by Tyler Kelley
Your employee handbook is sitting in a folder somewhere, gathering digital dust. Your brand guidelines are buried in a shared drive. Your policy manual is a PDF that nobody reads until they absolutely have to.
Meanwhile, your team is wasting hours every week hunting for information that should be at their fingertips.
While you’re still making people dig through documents like it’s 1995, smart businesses are turning their institutional knowledge into custom GPTs that employees can actually talk to.
Stop the Information Scavenger Hunt
Think about how much time your team wastes looking for basic information:
- New hires scrolling through employee handbooks trying to understand vacation policies.
- Marketing staff hunting through brand guidelines to find the right logo usage.
- Customer service reps searching policy documents to answer client questions.
- Sales teams digging through pricing sheets and process documents.
Every minute spent searching is a minute not spent creating value. And every inconsistent answer damages your brand.
The solution isn’t better organization. It’s elimination of the search entirely.
Turn Your Manuals Into AI Assistants
Instead of making people hunt through documents, create custom GPTs that know your business inside and out. Here’s how:
1. Start With Your Employee Handbook
Your employee handbook is the perfect first candidate. It’s full of policies, procedures, and answers to common questions that new hires ask repeatedly.
Create a custom GPT (learn how to do this in last month’s column) and upload your entire handbook. Now instead of new employees reading through 50 pages to find out how many sick days they get, they can ask: “What’s our sick leave policy?” and get an instant, accurate answer.
Instructions for your HR GPT might look like: “You are an HR assistant for [Company Name]. Answer questions about company policies, benefits, and procedures based on our employee handbook. Be friendly but professional. If you don’t know something, direct them to contact HR directly.”
2. Transform Your Brand Guidelines
Your brand guidelines contain crucial information about voice, tone, logo usage, and messaging. Turn this into a Brand GPT that marketing, sales, and customer service can consult instantly.
Upload your brand guide, style sheets, and any voice and tone documents. Now when someone asks “How should we handle customer complaints on social media?” or “What’s our stance on industry partnerships?” they get consistent, on-brand answers.
Instructions: “You are a brand guardian for [Company Name]. Help employees understand and apply our brand guidelines, voice, tone, and messaging standards. Always maintain consistency with our established brand personality.”
3. Build a Policy and Procedure GPT
Policies and procedures are where employees get stuck most often. Create a GPT that knows your operational procedures, compliance requirements, and standard practices.
This GPT should handle questions like “What’s the approval process for expenses over $500?” or “How do we handle client refund requests?”
Instructions: “You are a policy assistant for [Company Name]. Help employees understand and follow company policies and procedures. Provide step-by-step guidance when appropriate. For sensitive issues, direct employees to their manager or appropriate department.”
4. Create Department-Specific GPTs
Different departments have different needs. Your sales team needs access to pricing, processes, and objection handling. Your customer service team needs troubleshooting guides and escalation procedures.
Build GPTs for each major function, loaded with department-specific knowledge and procedures. Please don’t try to put all your institutional knowledge into one massive GPT. More is better.
Making It Work in Practice
Here’s your implementation roadmap:
- Week 1: Choose one document set (start with employee handbook)
- Week 2: Create and test your first custom GPT
- Week 3: Roll it out to a small group and gather feedback
- Week 4: Refine based on feedback and expand access
Key Tips for Success
- Be specific in your instructions about tone and boundaries
- Test extensively before rolling out company-wide
- Train people on how to ask good questions
- Monitor usage and refine based on common questions
The Real ROI
This isn’t about being cool with AI. This is about efficiency and consistency.
When your brand guidelines are instantly accessible, your messaging stays consistent. When policies are easy to find, compliance improves. When procedures are clear, mistakes decrease.
Most importantly, when your institutional knowledge is accessible to everyone, your people can focus on what matters instead of hunting for basic information.
Your Competition Is Already Moving
While you’re debating whether to invest in AI, smart businesses are already turning their static documents into dynamic, accessible knowledge bases.
Stop making your employees play hide-and-seek with information. Turn your manuals into custom GPTs and watch productivity soar.
The technology is here. The tools are available. The only question is whether you’ll use them before your competitors do.
Start with one document this week. Your team will thank you, and your efficiency metrics will too.
Tyler Kelley is the Co-founder and Chief Strategist of SLAM! Agency, specializing in AI implementation for marketing and business operations. A sought-after speaker and workshop facilitator, Tyler helps organizations transform theory into practical AI adoption. For AI consulting, speaking engagements, or bootcamp inquiries, contact tyler@slamagency.com.