In early January of 2023, the New York Public School system announced that it was banning ChatGPT from all of its school devices.

I’m going to say bluntly: I think this was an incredibly unwise decision for several reasons, and I think it’s important to tell you why.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, which is a computer program designed to simulate human (or as human-like as possible) interaction over the Internet.

ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, an AI research foundation founded in 2015. The free, open-source program was released to the public in November of 2022.

The program function is simple: a user just types in a question or command, and ChatGPT offers up a response.

Requests can be as basic as When was the French Revolution? — so using it much like a search engine — to a command as complex as Write a 2,000-word essay on the impact of the French Revolution on the European economy, in the writing style of Stephen King.

You can also refine an initial request to get different or more in-depth results. Write the same essay but in the writing style of Shakespeare.

As you can imagine, this is an incredibly powerful tool. And it’s not difficult to identify dozens of ways that this technology could change how we do things.

At the moment, the software generates copy that is often somewhat stilted — emphasis on “human- like “ interactions. But it is absolutely passable and is often quite good, and as the technology improves, there’s no reason to believe that, eventually, it will be almost indistinguishable.

What’s the controversy?

According to the Guardian and other articles, the New York education department said that the ban arose out of “concerns about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content.”

Initially, there was concern about data security — that is, that students’ private data could be collected and possibly shared or compromised while using the software. But this is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how ChatGPT works. While it is true that the language model needs access to large amounts of data in order to function properly, it does not store or transmit any personally identifiable information about users. In fact, OpenAI has taken numerous steps to protect users’ privacy, including limiting the data that ChatGPT has access to and using encryption to protect all communication with the model.

The “negative impacts on student learning” referenced mainly include worries about cheating and plagiarism, as ChatGPT can generate thousands of words per minute. But other factors cited included concerns over the fact that software like this could stunt critical thinking skills in students because ChatGPT currently just pulls and compiles content that already exists on the Internet without vetting sources, and that content can include inaccurate research, bias, misinformation, and disinformation.

On the surface, it might seem logical to ban an AI tool like ChatGPT.

After all, we don’t want cheating. We don’t want plagiarism. It’s easy to see how a tool like this could be abused and could short-circuit real learning.

So why is banning ChatGPT in schools the exact wrong response?

Why banning AI is ridiculous (and won’t work):

First, we have to acknowledge the obvious: AI is here, it’s everywhere, and it is very easily accessible. It’s not going anywhere, and it’s only going to get more powerful. What we’re experiencing right now is the 1.0 version of AI.

If you’ve got an Internet connection, you’ve got access to ChatGPT. So, yeah, kids in NYPS might not be able to use the software in the hours they’re in school… but they can easily just go to a library or home and use it there on their personal network.

As we know from repeated examples in our own history, banning things does not make them disappear. And it does not address any of the underlying issues.

Second, NYPS is asking the wrong questions entirely — which is naturally going to lead to the wrong answers and poor solutions to real problems.

For example, there’s a concern that kids will use ChatGPT to write fake book reports. So the question they’re trying to answer is, How do we keep kids from plagiarizing content for book reports?

But… it’s 2023. Here’s a better question: Why are kids still writing book reports?

Does current educational research demonstrate that this is the most effective way for kids to learn reading comprehension, critical thinking, or creative writing? Other than “proving” that they’ve read a certain assigned book, does writing a standard book report meaningfully increase the depth with which they are engaging with the material?

This is a huge problem we’re facing in our public schools: the way we’re teaching and creating classroom experiences is hopelessly out of sync with where we are and what we need to succeed in the coming years.

When we’re still running classrooms like they were run 120 years ago — when the main purpose of school was to train kids to memorize facts and figures, work on assembly lines in factories, stand in line quietly, and be deferential to authority — it’s safe to say we’re moving in the wrong direction.

In the real world, kids need to be trained on how to communicate effectively and how to creatively address massive problems that are morphing every day. They need skills to be in healthy relationships with themselves, one another, and the natural world.

