delegating to Copilot
TLDR
For public sector teams already using Microsoft Copilot who want to move beyond prompting and develop better judgement about what to delegate to it, when to challenge AI, when to trust it and how to stay accountable for it without outsourcing responsibility, in an environment where regulation and scrutiny make that judgement call higher stakes than most.
Once people become comfortable using Copilot, the challenge changes. The question is no longer simply 'How do I get a better answer?' It becomes 'What should I delegate to Copilot, what should I challenge, what can I trust and what must remain mine?' These are the same questions any manager has to answer when handing work to someone else - the line between delegating well and simply outsourcing responsibility. In public sector roles, that line matters more: the same regulation and transparency that make the work accountable in the first place make bad delegation more consequential when it leads to mistakes.
This highly interactive programme explores the human side of working with Microsoft Copilot. Participants practise making better decisions about delegation, verification, trust and accountability while recognising the risks of over-reliance, outsourcing responsibility and unnecessary suspicion.
The programme helps participants develop calibrated trust and manage Copilot's output the way they would manage any work they've delegated, while keeping human judgement firmly in the loop.
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Participants will:
Develop stronger judgement about what to delegate to Copilot and what should remain human-led.
Learn how to challenge AI outputs proportionately rather than automatically accepting or endlessly checking them.
Build calibrated trust by recognising when Copilot outputs are reliable enough to use and when greater scrutiny is required.
Recognise the risks of outsourcing responsibility, automation bias and passive acceptance of AI-generated work.
Strengthen accountability by identifying where human judgement, ownership and responsibility must remain.
Develop practical habits for collaborating with Copilot as a thought partner rather than simply an answer generator.
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Teams leave with:
Better judgement about when and how to use Copilot.
Stronger critical thinking without unnecessary over-checking.
Reduced risk of over-reliance and abdication.
Greater confidence in deciding when AI output is fit for purpose.
Clearer boundaries between AI assistance and human accountability.
Practical behaviours that make Copilot collaboration more effective, responsible and sustainable.
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Discovery
A short consultation and confidential questionnaire explore:How participants currently use Copilot and where they rely on it most.
Where trust, verification or accountability are creating uncertainty.
Which types of work require the greatest human judgement.
Where Copilot is being delegated to well, and where it's being handed the whole job.
Workshop
A highly interactive full-day workshop where participants:Explore what changes when Copilot moves from an occasional tool to something you regularly delegate to.
Decide what work and thinking should be delegated to AI.
Practise challenging Copilot outputs proportionately.
Explore calibrated trust and when verification is genuinely necessary.
Examine abdication, automation bias and over-reliance.
Work through realistic delegation dilemmas involving Copilot-assisted analysis, recommendations and drafting.
Define where human responsibility and accountability must remain.
Identify practical behaviours for healthier and more productive human-AI collaboration.
Follow-up Delegation Clinic
An optional two-hour virtual session approximately one month later to:Review how participants have changed the way they work with Copilot.
Explore examples where greater challenge improved an AI-supported outcome.
Examine where excessive checking reduced efficiency.
Discuss situations where participants deliberately chose not to use Copilot.
Reinforce practical habits around delegation, trust, judgement and accountability.
Agree further actions for the team.
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09:30 | Welcome and introduction
Explore how the challenge changes once people already know how to use Copilot.
Introduce the shift from prompt quality to delegation quality.
Identify where participants currently trust, question or rely on Copilot.
10:00 | What should you delegate?
Explore the difference between automation, augmentation and human-led work.
Identify tasks that are appropriate to delegate to Copilot.
Recognise areas where human ownership should remain stronger.
10:45 | Challenge intelligently
Introduce the idea of productive criticality.
Practise questioning Copilot's assumptions, evidence and recommendations.
Explore how the level of challenge should change according to risk and consequence.
11:30 | When is good enough, good enough?
Examine the cost of both under-checking and over-checking.
Explore proportionate verification.
Decide when an AI-supported output is sufficiently reliable to use.
12:30 | Lunch
13:15 | Build calibrated trust
Explore the difference between blind trust, distrust and calibrated trust.
Identify signals that should increase or decrease confidence in Copilot output.
Examine how trust develops through repeated use, the same way it would with any new team member.
14:00 | Delegation, not outsourcing responsibility
Explore the difference between delegating to Copilot and outsourcing responsibility.
Recognise when you've stopped delegating and started abdicating.
Build habits that keep you accountable for work you've delegated, not just work you've done yourself.
15:00 | Break
15:15 | Who owns the decision?
Explore human accountability in AI-assisted work.
Work through practical dilemmas involving advice, recommendations and decisions.
Identify where responsibility cannot be delegated to Copilot.
16:00 | Delegate better
Bring together delegation, challenge, trust and accountability.
Develop individual and team principles for working with Copilot.
Identify practical behaviours participants will apply immediately.
16:30 | Close
