SHRM developed this guide using the same general-purpose AI tools it describes. The prompts are intended as starting points and may need to be adapted, reviewed, and validated for your specific use case.
AI can help you get more done with the HR work you already do, from drafting and summarizing to organizing information and generating ideas. But it does not know your organization, your people, your policies, or your obligations unless you provide that context. This prompt gives you a starting point, with space to add the unique information AI needs to support your work.
Prompt — Diagnose an HR Operating Model
Replace everything in brackets before you run it.
Help me diagnose where our HR operating model breaks.
What we have:
- Case and ticket data: [volumes, types, cycle times, by team]
- Business feedback about HR: [paste themes]
- What my team says about where time goes: [paste, including the workarounds not in any process document]
- Structure: [teams, headcount, what each owns]
Give me:
- Where work actually gets stuck — which processes, which handoffs, and which stages.
- Where the business experience of HR differs from what HR believes it delivers, quoting both.
- Which problems are capacity, which are capability, which are process design, and which are system limitations — be specific, because these have different fixes.
- Which workarounds are holding things together, and what would break if the person doing them left.
- The three things that would make the most difference, ranked, with roughly what each would take.
Rules:
- Do not recommend a restructure as a default answer. Most HR service problems are process and system problems.
- Do not invent benchmarks or HR-to-employee ratios.
- Be direct about where HR is the problem.
- Where my data is too thin to support a conclusion, say so.
Write in plain, everyday language. Do not use jargon or invented terms; if a simpler word exists, use it.
[Optional, if available: give the AI your organization's style guide, brand voice guide, or writing standards document alongside this prompt so the output matches how we write.]
Check Before You Publish
Before you publish, review the AI-generated draft carefully. You are responsible for the final version.
- Check facts, figures, dates, requirements, and other details against the information you supplied or the original source.
- Paste in any legally required or compliance-sensitive language yourself. Do not let AI generate it.
- Confirm nothing was invented, assumed, or taken out of context.
- Verify that the final version reflects your organization, your audience, and the purpose of the work.
Use your judgement as an HR professional. AI can assist with the work, but you make the final call. Looking for more prompts? Explore the AI Prompts Guide for HR for more prompts and templates to support your HR work.
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