What Might Happen If an Operations Team Used AI as a Thought Partner?

How it all happened.

This week as I walked into the school a beautifully designed presentation of our school’s pool water safety data came up on one of the screens I was walking by. I smiled to myself…..I love it when I can empower others to be better.

A few months ago I had the opportunity to lead a professional development session with our Operations Team here in Nanjing. Interestingly, the session began with a completely different conversation.

A few weeks earlier, I had been meeting with the leadership team from the Operations Department along with a data consultant. We were exploring better ways to share operational information with our school community.

During the meeting, we were looking at one example in particular: our school’s pool water safety report. The information itself was important, but the format was fairly traditional. Tables, numbers, and text. Useful, but not especially engaging.

As the conversation unfolded, I decided to try something.

Using the TALK Framework, I began working with my AI thought partner right there in the meeting. I talked through the purpose of the report, asked questions about how the data could be interpreted, explored ways the information might be visualized more clearly, pushed back on a few early responses, and kept refining the conversation.

Within minutes, the original report had been transformed into a clear, visual summary that was much easier to understand and share.

The reaction in the room was immediate.

Instead of looking at a static document, we were suddenly looking at a report that communicated the same information in a far more accessible way.

Naturally, the next question was simple.

“How did you do that?”

That moment eventually led to the professional development session with the broader Operations Team.

Introducing the TALK Framework

During the session, I shared the TALK Framework, a conversation-based scaffold designed to help people move beyond basic prompting and into more thoughtful interaction with AI.

The framework is simple:

T – Talk it out
Explain the context, the situation, or the challenge.

A – Ask, explore, wonder
Stay curious. Ask questions. Explore possibilities.

L – Listen, then push back
Review the response. Question it. Refine it. Challenge it.

K – Keep it going, then create
Continue the conversation until something useful or meaningful begins to take shape.

What I appreciate most about this framework is that it makes AI feel more human. It invites people to think out loud, reflect, and iterate rather than simply asking for a quick answer.

Making the Framework Accessible

Because our Operations Team works primarily in Mandarin, I wanted the ideas to feel accessible and natural.

So, fittingly, I asked my own AI thought partner to help translate the TALK Framework into Mandarin.

Seeing the framework appear in Mandarin on the screen was a small but meaningful moment. The ideas suddenly felt more local, more usable, and more connected to the team’s daily work.

It also demonstrated the exact idea we were discussing.

AI was not just the topic of the session.

It was actively helping us learn together in real time.

Beyond the Classroom

Sometimes conversations about AI in schools focus almost entirely on teaching and learning.

But schools are complex ecosystems.

Operations teams solve problems every day. They coordinate schedules, systems, people, and communication. In many ways, their work is a perfect environment for thoughtful AI collaboration.

The goal is not simply automation.

The goal is better thinking.

And when teams begin to approach AI as a thinking partner, the technology becomes less about tools and more about possibilities.

A Small but Important Shift

As I reflected on the session afterward, I realized that the most important shift was actually a small one.

Moving from:

“Can AI do this for me?”

to

“How can AI help me think this through?”

That shift sits at the heart of the TALK Framework.

Seeing the framework translated into Mandarin and explored with our Operations Team here in Nanjing was a reminder that thoughtful AI conversations can travel well across roles, languages, and contexts.

And honestly, that was exciting to see.

It makes me wonder.

What might change in a school community when more people, across more roles, begin using AI not just for efficiency, but for deeper thinking?

I have included the Chinese version below.

Thanks for reading

Dr. Shannon H. Doak