Guide Library

Week 2 Companion

Build Your Communication Style Guide

Week 2Session Companion

  • 30–45 minGuided walkthrough

This guide is a direct companion to the Week 2 livestream. Follow along while you watch the live session or use this as a reference if you get stuck or miss some of the session and need to catch up.

Choose the tool you’re allowed to use

Your approved tool

The tool your company approved.

Pick your approved tool above to see the steps and screenshots for it.

Standard Data rules for AI at work

Data Rules

Data rules for AI at work

Check with your IT Team before you paste any work data into an AI tool. Avoid names, account numbers, customer data, or anything sensitive without explicit permission from IT. If you aren't sure, redact anything sensitive and replace it with generic information. AI makes mistakes, make sure to fact check your agents outputs even if they sound right.

Before you start

  • Check with your IT teamAsk what your company allows before you put anything from work into an AI tool. Your company policy is the one that counts, and it is the one this library cannot see.
  • Use the tool your company approvedChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Gemini are all covered here. Use the one your company approved, not the one you like best.
  • Sign in with your work accountA work account keeps your chats inside the agreement your company signed. A personal account in the same product sits outside it.
  • No approved account yetFollow the steps with made-up example text, or on paper, until IT gives you one.

Never put this into an AI tool

  • Customer or personal detailsNo names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses or account numbers. That covers colleagues as well as customers.
  • Regulated recordsHealth, financial, HR and legal records stay in the systems built to hold them, unless IT has told you in writing that this tool may see them.
  • Passwords, keys and access codesNo credentials of any kind, yours or anyone else’s, and nothing that grants access to a system.
  • Anything under an NDA or not yet publicUnreleased plans, contracts, pricing and source code need clearance before they go near a chat window.
  • Anything your company policy prohibitsYour company’s rules win over anything in this library. If policy keeps something out of AI tools, it stays out, whatever a guide suggests.

Do this instead

  • Swap real details for placeholdersWrite “Customer A”, “[client name]”, “$X”. You get the same quality of answer, and you put the real details back yourself.
  • Describe the situation rather than pasting the documentMost of what an agent needs is the shape of the problem, not the file it arrived in.
  • Trim a file before you upload or paste itTake out the identifying columns and pages first, or work from a short extract.

Check the answer before you use it

  • Read it as if a colleague had drafted itAn agent states wrong things with complete confidence. Your name goes on the work, so the check is yours.
  • Say where the agent helpedFollow your company rule on disclosing AI assistance, especially in client-facing or formal work.

When you are not sure

  • Ask before you paste or upload, not afterA question to your IT team takes a minute. Cleaning up after a data incident takes a great deal longer.
  • When in doubt, leave it outIf you would not put it in an email to someone outside the company, keep it out of the chat.

On this guide

  • Sounding like you does not mean you have approved it. Review every fact and commitment in the message before you use it, even when the style feels right.
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Step

Name what your agent misses about how you write

Last week you built your , which tells your agent about your work, and learned the Context Sandwich, which frames one task with its Task, Context, Constraints and Output Check. This week you’ll add a Communication Style Guide, which tells your agent how you express that work.

An agent can know your project and your audience and still write something you’d never send, opening with “I hope this message finds you well” or taking three paragraphs to say what you’d say in four lines. Words like “friendly” and “professional” don’t fix it, because they mean different things to different people. To one person, friendly means “Hi everyone!” To another, it means a short “Thanks” and no extra warmth. Left to guess, the agent falls back on generic business writing.

Before you go on, write down one thing about how you write that an agent wouldn’t know, such as a phrase you always use, how short your messages are or how quickly you get to the point. You’ll look for it when you test your guide in step 4. Keep your Agent Profile handy for that test too. If you don’t have one yet, Build an Agent That Understands Your Work walks you through it.

Step

Download the template and choose your examples

Examples teach an agent more than adjectives do, because they show the choices you actually make. Each example carries two kinds of information. Content is what the message was about: its names, dates, decisions and promises. Style is how you expressed it: your tone, detail, structure and word choice. Your guide keeps the style and leaves the content behind, which is this week’s rule: copy the pattern, not the particulars.

  1. Download the template and open it in a plain-text editor, such as the one you used for your . Save it as My Communication Style Guide in My Agent Files, beside your Agent Profile, or in another folder you’ll find again. If it opens as a preview in your browser, copy its text into a new plain-text document and save that.

