# Prompt Design Guide

Reference for the Learning Challenge Builder. Use it when planning and writing the daily prompts.

## What a learning challenge is

A creative post-training solution: easy daily actions that remind, reinforce and build habits, keep momentum after the training event, and build peer reinforcement.

The core of every challenge:
- **Reminders for small daily actions** (the prompts)
- **A pushed prompt** (it arrives where learners already are: email, text, Teams, LMS)
- **A calendared option** (a printable or digital calendar of all prompts, so learners can see the whole challenge and mark off each day)
- **Learning capture** (a journal or notes, so thinking turns into insight)

## The arc

Plan the whole challenge before writing single prompts. A good arc:

| Stage | Share of the challenge | Focus | What prompts do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open | First 15-20% | Mindset: relevance, belief, willingness | Connect the content to their real work. Why does this matter to me? Where would it help this week? |
| Try | Next 20-25% | Habitset: try; Mindset: confidence | Small, low-risk first attempts. Make the first actions easy to win. |
| Practice | Middle 30-40% | Habitset: practice; Skillset | Repeat the skills in new situations. Add a little difficulty. Reflect on what worked. |
| Use | Next 15-20% | Habitset: use; Mindset: identity | Make it normal. Build it into routines, meetings, calendars. "I am someone who..." |
| Close | Last 1-2 days | Look back, look ahead | What changed? What will I keep doing? Who will I tell? |

Cover every key idea from the content at least twice, in different prompt types, spaced apart.

## A weekly rhythm (adjust to the length and days chosen)

For a workday challenge, a pattern like this works well:
- **Monday:** thought prompt that frames the week's idea
- **Tuesday:** action prompt
- **Wednesday:** reflective prompt
- **Thursday:** action prompt (a little harder, or with someone else)
- **Friday:** reflective or share prompt (look back at the week)

For shift workers (for example, 12-hour shifts), post one prompt per shift, about three a week (such as Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Number them "Shift 1, Shift 2" and write "this shift" or "your next shift" instead of "today".

For an every-day challenge, keep weekends lighter and personal (reflection, not work tasks), and keep the workplace actions on workdays.

Vary the rhythm sometimes so it does not feel mechanical.

## Prompt types with examples

Examples use the topic "giving useful feedback." Replace with the user's content and vocabulary.

**Thought prompts** (an idea to carry through the day)
- Feedback is information, not judgment. Notice today when you treat it as one or the other.
- Today, look for one thing a teammate does well that you have never mentioned to them.

**Reflective prompts** (look back at real experience; stems work well)
- The most useful feedback I ever got was ... It worked because ...
- Think of the last time you held back feedback. What were you afraid would happen?
- One thing I did differently this week was ... and here is what happened ...

**Action prompts** (one small, specific thing to do today)
- Give one person specific positive feedback today: what they did, and the effect it had.
- Before your next one-on-one, write down one piece of feedback you have been putting off. Share it.
- Ask a colleague: "What's one thing I could do to make our work together easier?" Then just listen.

**Other actions** (share, teach, connect)
- Tell your learning partner the feedback conversation you plan to have this week, and when.
- Post in the group: one thing you have tried so far and what you learned.
- Teach one idea from the program to someone who was not there.

## Quality checklist (every prompt)

1. **Tied to the content.** It reinforces a specific idea or skill from the program. Note which one.
2. **One thing.** One question or one action, not two.
3. **Small.** Can be read in under 30 seconds and done or thought through in under five minutes.
4. **Doable at work, today.** No special materials, no permission needed, fits a typical workday for this audience.
5. **Specific.** Says what to do or think about, not "reflect on your leadership."
6. **Safe to try.** Early prompts are low-risk. Nothing that would embarrass someone or create problems with their manager or customers. In safety-critical work (healthcare, manufacturing, utilities), a prompt never overrides urgent or safety direction. Any prompt that asks people to post publicly offers a private option ("post it, or write it in your journal").
7. **Fits the platform.** Text messages under 160 characters. Teams or Slack posts under 300 characters.
8. **Fresh.** Not a repeat of another day's wording. Revisited ideas come back from a new angle.
9. **Plain language.** No jargon the learners would not use themselves.
10. **Inclusive.** Works for different roles, locations (in-office and remote), and personal circumstances. Avoid assumptions about family, holidays or social media use unless the user asks for them.

## Common mistakes

- Prompts that are just content summaries ("Remember, there are four types of feedback"). Turn them into a thought, a reflection or an action.
- Too much too soon. Big actions in week one cause people to drop out.
- All reflection, no action. Thinking is powerful, but actions change things.
- Same structure every day. Vary the openings and the types.
- Forgetting the end. The last prompts should help people decide what they will keep doing.

## Grace and recovery

People will miss days. Build this in:
- Prompts should stand alone, so someone can pick up on any day.
- The kickoff message should tell people that missing a day is fine: jump back in.
- Near the end, offer a prompt or note that invites people who fell behind to restart or repeat prompts.