AI training for staff and teams · a Scorchsoft course
Find the AI habits costing your team, and fix the first one in 20 minutes
Not what AI is: how to get work out of it you’d put your name to. From someone who builds AI products and rolled AI out across his own team.
In 2 minutes: why AI training at work goes wrong, what the course covers, what it costs, and the free 20-minute first step.
Get started- Start free, 20 minutes
- No card needed
- Phone or desktop
- 30-day refund on paid modules
Written by Andrew Ward
Founder of Scorchsoft
- Founded Scorchsoft in 2010: software and AI products for start-ups to multinationals
- Rolled out AI across his own team, and builds AI agents and workflows for clients
- First-class degree in Computer Science with Business Management, University of Birmingham
- Author of The Control Standard
The problem
Most people were handed AI. Nobody showed them how.
So they get answers that are nearly right, send things they haven’t checked, or give up after a “fine” first try. Managers hear “just use AI” from above and see usage go up without the value following. A few colleagues are brilliant with it, and nobody knows how they do it.
Two in three
UK employees who use AI at work at least monthly have had no training in it.
And 45% of people who use it don’t trust its output to be accurate.
Are you just…
Three of the habits the introductory module looks for. None of them looks like a problem on the day. That’s what makes them blind spots.
Grows…keeping one long chat going for weeks?
It remembered everything at first. Three weeks in, it keeps forgetting what you agreed, and you keep explaining it again.
Adds up, to your name…trusting it because it sounds sure?
A confident summary cites a guidance document. If the document doesn’t say that, the mistake goes out under your name.
Costs every time…typing a bare “can you do X?”
A bare request gets a bland answer, so you rewrite it yourself, or give up on AI as hype. Every time.
The free introductory module finds which of these are yours, and fixes the first one today.
Why this, not another AI course
Most AI courses tell people what AI is. This one makes them good at using it.
- How long
- The AI Stairway™Ten modules, each under an hour, in 11 to 16 minute lessons
- 20-minute awareness course10 to 30 minutes, one sittingFree vendor courseWatch at your own pace
- What you do
- The AI Stairway™Practise in your own AI tool in every lesson
- 20-minute awareness courseLearn what AI isFree vendor courseLearn one product’s buttons
- Safety
- The AI Stairway™Clear green, amber and red lines for staff and managers
- 20-minute awareness courseGeneric warningsFree vendor courseThe vendor’s own guidance
- Which tools
- The AI Stairway™Any: Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and the rest
- 20-minute awareness courseOften noneFree vendor courseTheirs
- Where it ends
- The AI Stairway™Team rules, shared skills and a 90-day plan for one workflow
- 20-minute awareness courseAwarenessFree vendor courseA certificate of watching
| A 20-minute awareness course | A free vendor course | The AI Stairway™ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How long | 10 to 30 minutes, one sitting | Watch at your own pace | Ten modules, each under an hour, in 11 to 16 minute lessons |
| What you do | Learn what AI is | Learn one product’s buttons | Practise in your own AI tool in every lesson |
| Safety | Generic warnings | The vendor’s own guidance | Clear green, amber and red lines for staff and managers |
| Which tools | Often none | Theirs | Any: Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and the rest |
| Where it ends | Awareness | A certificate of watching | Team rules, shared skills and a 90-day plan for one workflow |
Start here, free
Know Your AI Blind Spots
Find the habits that cost you, see which ones grow, and try three fixes today.
An AI writes a note to families about Saturday’s open day in three seconds. Send it, or have a look first? That’s the first of six short scenes with the course’s cast. After each, a private question: “Are you just…?” Then your map, and the one habit to fix first.
You’ll leave with
- Your blind-spot map, and the one to fix first
- Three fixes you’ve already tried in your own AI tool
- An open-day note you’d actually send
- Your route through the ten modules
- A one-page “My AI blind spots” report to print, save or share with your manager
Start where you are
Climb the AI Stairway™, one step at a time
Scorchsoft’s AI Stairway™ to Success has seven steps, from no formal AI use to an AI-first strategy. The Foundation series takes your own practice from step 0 to step 2. The Advanced series takes the team on to shared practice, connected tools and agents, up to the point where you can specify a workflow and ask for it.
