Library › Customer Support & Success AI › Managers and team leads

Turn a harsh remark into a specific coaching note

  • For Managers and team leads
  • You practice Getting the tone right
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Rewrite the remark as a coaching note to Selam in three labeled lines: "Observed:", "Impact:" and "Ask:". Use only dated facts, no labels about his character or attitude. The Ask has one specific behavior and a date. Add a last line exactly: "Draft - HR reviews before anything goes in a file." Plain text, under 90 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Keeping character labels. The AI softens but keeps words like sloppy. Try: Say: "No labels about character or attitude; dated facts only."
  • Exaggerating. The AI repeats "never follows up". Try: Say: "Use only the dated facts."
  • Vague ask. The AI says "improve follow-ups". Try: Say: "One specific behavior and a date."
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
  • Trusting the AI to count words. The AI runs long and cannot count its own words. Try: Cap each part ("each line under 12 words") and add "under N words in total".
  • Leaving a requirement unstated. The AI follows its own defaults unless the prompt spells this out. Try: State it plainly in your prompt: the output has three lines starting 'Observed:', 'Impact:' and 'Ask:' followed by the exact last line 'Draft - HR reviews before anything goes in a file.'.

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the three labels
  • Dated facts only
  • Bans character labels
  • Adds the HR line
  • Asks for plain text
  • Sets a word cap

Practice this now ↑

Related exercises