They don’t need to be taught how to sit quietly, move silently through hallways, and never question authority. Frankly, the only thing that’s really preparation for is prison (which is a whole other post entirely!); it’s not what kids need to live a full, vibrant, contributing life.

Third, banning AI is teaching kids that the response to tech challenges — and frankly, challenges of all kinds — is to run from them rather than actually learning from them.

This is making our kids less equipped to understand and discern the role of tech in their lives, even as the place that technology holds in our culture continues to grow exponentially with each passing year.

It’s like trying to prevent teen pregnancy by refusing to teach science-based sex ed or trying to completely deny college students access to alcohol as the solution to substance abuse or binge drinking among young adults.

Not only does that not solve the existing problem; it actually contributes to making all the underlying issues worse over time.

So… what is the right response to AI in schools?

I get that there are millions of amazing teachers out there who are working hard to educate our kids, and I know that their jobs are not easy. Part of why we’re in this educational crisis is because we have so badly diminished and dismissed the gifts of wonderful teachers and have, in many cases, reduced them to glorified babysitters.

I also get that cheating is a big problem. In terms of short-term practical “fixes,” there’s already a ton of plagiarized-content-detecting tech out there right now (speaking of AI), and OpenAI is already at work to create software that can detect if content is, in fact, human-generated or not.

But again, I ask: What’s the larger question we need to be asking here? Because there is a root issue that isn’t really about tech itself but rather about kids being disconnected from meaning purpose, and real community in their schools and in life in general.

If we want kids who can produce 22nd-century solutions to our many looming problems, we have to be able to teach them how to engage meaningfully, thoughtfully, and wisely with the world as it is… and the new world that we’re entering.

That means:

• Not pretending or sticking our heads in the sand.
• Showing kids exactly how a tool like ChatGPT works.
• Helping kids work out when and why to use it (and when and why not to).
• Being in SUPER clear communication about AI with students — what it is, where it comes from, what it’s designed to solve, what the downsides and potentially unforeseen consequences might be, and how people of integrity can use it for good.

This is how you train people to live in and navigate the world well: you interact with them as whole people who aren’t just robotically taking in facts but who need to have the skills to work with massive amounts of information as complex physical, emotional, and spiritual beings.

In other words: If we give kids a reason to be fully invested in their own education, challenge them in ways that call out their passion and natural genius, and give them a set of critical tools to help them be their absolute best selves…

…we might discover that these serious issues (truancy, violence, cheating, lack of life skills, lack of college or work preparedness, bullying, achievement gaps) are actually downstream effects of doing education the wrong way.

And when you flip the education script… you’ll get dramatically different results.

Why Illuminated Life School is so different — and so powerful

At Illuminated Life School, we’re taking an entirely different approach.

We’re looking at the research: what works to actually help kids learn, retain good information, and — most importantly — be able to apply and use that good information in their real lives, in their real communities, and in today’s world (not 100 years ago).

See, we don’t see students as empty vessels we have to control and mold. Rather, we see them as infinitely capable humans, each with their own genius and unique contribution to make, and our teachers and staff are here to guide them in discovering, nurturing, growing, and sharing their gifts so they can leave the world better than they found it.

Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing the vision and details around our unique approach to education.

What’s Next for Illuminated Life School

We’re rolling out two free after-school programs to test and refine our curriculum and approach before we open our first pod school.

#1 — Physical, Mental & Emotional Health and Well-Being Program

#2 — Financial Literacy Program

If you want to donate to these two programs (we’re a 501c3 non-profit), go here.

For more details about these programs, sign up to get our Progress Reports.

Shaking up the status quo is no small task — but together, we can do amazing things.

Thank you for your support,

Heidi DeCoux
President of the Board

Originally published at https://illuminatedlifeschool.org on May 12, 2023.

Here’s something a lot of new business owners don’t understand when they first start out:

In order for your business to be truly viable, each team member you hire
needs to make or save the company a minimum of 3 times what they cost.