    YOUR RESOURCE

    Communication Style Guide template

    Write concrete communication rules under seven headings, then test and save your guide.

    Download file

  2. Choose two or three messages you wrote and still stand behind, ideally of different kinds, such as an update, a request and a recommendation. A habit that shows up across all of them is probably your style. Skip a tense escalation, a rushed phone reply or anything someone else wrote for you.

  3. Read Before uploading to or using in AI at the top of the template. Then ask three questions about each example: does your agent need this information, are you allowed to provide it, and does it need the real content or only the pattern? Usually it needs only the pattern, so swap names and details for placeholders such as [client name], keeping your wording. Paste each example into Representative Examples with its type, its audience and why it represents you. If it’s safer, keep the example’s text in a separate file instead, so it stays out of the guide you’ll paste into chats.

If you don’t have examples, or can’t use real ones, write a short made-up version of a message you often send, the way you’d normally write it, and add it under Representative Examples. Change the names and facts, and keep your usual opening, length and wording. You can add real examples later.

Step

Write the seven sections of your guide

Work through the template one section at a time with your examples beside you. Describe what you see on the page rather than adjectives you’d like to be true. Aim for a first version with a few rules you could check in a draft, rather than a perfect one. If your examples disagree, say the rule depends on the audience or situation.

  1. Tone and Formality. Look at how you open and close, whether you use contractions and how often you use exclamation points. A rule like “Use a brief greeting, then state the purpose. End with a short thanks.” tells an agent far more than “be professional.” If your tone changes for leaders, customers or a sensitive moment, describe that under Audience or situation differences. Would someone else reading your rule know what to do differently?

  2. Level of Detail and Structure and Formatting. Two people who both call themselves concise can write very different messages. Under Level of Detail, describe how much background you give and when you explain tradeoffs. Under Structure and Formatting, describe what comes first, how long your paragraphs run and when you use a list. “State the purpose in the first two sentences. Number multiple actions.” is a structure rule you can test.

  3. Preferred Terminology. Add the words you choose on purpose, such as “customer” instead of “client” or “next step” instead of “action item.” A term your agent needs only to understand your work belongs in your . This section is for how you prefer to say things.

  4. Words and Phrases to Avoid. List the phrases and habits that make a draft feel unlike you, such as “I wanted to reach out” or a closing that repeats the whole message. Base it on your own reactions rather than someone else’s list of AI phrases, and add to it whenever your agent uses a word you never would.

  5. What to Copy From Examples. Under Copy These Patterns, fill in what you do again and again: how you open, how you organize an ask, how much you explain, how you state a recommendation and how you close. Leave the Do Not Copy These Particulars list in place to keep names, dates and one-time promises from your examples out of new messages.

  6. What Still Needs My Review. A draft that sounds like you can be more convincing because it feels familiar. Read the checks already there and add any approval your work requires, such as a manager’s sign-off on customer messages.

  7. How I Want My AI Agent to Use This Guide. This last section is already written. It tells your agent how your Agent Profile, this guide and the Context Sandwich work together. It also tells it to copy your patterns without your examples’ particulars and to leave you the final call on what gets sent. Keep it as it is.

  8. Read your guide from top to bottom. You don’t need fifty rules, only a handful you can test, each backed by your examples. Delete any placeholder lines you didn’t fill in, then save My Communication Style Guide again.

Step

Test your guide on a new message

The clearest way to see what a style guide does is to send the same request twice and change only the guide, as in this example. Your own test is simpler: one new message, checked against two predictions you write down first.

  1. Choose a short message you need to write on a different subject from your examples, such as an update or a request for a decision, so the agent can’t echo a sample. Note who it’s for, what it needs to say and anything it shouldn’t promise.

  2. Write down two traits you expect your guide to produce, such as a purpose-first opening or numbered actions. One can be the habit you noted in step 1, if your guide now has a rule for it. Predictions give you evidence to look for, rather than a feeling.

  3. Start a new chat and copy Draft a message using my style guide. Paste in your , your style guide and your notes, and add your predictions under Output Check. Your Profile says what world you work in, your guide says how you communicate in it, and the Context Sandwich says what this message needs.