- Step 0No formal AI adoptionPersonal tools, no agreed safeguards
- Step 1Approved AI accessOne approved assistant
- Step 2Informal professional useUseful, but personal
- Step 3Shared best practiceWritten once, used by everyone
- Step 4Reusable agentsConnected tools, run on their own
- Step 5Embedded workflowsIn the daily work, value measured
- Step 6AI-first strategyAI at the heart of the business
Foundation series · Modules 1 to 5
Advanced series · Modules 6 to 10, to the threshold of step 5
The next horizon
The free introductory module covers steps 0 to 1 in about 20 minutes. In Module 1 you place two markers on the stairway, where your organisation is and where your own practice is, and move them as you climb.
Ten modules, each under an hour
Not what AI is. How to get work out of it you’d put your name to.
Each module is two or three lessons of 11 to 16 minutes, then a short check. Every module stands on its own, so you can start where you are.
The Foundation series · Modules 1 to 5
You’ve got AI, and you’re not sure what to ask it, or whether you’re allowed.
Module 1From Unsure to Useful
How AI works, what’s safe to share, and a quick first win.
About 55 min · Steps 0–1
Module 2Work You’d Put Your Name To
Brief AI well, catch its mistakes, and check in proportion.
About 53 min · Steps 1–2
Module 3Better Than Fine
Get finished documents, slides and analysis from today’s AI.
About 57 min · Step 2
Module 4Precise, Not Psychic
Write clear AI instructions and tell good work from slop.
About 55 min · Step 2
Module 5Let It Run
Fix messy AI chats, then set long tasks running while you work.
About 53 min · Step 2
The Advanced series · Modules 6 to 10
You’re using it. Now make it work for the team, safely.
Module 6One Chat, Whole Team
Turn your best AI chats into reusable skills, and agree safe team rules.
About 58 min · Steps 2–3
Module 7Forming an AI Culture
Help good habits spread, answer job worries honestly, and weigh AI’s energy use.
About 53 min · Step 3
Module 8Stop Being the Glue
Connect AI to your email, files and calendar, with controls you choose.
About 53 min · Steps 3–4
Module 9Hand It Over, Keep the Outcome
Brief AI agents, set trust levels, and decide which rules need code.
About 50 min · Step 4
Module 10From Glue to Workflow
Choose an AI idea, plan a 90-day test, and specify the workflow.
About 57 min · Steps 4–5
The whole climb
Want the detail? See every module in 3:54
A longer overview for anyone who wants to understand the course before they start. It walks through both series, module by module: what each one fixes, the moment it clicks, and what you can do afterwards that you couldn’t before.
Browse the modulesWhat it’s like to take
Built to be enjoyed, not endured
Short scenes, real practice in your own AI tool, and nothing you have to sit through twice.
Practise in your own AI tool
Every try-it uses invented or public data, never your organisation’s, and works on a phone.
See where you are
Your markers on the AI Stairway™ move as you go, so you can see the climb.
Every figure sourced and dated
Statistics carry their source and an “as of” date. What AI can do changes, so claims carry their year.
A certificate for each module
Pass the check at the end and keep a record of the time you spent learning.
The offer
Start free. The more of the climb you take, the more you get.
Modules are £100 each. Take a whole series and pay for four modules, not five. Take the whole AI Stairway™ and get all ten for £500: just £100 more than one series.
£100 a module plus VAT
- A graded check
- A printable cheat sheet
- A resource pack
In every module. Bought one at a time, all ten would be £1,000.
Start here
Know Your AI Blind Spots
About 20 minutes
Free
Your blind-spot map, three fixes tried in your own AI tool, and a one-page report to keep.
Start freeFoundation or Advanced
Five modules, pay for four
£400plus VAT
- Foundation series: for everyone. Friendly, safe, no experience needed
- Advanced series: for people who want to stretch themselves and become power users
Want both?
