OpenAI showed how managers use ChatGPT for hiring, 1:1s, and feedback

OpenAI published materials on ChatGPT for managers on April 10, 2026, on the OpenAI Academy — a practical guide for team leaders. It shows how to use ChatGPT not for abstract ideas, but for daily management routine: from preparing for 1:1s to hiring, onboarding, and performance reviews.

Where ChatGPT helps

OpenAI starts from a simple premise: a manager's work consists of numerous high-stakes moments where poor wording or inadequate preparation can be costly. These are personal meetings, feedback, hiring decisions, performance cycles, team updates, and difficult conversations. The main burden here is often not the meeting itself, but the preparation and follow-up actions: gathering notes, identifying key points, deciding what to do next, and communicating it clearly. This is exactly where OpenAI proposes using ChatGPT. The model can turn raw notes into a conversation plan, prepare a first draft message, create templates for recurring tasks, and overcome writer's block. The company specifically emphasizes boundaries: it's about accelerating mechanical and repetitive work, not replacing managerial judgment.

ChatGPT does not replace managerial judgment and the obligation to

comply with HR and legal policies.

Manager tasks

OpenAI lists nearly the entire standard scope of managerial work where ChatGPT can be useful. It's not just about writing, but structuring decisions, preparing documents, and establishing repeatable processes.

• Strategic plan development, quarterly roadmaps, and executive summaries
• Performance review drafts, employee development plans, and coaching prompts
• Job descriptions, interview kits, org charts, and headcount models
• Team updates, talking points, decision memos, and follow-up messages
• Change plans, KPI reviews, engagement surveys, and escalation briefs

OpenAI also provides specific scenario examples: assembling a 1:1 agenda from scattered notes, checking team workload from a simple task table, preparing a meeting to end with decisions, writing a neutral follow-up after a sensitive conversation, or creating a 30/60/90 plan for a new employee. In other words, the company is selling not just a chatbot, but a set of practical management templates.

How to benefit

OpenAI's key recommendation is to give the model real context. The more specific the input — notes from 1:1s, project statuses, themes from engagement surveys, role expectations, performance cycle facts — the more useful the output. In this mode, ChatGPT doesn't guess; it helps organize thoughts, identify risks, formulate decisions, and prepare a stronger first draft.

A separate section covers features that OpenAI considers especially useful for managers. Projects are needed for long, multi-step processes like onboarding or promotion cycles. Skills are for recurring tasks, such as a consistent 1:1 structure or resume generation from notes. Data analysis helps identify patterns in surveys, hiring, and team workload. Deep research is valuable for more complex topics like organizational design practices or compensation. Even image generation is suggested pragmatically: for visuals at offsites, kickoffs, or internal communications.

OpenAI recommends measuring impact on two axes: efficiency and effectiveness. On one hand, you can track time saved on recurring tasks — agendas, summaries, feedback, planning materials. On the other, you can see if management quality improves: are coaching sessions more regular, are goals clearer, is onboarding faster, are reviews better prepared, and is follow-through on agreements stronger?

What this means

OpenAI is increasingly packaging ChatGPT as a work tool for specific roles, not as a universal chat for all purposes. For managers, this signals that AI is going deeper into team operational routine: first as an assistant for drafts and structure, then as a layer that standardizes processes, reduces administrative burden, and frees time for what's still hardest to automate — judgment, coaching, and difficult conversations.