That means that when you calculate all the costs associated with that employee — their earnings, payroll expenses, bonuses, benefits, package, etc. — what they provide for your business either saves 3x that total cost, or it brings in 3x that total cost in revenue.

That may seem like a lot, and in some ways it is. But most healthy businesses actually average about 5x or more.

So … how do they do it?

From overwhelm to flow

It’s easy to look at hiring, growing, and nurturing a team and feel completely overwhelmed. Many business owners do — and maybe you’re one of them.

They aren’t sure who or when to hire. They don’t have a vetting process in place that’s reliable, so they hire people when they’re desperate and then cycle through employees or contractors who aren’t a good match or who underperform.

Their businesses feel chaotic and inefficient. Their employees are often burned out and stressed, too.

It’s not sustainable — financially, emotionally, energetically. We can’t be in constant scramble mode and expect to thrive.

We’re going to look at one simple thing entrepreneurs can do that can dramatically cut hiring expenses and exponentially improve the cost-to-benefit ratio of each hire.

Cutting out the most expensive (and least necessary) part of payroll

When you have a good handle on which areas of your business you can systematize, you can start looking at your team in a whole new (and much more efficient) way.

Here’s what I mean.

Payroll is generally the largest expense in a business. And it makes sense that the more people you have, the more people you need to manage and the more issues will need to be dealt with.

But there is a way to simplify that is good for you, for team morale, and for the health of your business — and that starts with understanding that really, there are just two essential “layers” to your team.

First is the operational layer. These are people who manage the admin and tech, track the flow, oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), identify hiccups and notice where things can be streamlined, handle customer service, etc. Operational team members are managing the behind-the-scenes systems that customers interact with.

Second is the strategy layer. This is where you bring in your top-notch copywriters, brand specialists, sales and marketing people, creators, and project managers. The strategy team members are the visionaries and creatives who are building the experience that your customers will have with the product or service that your business is providing.

And then here’s the kicker: after you’ve got a great team, you eliminate everything that’s not in these two layers. So all roles that are fuzzy, that are kind of floating between, that are covering tasks that could easily be automated — you delegate the tasks of these in-the-middle roles to either the operational layer or the strategy layer and then eliminate everyone in the middle.

The mistake that many new business owners make is bulking up way too much in this gray area, using up tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

And they almost always do this because they don’t have efficient systems and they aren’t leveraging technology and AI nearly enough.

Why I am a big fan of outsourcing operational team talent

The smartest way you can trim payroll costs is to outsource many of the operational roles to overseas team members.

These are competent, hardworking employees who are trained in their field and who can be a wonderful addition to your team.

Here’s why I strongly believe in hiring overseas talent, and why I think it actually makes the world a much better place:

You can get skilled work while paying meaningful local rates at a fraction of the cost. Because cost of living is so much lower in places like the Philippines, Colombia, and India, you can get IT experts / programmers, admin assistants, graphic designers, cold outreach sales reps, data analysts, video editors, social media marketers, and people who even have niche platform specialties like Kajabi or QuickBooks — all for pennies on the dollar.

You’re providing life-changing income to your brothers and sisters across the planet, many of which are living in multi-generational households and are the sole breadwinners.

You have access to a global pool of talent, which can be especially valuable for companies in need of specialized skills or expertise.

Same productivity at 1/10th of the overhead. With the right vetting and hiring process (which Alchemized Teams can help with), you can seamlessly find just the right people who will work hard and be valuable contributors to your business’s success.

You’re encouraging cultural diversity and introducing new ways of thinking. I don’t know about you, but even with the ubiquity of social media, sometimes it feels like our awareness of others is actually shrinking. It’s so easy to get caught up in a restricted or rigid way of seeing the world. Inviting team members from around the world makes a team stronger and builds a sense of connection and solidarity with others.

I understand that there is some anxiety around outsourcing. There are excellent reasons to want locally-made goods, to strengthen local organic agriculture, and to support artisan workers in our cities, states, and regions. I get it.

But I would also encourage a moment to look at the resistance you might feel towards hiring any overseas talent.