    Choose New chat, then paste the completed prompt into Ask ChatGPT.
    Choose New, then paste the completed prompt into How can I help you today?
    Choose New chat, then paste the completed prompt into Message Copilot.
    Draft a message using my style guide
    Download
    Draft one message using the materials below.

Use my Agent Profile for relevant work context and my Communication Style Guide for expression. Use only the current task for facts, dates, owners, decisions, and commitments. Do not borrow particulars from style examples or turn a profile detail into a current task fact. Do not invent missing information. Ask one necessary question before drafting if a missing fact prevents a usable message. Otherwise keep a clear placeholder where needed.

The task's audience and constraints take priority over a default style preference. Do not send or publish anything. Return the message only, with any essential uncertainty note separated below it.

AGENT PROFILE OR BRIEF WORK CONTEXT
[paste the relevant text from your Agent Profile, or describe your role and usual readers in two sentences]

COMMUNICATION STYLE GUIDE
[paste your reviewed rules, including the review and use instructions]

TASK
[what message do you need and what should its reader do or understand?]

CONTEXT
[who is reading, what happened, and which facts must the message preserve? Use placeholders for details you will restore outside the chat.]

CONSTRAINTS
[state the length, audience needs, required points, and anything the message must not imply or promise]

OUTPUT CHECK
Use the task facts accurately. Do not copy content from the style examples. Follow the applicable style rules while respecting the audience and constraints. Keep missing information visible.

    If the agent asks for a fact you don’t have, say it’s unknown and keep a placeholder.

  4. Start with your two predictions and point to the wording that shows each one. Then read the draft beside your examples, looking for evidence:

    • Does it get to the purpose as quickly as your examples do?
    • Is the amount of detail close to your examples?
    • Does it follow your structure?
    • Does it use your preferred terms where they fit?
    • Did it avoid the words and phrases on your avoid list?
    • Did it copy any facts or wording from your examples that don’t belong in this message?
    • Did it invent anything that isn’t in your notes?
    • What would you still need to review before sending it?

    If a fact is wrong, correct it in the same chat using your notes, then check the revised draft the same way.

Step

Fix one rule and save your guide

If the draft doesn’t sound like you, make the smallest change that explains it: fix one rule, or add one if nothing in your guide covers the problem. Most misses are one of these:

  • Too vague: “be professional” leaves the choice to the agent. Rewrite it as a choice you could see in a draft.
  • Overfit: drafts copy one example. Add when the rule applies, or drop it.
  • Copied content: a sample’s name, date or promise appears. Strengthen your do-not-copy list.
  • Too rigid: your usual style doesn’t suit this reader. Add a condition to the rule, such as “for executives, lead with the decision.”

  1. If your first draft already passed, skip to saving. Otherwise, copy the rule you’re changing somewhere safe, then change it in your document. In the same chat, copy Retest one corrected style rule and fill it in. Changing one rule at a time tells you which change helped. Check the revised draft the same way you checked the first one, then keep the new rule if the draft improves, or put the old one back.

    Retest one corrected style rule
    Revise the message above using this single change to my Communication Style Guide.

Observed mismatch:
[quote the part of the message that misses your intended style and explain the mismatch]

Replace this rule:
[paste the old rule, or write that this is a missing rule]

With this rule:
[paste one precise replacement rule]

Use the same task, facts, audience, and constraints already supplied in this conversation. Keep all other style rules unchanged. Do not invent, borrow, or alter facts and commitments. If the current task or guide is unavailable, ask me to provide it instead of guessing. Return the revised draft. Do not send or publish it.

  2. Save any change in My Communication Style Guide and reopen the file to check your latest rules are there. It’s your master copy, so update any saved agent setup from it when your rules change.

  3. Save the reviewed message separately, and check it against your What Still Needs My Review list before you send it.

Next time you write, give your agent your Profile, your style guide and a Context Sandwich for the new message. When a draft misses, change one rule, test again and keep the fixes that work.

This week’s upgrade, Build Your Voice Dial, shows you how to add a setting to your guide for each audience you write to.

Build Your Communication Style Guide

Confirm your result

Confirm the outcomes below to finish this guide.

Final checks

You have a saved Communication Style Guide with a few concrete rules drawn from your examples, plus its review checks and use instructions.

You have a reviewed draft of a new message and can point to where it follows your rules and what you still need to check before sending it.

Provide Feedback

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