Overview
Claude can read your documents, draft and edit your writing, check facts on the web, analyse a spreadsheet and build a small tool, but only if you ask in the right way and check what comes back. This one-day course takes you from your first prompt to a working routine you can trust: what Claude is good and bad at, how to set it up safely, how to write prompts that get a useful first answer, and how to turn a good result into something you can repeat.
Every session is practical and uses business situations that are not specific to one industry: a report to summarise, a message to write, a table of figures, a meeting to prepare for. The theme running through the day is checking. For each task you learn what to ask for, how to confirm the result, and what you should never hand to Claude without a second look.
Who it's for
Professionals in any function who are new to Claude or have only tried it a few times and want to use it well at work. It is especially suited to:
- Managers and team leaders
- Administrators, assistants and office managers
- Marketing, communications, sales and customer-facing staff
- HR, finance and operations staff
- Project coordinators and anyone who writes, summarises or prepares information every day
Prerequisites
- Everyday use of a web browser, email and a word processor
- No previous experience of Claude or any other AI assistant is needed
By the end of this course you will be able to
- Explain what Claude does well and where it goes wrong, and apply three simple rules for using it safely at work
- Write clear prompts with GCES (Goal, Context, Expectations, Source) and improve an answer by refining it rather than starting again
- Upload documents and have Claude summarise, extract and compare them, then check the result against the original
- Draft and edit in your own voice, and use web search and Research for current information while checking the sources
- Analyse a simple spreadsheet and turn the result into a table, a chart or a small tool you can keep, using Artifacts
- Set up a Project for a recurring task and leave with a personal checklist for responsible everyday use
Course outline
Times show the standard running order and can be adjusted when we tailor the course to your team. The trainer stays available during breaks to help anyone finish an exercise.
Welcome & orientation 10 min
How the day runs, the practice material you will use, and the one rule that underpins the course: Claude drafts and analyses, and you check and decide.
What Claude is and what it is not 20 min
What an AI assistant does: it reads what you give it and writes a response, with no memory of your business unless you supply it. Where it helps most (summarising, drafting, restructuring, explaining, brainstorming) and where it fails: confident mistakes, invented detail, out-of-date facts and answers that sound right but are not. Why every chat starts fresh unless you use Projects or memory.
Setting up and three rules before you start 20 min
Where to use Claude (browser, desktop app or phone) and the settings worth knowing. Capabilities such as file creation and code execution sit in Settings, and on an organisation account your owner may control them. Memory can keep details between chats: look in Settings to see what is kept, edit or delete it, or pause it, and note that on an organisation account the owner decides whether it is available. Three rules for the whole course: use only an account your organisation has approved for the information involved; check before you use or send anything; and you remain responsible for the result.
Prompting that works: GCES 40 min
One repeatable method for every prompt in the course: GCES (Goal, Context, Expectations, Source). Say what you want and who it is for, give the background Claude cannot know, describe the format, length and tone you expect, and point to the material it must use. Asking Claude to check its understanding or ask you questions before it starts, asking what it assumed, and improving an answer in the same chat instead of starting again.
Working with your documents 40 min
Uploading reports, contracts, emails, spreadsheets and images, and asking for a summary for a named reader, the key decisions, the actions and the risks. Asking for quotations and page or section references so you can check, and telling Claude to say “not stated” rather than guess. Where documents cause trouble: tables, scans, very long files and details that are easy to miss, and why you verify a sample of every answer against the original.
Drafting and editing in your own voice 35 min
Writing emails, notes, plans and posts with a clear audience, purpose and tone, and editing your own writing: shorten, restructure, change the register, simplify. Teaching Claude your voice by giving it a sample of your writing and saving it as a custom style, instead of describing your tone each time. Keeping facts, names and numbers fixed while the wording changes, and reading the result aloud before you send it.
Research and current information 30 min
Claude’s knowledge stops at a point in time, so current facts need a source. Turning on web search for a quick question, and using Research, which runs several linked searches across the web and your connected tools, for a larger one; it needs web search switched on and is available on paid accounts. Opening the sources, comparing them, spotting weak ones, and asking for the answer with the evidence beside each claim.
Spreadsheets and data 30 min
Uploading a spreadsheet or CSV file and asking for totals, patterns, outliers and a chart. Claude does the calculations by writing and running code, so you can ask it to show its method. Cleaning up messy columns, asking for a plain-English explanation, and checking one total and one count yourself with a formula before you trust the rest.
Artifacts: make something you keep 25 min
When Claude builds something substantial, such as a one-page summary, a checklist, a form or a small calculator, it can open beside the chat as an Artifact that you edit and improve. Asking for changes in plain language and going back to an earlier version. Artifacts start private; on an organisation account sharing stays inside the organisation, and people you share with can see the files from the chat it came from, so check before you share. On a personal account, publishing makes a public link.
Projects: stop starting from scratch 35 min
A Project keeps your instructions and reference documents together, so every chat in it starts with the background Claude needs. Writing project instructions with GCES, choosing what to put in the knowledge, and the fact that each project has its own memory while other chats do not carry over unless the information is in the project. On organisation accounts an owner may allow projects to be shared with colleagues.
Using Claude responsibly 30 min
A working routine for every task: confidentiality (what may and may not be uploaded, and anonymising first), accuracy (what to verify and how), bias and tone (who is affected by what you write), and transparency (when to tell colleagues or customers that AI helped). Documents and web pages from outside can carry hidden instructions that try to steer Claude, so use only trusted files and read any confirmation prompt before you approve it. Follow your organisation’s AI policy, and ask if there is not one.
Your own task from start to finish 20 min
Pick one real, non-confidential task from your week. Plan it with GCES, run it, check it, save the instructions in your Project, and note how much time you expect to save and what you will always check.
Close: your first 30 days 10 min
Recap of the day and a simple plan: the first three tasks to try, what to check each time, and who to ask when you are unsure.
What you'll need
Claude
- A Claude account. Research, Skills and some other features depend on your account type and your organisation’s settings, so a paid account is recommended. If your organisation manages Claude, check with your administrator that file creation and code execution are switched on.
- Check with your organisation which Claude accounts are approved for work information. The course uses practice material and non-confidential examples of your own, so no confidential data is needed.
- A laptop with a current browser. The Claude desktop app is optional.
- A spreadsheet application such as Excel, for the data session.
Practice files (a fictional report, a sales table and short business documents) are provided. Use only non-confidential material of your own in the course.