Is someone who lives on another part of our planet less deserving of making an income and providing for themselves and their families? And could it be there actually is enough for everyone — that we can wisely discern where it’s important to buy and hire locally and where the overall benefit increases with a global talent pool?

Lean, focused, and streamlined teams make all the difference

Once you’ve got the systems in place, have an empowered strategy layer and a rock-solid operational layer to keep things humming along, you’ll be amazed at how lean a team can be.

When people know what they’re here for, when they’re on track with the vision of a company, and they know that what they’re doing is making a difference for your company, you’ll be able to see, feel, and measure the difference.

How to Get Started

The plug-n-play Alchemized Teams system recently helped a small business owner reduce her payroll from $6k/month to $2k/month while TRIPPLING her support (she shifted to having 75% of her team overseas).

This has allowed her to spend more time on revenue-generating activities, and have the support in place to take on more clients. You’ll have everything you need to implement this same strategy in your business.

Fewer expenses + more revenue = more cash in your pocket!

The best place to start with hiring overseas talent is to get a high-quality virtual assistant. Download The Definitive Guide to Hiring and Onboarding a ROCKSTAR Virtual Assistant for FREE, now.

Originally published at https://alchemizedteams.com.

When most business owners hear the phrase “onboarding,” they likely think of procedural things: employee handbooks, signing contracts, maybe some training to get a new hire familiar with their position.

But a real, robust, and successful onboarding system is so much more than that. It starts long before a new person is hired, and it can sometimes go on for months after they’ve officially started.

Often a business can be struggling when it comes to this particular system and not even know it. Here’s how to tell if you need more support in this area:

• You think you’ve found the ‘perfect’ candidate, but they often don’t work out
• New employees struggle to meet company expectations
• There is a feeling of chaos or confusion around the hiring process
• It takes a new hire months to finally get what’s going on in their position
• You feel frustrated all the time by how much time, energy, and resources go into your hiring and training
• You have a high turnover rate

If you’ve been trying to nail down your hiring and onboarding systems and know you need a little guidance, read on to find out how you can get the help you need to find, hire, and train new employees in a way that boosts your business’s efficiency and profitability.

So … why do you need these systems in the first place?

It’s helpful to re-frame how we view this whole system. And by that I mean: stop thinking of it as simply a logistical process and start seeing it as a relational process, as well.

When you do that, you can begin to see all the ways in which a streamlined hiring and onboarding system benefits your whole business.

• The clearer you are with your hiring process, the more likely you are to find candidates who are a good match. If you’ve had problems attracting or retaining good people, chances are your hiring system needs work. Your hiring process helps you to attract people who are not only qualified on paper — they’re also clear about and aligned with your company’s vision and mission and are excited about contributing. If you’ve hired people that “ticked all the boxes” on their application but turned out to not fit into the company at all — that’s likely because you don’t have clarity on who you want to hire and why.
• Clean systems create a sense of confidence and relaxation for your team. They know what to do. They know what’s expected. They have a clear sense of next steps and feel empowered to do the right thing.
• A good H+O system improves company culture. New team members are invited in, and each existing team member knows what their role is for welcoming and/or training. It creates a sense of teamwork and integration.
• Clear standards boost performance. People are much more likely to meet and exceed expectations that are consistent and clear.
• Lower turnover rates = saving LOTS of time, energy, and money. Hiring and replacing employees is extremely costly for businesses. According to Gallup, the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times that employee’s annual salary. Yikes!
• Solid systems encourage open communication and trust. Many business owners worry that too many systems in place will feel restrictive and rigid for employees. In reality, the opposite is true: structure creates a sense of safety and actually inspires creativity. When people aren’t in chaos and always putting out fires, they’re free to put their energy into doing their jobs and coming up with better ideas.

Where can I get a solid hiring and onboarding system?

To improve your hiring success, you’ll need to look beyond the resume.

Yes, obviously qualifications are important, but going a bit deeper will help you identify candidates that are a natural fit for your company. Here are a few things you can do to improve your long-term hiring success that many companies don’t consider seriously enough.

