Find Your AI Starting Point: A Free Workflow Map

The Strategy Blueprint: Before the Tools, from Grey and Associates

Find Your AI Starting Point

Map one workflow. Spot the opportunity. See where AI helps.

Want time back or room to grow? Either way, start with one workflow.

Pick one process your team runs again and again. In about 25 minutes, you will map how it works today, spot where it slows down, take your map to AI for ideas, and then choose one change to test. Short answers are enough.

Map itFirst, answer five short questions about one workflow, one at a time.
See itThen review your workflow map in one place.
Ask AI, then commitSee where AI helps, then pick one change to test.

Before you begin: Describe roles and steps. Leave out names, identifying details, confidential information, and unpublished pricing. In the final step, you will then copy your answers into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini. For that reason, use only information you are allowed to share. I understand. I will describe the work, not the people.

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These answers were saved on this device by the earlier twelve-question version of this page. They are kept separately and are not used by the form below. Export them if you want to keep them, then delete them.

See a completed example

Workflow and trigger: Responding to an inquiry, starting when a website form arrives.
Done: A consultation is booked and the owner confirms it.
Steps and roles: Assistant checks inquiry → owner reviews fit → assistant sends scheduling link (Calendly) → owner confirms booking.
Friction: Review at step 2 can wait two days because the owner does not know the inquiry is ready.
Human responsibility: The owner decides fit and handles sensitive requests.

One test: For one week, the owner checks ready inquiries daily at step 2. Then track time to a decision and review it next Friday. However, this is a suggested test, not a promised result.

Question 1 of 5Answers stay on this device unless you ask for a copy

What workflow are you mapping, and what starts it?

Choose one recurring process that you can describe from beginning to end.

Workflow

New inquiry to booked client Quote or proposal to signed agreement Delivering a project, shoot, or event Invoice to payment received Following up with past clients Onboarding a new team member or contractor Monthly bookkeeping and close Writing a grant proposal Grant or funder reporting Fundraising appeal or donor outreach Other workflow

Workflow name

What happens that tells you it’s time to start?

The moment this workflow begins each time, such as a form arriving, a deadline approaching, or someone asking for something.

For example: It starts when someone submits the inquiry form on our website.

What does done look like?

Picture the moment this workflow is complete. What is true then, and which role says it is done?

Your workflow from question 1

The finished result and who signs off on it

For example: A consultation is booked, and the owner confirms the appointment.

What are the main steps, and who handles each one?

List three to seven steps as they really happen, one per line, and name who handles each. Working alone? Write “me.” Add a tool if one is used.

Steps and responsible roles

For example:

Assistant checks the inquiry.
Owner reviews whether the request fits.
Assistant sends the scheduling link (Calendly).
Owner confirms the booking.

Where does the work get stuck or repeated?

Choose the biggest problem you have noticed. Name the step and what happens there, and include a rough delay if you know it. If nothing comes to mind, write “not sure yet.”

Your steps from question 3

Problem step and what happens

For example: At step 2, the inquiry can wait two days because the owner does not know it is ready for review.

What needs a person’s judgment or care?

Name a decision, relationship, approval, or sensitive part of the process that a person must own. If you are unsure, write “needs confirming.”

Human responsibility

For example: The owner decides whether the request fits our services, and an unusual or sensitive request gets a personal reply.

Step 2 of 2

Review and ask AI

Your workflow map

Here is what you mapped

Before you take it to AI, read it once. First, check whether a step is missing or out of order. Next, make sure it is clear who handles each step. Finally, ask whether the stall is something you observed or something you still need to verify.

Your workflow at a glance

No AI access at work? In that case, your numbered steps are your first work map. Then circle the step where work stalls and underline the decision that needs human judgment.

Keep it

Keep a copy before you go to AI

We will email you your workflow map and your AI prompt, so you have both even if you close this page.

Name

How useful was this? (optional)

1 2 3 4 5

1 = not useful5 = very useful

Sending a copy also shares your map and your rating with Grey & Associates, and Dr. Grey may follow up with related resources. However, your answers are not sent anywhere unless you click this button.

Your next step

Where does AI fit? Ask Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini

Paste your map into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini and ask:

“Review this workflow map and give me three specific improvements for the step where work stalls most.”

In addition, the buttons below open your AI assistant with your map and this question ready to send. The answer also suggests where AI could help at your stall step, and then helps you choose one change to test. Your prompt is copied too, so if the box arrives empty (Gemini always opens empty), paste once and send. After that, check the result and correct anything the AI added or misunderstood.

Open Claude with my map Open ChatGPT with my map Open Gemini with my map

Your map prompt

This is exactly what gets copied.

Back from AI?

Save the one change you chose

Paste the change you and the AI settled on. Then email yourself the updated copy so your map and your change stay together.

The one change I will test

No AI access? Choose a change yourself

Choose a change yourself

Look at the highlighted stall in your map. Then choose one change for that step only.

You said work stalls here

What kind of change fits that stall? Pick one to start, then make it your own.

At step step number, we will test change for the next trial period.
role will own the test.
We will track measure and review it on review date.

We filled in the step number from your answer to question 4, so change it if needed.

Your stall answer changed, so check that your change still fits.

In short, small means one step, one owner, no new software, and a start this week.

Questions

About Find Your AI Starting Point

Where should a nonprofit or small business start with AI?

Start with one recurring workflow, not a tool. First, map how it runs today and find the step where work stalls. Then test AI at that step. This free workflow map walks you through it in about 25 minutes.

What is a work map?

A work map is a simple picture of how one recurring process happens today: what starts it, the main steps and who handles each one, where the work stalls, and which decisions need a person. As a result, it shows where to improve before you add or buy tools.

How long does it take?

About 25 minutes, including review, because short answers are enough. In addition, you can map any recurring workflow, from a new client inquiry to grant reporting.

How does AI fit in?

AI is the final step. You take your map to Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini, which suggests three improvements, shows where AI could help at your stall step, and helps you choose one change to test. If your workplace does not allow AI tools, you can still finish your map and choose one change yourself.

Is my information saved or shared?

Your answers stay in your browser on this device. In other words, nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask for a copy by email, which shares your map with Grey & Associates.

Who created Find Your AI Starting Point?

Grey & Associates built this tool for The Strategy Blueprint, a workshop series presented by Grey & Associates and Digital Kingdom Blueprint.

The Strategy Blueprint series is presented by

Grey & Associates and Digital Kingdom Blueprint

From The Strategy Room

Keep building after the session

Three reads that pair with today’s map: look beneath the symptoms, put people ahead of the tools, then choose the tools.

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Then the tools

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Then, once your map is clear, choose the stack that helps mission-driven leaders run the work.

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Better Strategy. Stronger Leadership. Real Results. greyandassoc.com Find Your AI Starting Point is a Grey & Associates tool, used in The Strategy Blueprint series.

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