What happens when you jump into the deep end before you have fully learned to swim?
In my previous posts, I shared 5 reasons AI will transform your future and how to use Microsoft Copilot to write better documents. Those posts were about what Helge Dommerby and I learned during our time working with Microsoft Copilot. This post is about what happened when we were asked to share our experience - and discovered that sometimes you will have to learn to swim in the process of jumping in.
Jumping into the deep end
On a rainy Tuesday back in November 2023, Helge and I stood backstage at a hotel in the center of Aarhus. We had been part of a group of nearly 300 colleagues who were among the first in the world to work with artificial intelligence in Microsoft 365 Apps. Helge and I - together with a few of our colleagues - were about to share our experiences with a room full of customers.
As we watched the rows of chairs slowly fill up, it dawned on us just how many people wanted to hear our story about working with Microsoft Copilot. That was the moment when the feeling of “jumping into the deep end” truly hit.
Getting ready to plunge into the deep end.
Stage craft build-up before the big plunge.
The big stage awaits, and we are up next.
Since that Tuesday in November - and especially the Thursday after in Copenhagen - a large part of our daily work has revolved around sharing our experiences, expertise, and enthusiasm with customers and colleagues about using Microsoft Copilot.
After those initial presentations, the requests kept coming. We were invited to deliver workshops, training sessions, and inspiration talks on Microsoft Copilot for customers across the country.
The question everyone asks
Throughout all these workshops, the number one question has been:
When will Microsoft Copilot support Danish?
When May 2024 arrived, Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 expanded with support for additional languages, including Danish. This means that all our Danish businesses and municipalities using Microsoft 365 Apps can now get even more value from Microsoft Copilot.
The ability to prompt in Danish has given even more momentum to the interest in Microsoft Copilot. But it is not every day we get asked to deliver three “Getting started with Microsoft Copilot” training days for one of our larger customers. It is also not every day we get asked to deliver them on three consecutive days.
But that was exactly the situation Helge and I recently found ourselves in. We were invited to one of our valued customers to help 30-40 selected pilot users get started with Microsoft Copilot. Once again, we found ourselves standing at the edge of the deep end - ready to jump.
Outside our comfort zone
With just a few days to prepare for the possibilities of Microsoft Copilot in Danish - and therefore quite a bit of new material in our bags alongside the familiar content - we showed up. We were both proud and grateful that they had chosen us for the task, but we were also nervous about whether we could live up to their expectations.
We have delivered hundreds of workshops, webinars, seminars, and training days over the years. But it has always been within our “normal world” - device management, Microsoft Intune, and Microsoft 365. Neither Helge nor I have a doctorate in artificial intelligence, and Microsoft Copilot is new to us too. It is outside our comfort zone.
But we love delivering workshops like this. We always try to create an experience that is both entertaining and educational. One that strikes a balance between informing and inspiring, between challenging and being challenged.
Three fantastic days
We had maintained good contact with the person responsible for arranging the workshop, so we felt the expectations were aligned.
The participants were open and interested in Microsoft Copilot. They participated actively throughout the day - asking questions, providing input, and discussing with each other. We could sense that everyone gained new insights and perspectives on using Microsoft Copilot - new ideas for how they could apply it in their daily work.
We challenged them, and they challenged us. The good dialogue from all participants meant that we also learned something new. We had to think quickly and creatively to find answers to some of their questions.
It was three fantastic days, and it was a pleasure to work with the customer. We received praise and thanks from the participants, who said they had gotten a lot out of the workshop and were looking forward to diving deeper and finding the value of Microsoft Copilot. Because when it comes down to it, “we are just cooks” helping them prepare the ingredients.
We are quite proud and happy about those three workshops. We believe we contributed to our customer and their employees getting a strong kickstart in using Microsoft Copilot.
What we learned about ourselves
When you jump into the deep end, you do not just learn about Microsoft Copilot and how it can help customers and their processes. You also learn a lot about yourself and your own capabilities.
You learn how you handle uncertainty and change. You learn how to balance being ambitious and realistic. You learn how to communicate effectively and engagingly about a topic that is sometimes complex and other times highly technical.
It is equal parts scary and exhilarating to share our experiences with Microsoft Copilot, even though we do not have many years of experience - but then again, not many people do yet. We can see the value, and the potential to create value for our customers is enormous - if the principles and foundation are delivered in the right way.
This also means we often need to be curious, brave, and willing to learn quickly. We need to be ready to challenge ourselves and each other. And sometimes, when you jump into the deep end, you learn to swim in the process.
–Jesper
Header image attribution: Image created with help from Microsoft Copilot