Know your vision

If you want to attract the highest-quality candidates, you can begin by getting crystal clear about your company vision. When you do this, you can create job descriptions that clearly state what you’re looking for specifically, rather than just borrowing boilerplate language.

A social media manager at an IT company is going to be radically different from the social media manager at a pet rescue organization, even though they’re going to be doing technically similar jobs. If you want to find the best person, you have to know how to attract them… and that starts with knowing who you are with confidence.

Advertise for the whole role, not just the duties

This means understanding how you want the ideal candidate to fit into the overall vision and mission of your company. What will this role be contributing to the success of the whole company? Use the job description to showcase your company culture so that potential candidates can know if your approach resonates or not. What kinds of personality traits are needed? (Hint: avoid vague cliched terms like “go-getter” and instead think about characteristics that the right person can really identify with.)

Prioritize character

You can hire someone who ticks off all the technical qualifications… but are they reliable, loyal, and thoughtful? Do they operate with integrity? Are they collaborative?

Think of it this way: you want someone who meshes with your desired company culture, who makes it easier to create the kind of environment you want your employees to have. It’s much, much smarter (and more efficient) to hire and train someone who meets ⅗ of your technical qualifications and is a solid character match than it is to hire someone who meets all 5 and isn’t.

Have a streamlined, reliable process that everyone understands + uses

This means creating a hiring system that’s clear and actionable to anyone who is involved with the hiring process. You’ll need to have a plan for each step:

• Deciding which positions need filling
• Creating + posting effective job descriptions
• Attracting a pool of high-quality candidates
• Assessing candidates
• Holding interviews
• Deciding who to hire
• Making a job offer
• Moving any new team member through a thorough and useful onboarding process to set them up for success

What should be included in a good onboarding system?

Good onboarding happens in two different but connected areas of your biz: it’s a logistical process as well as a relational one.

The logistical part of onboarding includes everything procedural and legal: HR paperwork, tax forms, getting them set up in systems, tools, and communication platforms (such as your project management system, Dropbox, Slack, etc.), gives them access to automated videos and checklists that walk them through how PTO works, all of the systems, tools, tech, and communication platforms your company uses and all of your protocols for using them, introduces them to your company cultural and nonclementure, shows them where the SOP’s are located and how they work, etc.

The relational part of onboarding includes everything that demonstrates to the new team member that they belong: introducing them to the team, assigning a mentor (if applicable), answering their questions, scheduling regular check-ins, etc. If you’ve experienced problems with new hires not understanding best practices, or being surprised or disappointed by salary or benefits packages — that’s a logistical issue. If you’ve experienced frustrations with integration, or having new hires kind of wandering aimlessly and struggling to get in the “flow” of their positions — that’s likely a relational issue.

Think long-term, not one-and-done

It’s critical to look at hiring and onboarding as an ongoing process, not a one-and-done task. It’s not one day or even one week. It’s a commitment to nurturing ideal candidates over weeks or even months in small but significant ways that will ensure their success.

Employees who feel genuinely welcomed will be more motivated to plug into company culture.

Employees who feel listened to will be more likely to meet expectations.

Employees who feel encouraged will be more likely to admit and learn from mistakes.

Employees who feel empowered will be better positioned to exceed the boundaries of their position and contribute meaningfully to the company’s goals, mission, and vision.

Get the help you need to create a customized hiring + onboarding system

These systems are going to be unique to each business or organization. There are general principles, yes — but how they look, how they’re set up, and how they’re executed will be particular to your company.

You need a system that fits your business in order to experience great results. And instead of spending months or even years trying to figure it out, you can get there faster and more reliably with professional guidance.

At Alchemized Teams, we can help you build the H+O systems that will help you attract and retain the highest-quality team members — boosting morale, improving outcomes, and saving your company massive amounts of time, energy, and money.

Get the details about our proven system, HERE.

To Your Success,

Heidi DeCoux

Originally published at https://alchemizedteams.com on February 28, 2023.