The key to Successfully using AI

****

346 business leaders left reviews of our AI in the Workplace training sessions over the last 3.5 months.

We asked every single one of them the same question:

What were your top 1–3 takeaways?

18 sessions. An average rating of 4.75 out of 5. And a mountain of data sitting there, waiting to tell us something.

So I did what any self-respecting AI advocate would do — I fed all of the feedback through Gemini to pull out the three most common takeaways across all 346+ participants.

And over the next 3 weeks, I'm going to share those top 3 with you. The themes that showed up again and again across industries, across regions, across experience levels.

This week: the runaway #1.

Mentioned 107 times. Almost ⅓ of participants surveyed said one of their top takeaways was…

Prompting.

How to talk to AI.

“The right prompt will make or break your AI experiences.” - Mallory from CBDC

“I knew nothing about prompts. The RICCE method for prompting changed how I use AI entirely.” — Ryan Ingram, ONB Canada

In a full-day session packed with tools, strategies, and live demonstrations, the single most valuable thing for these leaders was learning how to communicate with AI more effectively.

So let me share our specific prompting strategy.

The RICCE Framework: A Simple System for Better AI Conversations

Most people use AI the way they use Google. Type a question. Get an answer. Move on.

But that's like hiring a brilliant consultant, sitting them in a room, and saying "do some good stuff."

You'll get something. But it won't be what you actually need.

The RICCE Framework changes that. It gives you a repeatable structure for getting dramatically better output from any AI tool.

Here's how it works:

R — Role: Tell AI who it is.

Before you ask anything, assign a role. “You are a senior HR consultant with 20 years of experience in small business.” “You are a direct-response copywriter who writes like David Ogilvy.”

This one step alone filters out 80% of generic responses. It forces the AI to draw on a specific knowledge base and perspective.

I — Input: Give it the right details.

AI can’t read your mind. Feed it the specific details it needs—your industry, your customer profile, the data you’re working with, examples of what “good” looks like. 

The more relevant material you provide, the more tailored the output. Think of it like briefing a new employee: the better the brief, the better the work.

C — Context: Set the tone and purpose.

Who is this for? What’s the setting? 

A proposal for a board of directors requires a different voice than a follow-up email to a warm lead. Context tells AI not just what to produce, but how to produce it. This is the difference between a response you delete and one you send.

C — Constraints: Keep it focused.

Without guardrails, AI will wander. Tell it what to avoid, how long the output should be, what format you want, and what topics are off-limits. “Keep this under 200 words. No jargon. Write for a Grade 8 reading level.” 

Constraints are what turn a rambling response into something usable.

E — Evaluation: Review and refine.

This is the step most people skip—and it’s the one that matters most. Don’t take the first response at face value. Push back. Ask it to critique its own work. Open a second chat and have another AI audit the first one’s output. One participant put it perfectly:

“Good prompts are key to maximizing the effectiveness of AI. AI is a wonderful tool but is not the final answer. There is a human element as part of the loop to maximize the effectiveness of AI.” — November 18, 2025 participant

Why This Matters More Than the Tools

Here's the thing about AI tools: they change every month. 

The platform that's leading today might be second-best by summer. Features get added, prices shift, new players enter the market.

But the skill of communicating clearly with AI? That transfers everywhere. It works in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot — and whatever comes next. It's the one investment that doesn't depreciate.

As we tell every group: AI is so much more than advanced search. You'll get the most value from going deep in conversation, like you would with an expert. 

Ask for sources. Ask for different opinions. Challenge it. Treat it as a dialogue, not a search bar.

"It was incredible. Blew my mind. I learned how to prompt better and how to use AI to its fullest potential — not just as a Google search." — February 3, 2026 participant

"The session gave me the confidence to just start using AI and learn along the way. The prompt examples were a great help." — Bruce Glass from Glass Brothers Construction

​​Coming Next Week

RICCE gives you the language. But there's a rule that tells you where to spend your time — and more importantly, where to stop spending it.

It was the second most mentioned takeaway across all 346+ participants, and it changes how you think about every task AI touches.

More on that soon.