The whole AI Stairway™: all 10 modules
£500in total, plus VAT
Just £100 more than one series
- · Both series, about nine hours, at your own pace: £50 a module
- · Ends with your team rules and a 90-day plan for one AI workflow
- · Content reviewed every six months, with the updates included
Just want one gap filled? Choose single modules at £100 each. Bundle prices apply when you buy the bundle in one go.
30-day refund. If your first paid module isn’t worth it, tell us within 30 days and we’ll refund it.
Not VAT-registered, or buying for yourself? We’ll knock the VAT off, so £100 is £100 in total.
Training a team? Prices per learner fall as the team grows. See team prices or get a team price.
Pay by invoice, as you would any supplier. Start the free module straight away; we’ll reply within 24 hours to confirm and invoice, and your modules unlock in your account.
For teams
Roll it out to everyone. The bigger the team, the better the deal.
Usage going up isn’t the same as value going up. Give everyone the same safe, useful habits, then take the people who want to go further into team rules and the first workflow worth building.
- · We set up your people; each starts with the free module
- · You see who has completed what, and their check scores
- · Pay by invoice, as you would any supplier
The whole AI Stairway™, per learner
All ten modules, plus VAT. Every learner starts free.
| 1 learner | £500 |
|---|---|
| 2 to 4 learners | £450save 10% |
| 5 to 19 learners | £400save 20% |
| 20 to 49 learners | £350save 30% |
| 50 or more | £300save 40% |
Just the Foundation series for everyone, or something different? Tell us what you need and we’ll put a team proposal together.
From the coal face
Written by someone who builds AI for a living, and rolled it out in his own team
Andrew builds AI products for clients every week, and rolled AI out across his own team at Scorchsoft. The AI Stairway™ is what he learned there: the habits that work, the ones that cost, and the order to learn them in.
- Founded Scorchsoft in 2010: software and AI products for start-ups to multinationals
- Rolled out AI across his own team, and builds AI agents and workflows for clients
- First-class degree in Computer Science with Business Management, University of Birmingham
- Author of The Control Standard
Scorchsoft has built software and apps for organisations including Dragonfly Intelligence, Gapped, SensTrain and Mosaic Masterpieces. The course is tool-neutral, evidence-based and reviewed every six months.
Questions
What people ask before they start
We already have Copilot or ChatGPT. Why would we need training?
Having the tool isn’t the same as using it well. Most people were handed AI with no training, so they paste what shouldn’t go in, send answers they haven’t checked, or give up after a so-so first try. The course works in whichever AI tool you already use, and gets people from “it’s fine” to work they’d put their name to.
We haven’t got time for training.
Each module is under an hour, in lessons of 11 to 16 minutes, so it fits a lunch break and your place is saved. Every lesson is practice in your own AI tool, so people start saving time from the first module.
My team isn’t technical. Is this too advanced for them?
No. The Foundation series is for everyone: friendly, safe and no experience needed. The Advanced series is for people who want to stretch themselves and become power users. Every exercise uses invented examples and has a worked answer for anyone without an AI tool to hand.
What if it isn’t worth it?
Start with the free module: if it doesn’t help, it’s cost you 20 minutes. Then the paid modules come with a promise: If your first paid module isn’t worth it, tell us within 30 days and we’ll refund it.
Is it safe? What will people put into AI during the course?
Nothing confidential. Every try-it uses invented or public data, and says so. Knowing what’s safe to share is one of the first things the course teaches.
Won’t it be out of date in six months?
It teaches the kinds of AI tool and the habits that work with any of them, not one product’s buttons. Anything a tool can or can’t do carries its date, and the content is reviewed every six months. Updates are included.
Can I roll it out to my whole team, and see how they’re doing?
Yes. We set up your people, every learner starts with the free module, and you can see who has completed what. The bigger the team, the lower the price per learner. Tell us what you need and we’ll put a proposal together.
Twenty minutes from now, you’ll know your AI blind spots
And you’ll have fixed the first one. Free, on your phone or desktop. If you ask about anything else, we’ll reply within 24 hours.