
• Provide details. Copilot needs contextual details to help it generate more accurate, consistent, and coherent responses. For example, if you want Copilot to write a blog post about a product, you should provide some information about the product, such as its name, features, benefits, target audience, and competitors. This will help Copilot write a more informative and persuasive blog post that showcases your product.
• Give examples. Use clear and specific keywords or phrases when asking Copilot to write a piece of text for you. When you give specific examples to Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI can compose more relevant and creative copy. For example, if you want Copilot to write a catchy slogan for your product, you can give some examples of slogans that you like, such as “just do it” or “diamonds are forever.” You can also provide examples of writing styles and document formatting by using files stored on either your company’s SharePoint page or in a OneDrive folder. When writing your prompt, click the “Reference a file” button and point the Copilot AI to the file that gives the AI context for the subject. Using your examples, the AI will better understand your intended outcome… however, that dovetails with my next tip.
• Check for accuracy. Sometimes Copilot AI makes mistakes. Always check Copilot’s responses for accuracy, grammar, and style, and watch out for irrelevant or inappropriate content. For example, if Microsoft 365 Copilot provides you with industry statistics, make sure that stat is sourced and valid. If Copilot writes a catchy slogan, then do a cursory check to make sure it’s not already in use by a company that could sue you. If Copilot writes something that either you know from common sense people would find offensive or suggests a course of action your company would find unethical, then give Copilot feedback as to why that was wrong and don’t use the AI-generated output. You are ultimately responsible for the content and the consequences of your writing, so always proofread and edit Copilot’s responses before using them (more on that later). Clearly defining expectations and responsibilities when interacting with any AI product is incredibly important. Blue Mantis can help define a dedicated AI policy or spruce up your acceptable use policy to reflect your stance on AI.

How to NOT write a Copilot prompt

• Be vague. When prompting Copilot, avoid using vague language, and be as clear as possible to receive better-quality responses. For example, instead of asking Copilot to write “something interesting,” ask it to write “an executive summary explaining Quantum-Proof Cryptography (QPC), the 3 common business use cases for QPC, and how our company’s cybersecurity solutions leverage QPC to solve customer challenges” instead. Pro tip: If your Cybersecurity team wrote a white paper about Quantum-Proof Cryptography that is stored on either your company’s SharePoint page or in a OneDrive folder, then you can click the “Reference a file” button when writing your prompt and point the Copilot AI to that white paper on QPC to give the AI context for the subject. As previously mentioned, providing details and references will help Copilot generate a more engaging and satisfying response.
• Use slang, jargon, or informal language. This may cause Copilot to give low-quality, inappropriate, or unprofessional responses. For example, if your prompt for Microsoft 365 Copilot is “write me a lit email for da boss giving genius no cap fr fr” then the AI output will be casual at best and unintelligible or even vulgar at worst. Instead, you should use standard and formal language when prompting Copilot and specify the tone and style that you want. For example, you can ask Microsoft 365 Copilot to write “an email to the sales team about the latest trends in AI using a witty but business-like tone” to help Copilot generate a more suitable response.
• Expect Process Outcomes. While the Copilot AI can iterate over an outcome (e.g., “Show me a blue sky. Bluer. More clouds. With a rainbow!”), it isn’t great at creating a single output that involves multiple steps of analysis or content generation. Remember to break your prompts into AI-sized bites. On the other hand, if you find yourself constantly describing multi-step processes with complex data sources, a custom Copilot aligned to specific business processes might be just what you need.
• Interrupt or change topics abruptly. This could disrupt Copilot’s writing process and confuse the AI. Always close or finish a task before starting a new one. When starting a new task, it’s recommended to type “New task.” For example, if you ask Microsoft 365 Copilot to write a report about the sales performance of your company, and then suddenly ask it to write a recipe for a cake, the AI will likely reply with a nonsensical response. Instead, you should finish the report task first, and then write “New task. Write a recipe for a chocolate cake.” This will help Copilot switch to a new task smoothly and generate a more relevant (and coherent) response.
• Give conflicting instructions. Prompting the Copilot AI to perform a task that includes multiple or conflicting pieces of information in the same request can confuse the AI and result in lower quality responses. For example, if you ask Microsoft 365 Copilot: “write a positive and negative review of the new Lenovo ThinkPad laptop with 5G,” then you’ll probably get a contradictory and confusing response. Instead, you should split the task into two separate requests and ask Copilot to write a positive review of the laptop and then follow up with a separate request to write a negative review of the same laptop. Separating the tasks in this scenario will help Copilot generate clearer and more consistent responses.
• Request unethical content. Although I’m not a lawyer, the currently accepted legal wisdom is that Copilot AI is not responsible for whatever content you generate. That means you can’t blame Microsoft 365 Copilot for the consequences you face due to whatever content it generates. Be cognizant of local laws, rules, et cetera. Do not ask Copilot to write anything that is illegal, harmful, offensive, or unethical, such as plagiarism and violent behavior. Be aware that when output violates the terms of service of Copilot AI and Microsoft 365, it could possibly result in legal or disciplinary action against you personally rather than the AI.

Blue Mantis can help design your Copilot AI enablement strategy

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a powerful and innovative AI tool that can help you and your employees be more creative and efficient when analyzing existing data or generating new content. Before deploying Copilot AI to your employees, Blue Mantis recommends training your employees on how to use it effectively. While this blog post provides serviceable tips to get started, we recommend CIOs, CISOs, and other senior leaders in your organization think through a strategic AI plan that considers training and other enablement activities to help your employees master Microsoft 365 Copilot on Day One.

Blue Mantis is a longtime Microsoft Partner with proven success in the security-focused strategic planning and deployment of cloud, cybersecurity, and now AI solutions. Connect with us to get an assessment of your existing IT environment and see how we can “jumpstart” the integration of Microsoft 365 Copilot into your business processes for a productivity boost.