AI won’t replace great managers, but it can help them work smarter.

Most managers already know what needs to be done. The challenge is finding the time and headspace to do it well while balancing competing priorities, leading people, making decisions and keeping up with the constant flow of information.

Microsoft Copilot can act as a practical assistant, helping managers summarise meetings, strengthen business cases, quickly understand unfamiliar topics, prepare for coaching conversations and organise their workload more effectively.

Here are five practical ways managers can start using Copilot today.

1. Streamline administrative tasks

Copilot can help reduce the time managers spend on routine administrative tasks across the Microsoft 365 apps they already use every day.

Managers can use Copilot to:

• Summarise Teams meetings, including key decisions, actions and unanswered questions
• Catch up on Outlook emails by summarising lengthy threads and drafting responses
• Review Word documents and pull out key findings or suggest improvements
• Summarise PowerPoint presentations and help refine key messages
• Analyse Excel data to identify trends, create summaries and surface useful insights

By reducing time spent on admin, managers can create more space for higher-value work such as planning, problem-solving and supporting their teams.

2. Enhance communication and influence 

Clear communication is one of the most important skills a manager can develop. Copilot can act as a thinking partner to help managers shape their message, test their ideas and communicate with greater impact.
For example, before presenting a proposal to senior leadership, a manager could ask Copilot to:

• Review the proposal and identify concerns a senior executive may raise
• Strengthen the recommendation and supporting arguments
• Rewrite the content for an audience with limited knowledge of the topic
• Turn the proposal into a presentation outline or talking points

3. Learn new concepts and better understand your team’s work

Managers often lead teams with specialist knowledge that may sit outside their own expertise. They do not need to become technical experts in every area, but they do need enough understanding to ask better questions, make informed decisions and support their people effectively.
Copilot can help managers build foundational knowledge by:

• Explaining technical concepts in plain language
• Summarising industry trends
• Comparing tools, technologies or methodologies
• Breaking complex topics into manageable learning steps

This can be especially useful when managers are leading cross-functional teams, onboarding into a new area, or preparing for conversations with subject matter experts.

4. Support coaching and team development

Copilot can also help managers prepare for more effective coaching and development conversations.
Managers can use it to draft coaching conversation frameworks, prepare feedback discussion guides, create development plan templates and identify skill-building opportunities for their team. It can also help generate useful questions for one-on-one meetings, mentoring conversations or career development discussions. Used well, Copilot can help managers feel more prepared and structured, while still allowing the conversation to remain human, personal and context-specific.

5. Improve personal productivity and prioritisation

Copilot cannot decide what matters most, but it can help managers gain clarity on their workload so they can focus their attention where it will have the greatest impact.
Managers can use Copilot to:

• Identify recurring themes and priorities across emails, meetings and documents
• List upcoming commitments and deadlines
• Organise information into actionable plans
• Assess competing priorities against goals, timelines and business objectives

This can help managers move from simply reacting to incoming work to making more deliberate decisions about where to spend their time and energy.

Copilot is a support tool, managers still have to make it work.

Copilot is not a substitute for leadership, communication or people management skills. It is most valuable when used to support, rather than replace, human judgement.

The managers who gain the greatest benefit from AI are often those who use it to reduce administrative burden, process information faster and prepare more effectively for conversations and decisions. When routine work takes less time, managers have more capacity to focus on what matters most: leading people, supporting teams and driving results.

Courses to help managers get the most out of Copilot

Odyssey Training offers practical courses to help managers build both the digital and leadership skills needed to work confidently in an AI-supported workplace.
Microsoft 365 with Copilot
Learn how to use Copilot across Microsoft 365 applications to reduce time spent on routine tasks, improve productivity and make better use of the tools already available in the workplace.
Critical Thinking and Decision-Making
AI can generate answers, but managers still need to know whether those answers are useful, accurate and appropriate. This course helps managers assess information, identify assumptions, recognise bias and make confident decisions.
Leadership Skills for Managers
Strong leadership remains essential in an AI-enabled workplace. This course helps managers build the communication, motivation and people leadership skills needed to inspire teams and lead with confidence.

Explore Odyssey Training’s courses to build the leadership, decision-making and digital skills needed to get the most out of Copilot.

Enhance your leadership skills with training courses at Odyssey Training.