How to Manage an AI Assistant (if you have one)

A practical guide for users who want their AI assistant to get better

I want to start with a quick story.

When I first began working seriously with AI inside my business, I did what most people do. I treated it like a very smart tool. I asked it questions. I generated drafts. I moved fast. It was basically an amazing answer engine… you know… like a vending machine you put money in and it gives you what you want.

Some days it felt incredible.
Other days it felt frustrating.

For a while, I assumed that inconsistency was just how AI worked.

Then something clicked.

The moments where AI worked best were the moments where I was clear. Clear about the work. Clear about what mattered. Clear about what I thinking, and what I was asking AI how to support my thinking.

The moments where it struggled were the moments where I hadn’t managed the work or the request at all. I just was talking word salad and hoping my incredibly smart AI would figure it out. And it did… eventually.

That’s when I realized this isn’t a technology problem.
It’s a me problem.

Once I started managing my AI assistant the same way I manage people, projects, and outcomes, everything changed.

That’s what this article is all about.

Not a tech problem, it’s a use problem

Most people treat an AI assistant the way they treat software.

They open it.
They ask a question.
They get an answer.
They move on.

Done. Next…

When the answer isn’t quite right, they assume the AI didn’t understand them.

But here’s what I’ve learned after spending real time working with my AI assistant inside real workflows.

AI doesn’t struggle because it’s random. It struggles when the work it’s involved in is unmanaged, unorganized, unprioritized and poorly communicated.

You would never hand a real project to a human teammate without context, expectations, direction and accountability would you? (If you answered “yes”, we have an assistant for you), An AI assistant is no different.

When humans don’t guide their AI assistant and they are vague, the AI performance will be too. And nobody wants that. Everybody is unhappy. Nobody wins.

The shift every effective AI leader eventually makes

This is the moment everything clicks. As the human, you are still responsible for the work.

AI can help you think. A lot. This is not a light task… this is real, deep, strategic thinking that will stretch you far beyond your capacity.
It can draft, analyze, and prepare. It can save you time. It can deliver outcomes you weren’t able to, or you couldn’t do that fast.

What it cannot do is take responsibility for you.

Once people internalize this, AI stops feeling like something they’re wrestling with and starts behaving like a contributor they can guide. That’s when its real impact shows up.

You’re not “asking questions” anymore.
You’re directing work.

You’re creating pace.

You’re looking at the macro and micro.

Managing AI as a thinking partner, not a decision-maker

One of the most valuable ways I use my AI assistant is as a thinking partner.

I’ll use it to surface options, pressure-test ideas, slow my thinking down, or help me see trade-offs I might be missing. It’s far better than you think.

But I never hand it the steering wheel completely.

AI assistants work best here when you’re clear about what you’re actually deciding and why it matters. Context matters more than clever wording and prompts.

If you’re vague, the thinking will be vague.
If you’re clear, the thinking sharpens…fast.

This is where AI leadership shows up day to day

Because you own the work, you have to manage what success looks like, what constraints apply, what background matters, and what’s acceptable and what’s not.

Your AI assistant can think, draft and propose.
You review, refine, decide and approve.

That’s not micromanagement.
That’s leadership.

If you find yourself re-explaining the same situation over and over, that’s usually a signal that continuity hasn’t been managed well and the work can’t move forward cleanly.

Let preparation build instead of resetting every time

Your AI assistant is excellent at preparation. There’s no question about that.

Research.

Strategy.

Sales and Marketing.
Briefings.

Summarizing.

Creating.
Getting you ready for conversations.

But that value only compounds if you let it.

But if every interaction starts from zero, you lose the advantage you’re looking for. You’re your preparation is reused and built on; time savings quietly turn into better performance. Success!

That’s when your AI assistant starts feeling like leverage instead of just speed.

Continuity doesn’t happen automatically, you have to manage it

Humans are great at judgment and relationships. We’re not great at carrying perfect context across dozens of conversations over and over again. In fact, we are really bad at it.

AI can help with that, but only if you decide what should persist.

When something changes, say it.
When something still applies, reinforce it.

When conversational continuity is managed well, conversations don’t restart. They continue. They build. And your AI assistant learns.

That’s how momentum builds using your AI assistant.

Honest Collaboration: When you tell your AI assistant, “This still applies,” or “This changed,” you’re not managing a feature, you’re guiding a working relationship with your AI assistant. That’s how your assistant stays aligned with you instead of guessing where you left off.

If the output doesn’t sound like you – that’s feedback

Most of the time, it’s not that your AI assistant failed. But it is telling you something. Your communication isn’t clear yet… the context, the tone, the audience, or the intent. And just like speaking with a real office colleague, results get better through small corrections and clear examples as you talk to them.

One good example that you keep coming back to does more than repeating yourself over and over. Once that’s in place, things get easier, the back-and-forth drops off, and the output starts to feel a lot more dependable.

Boundaries make AI better, not weaker

One of your most important jobs is setting boundaries with your AI assistant.

What AI should help with.
What it should never decide.
Where judgment stays human.

What it’s always allowed to handle and what it’s not.

If you wouldn’t delegate a decision to a person, don’t delegate it to you AI assistant. Clear limits don’t restrict your assistant. They make it far more effective.

What this looks like in real life

Good AI assistant management isn’t complicated.

You own the work.
You provide context.
You guide the thinking.
You review outputs.
You correct occasionally.
You maintain standards.

When that’s in place, your AI stops feeling chaotic and starts feeling dependable. If things feel messy, reduce scope before adding more complexity.

Clarity always comes first.

Want help applying this inside your business?

We’re not selling tools.
Not teaching prompts.
Not handing you a chatbot and wishing you luck.

We educate you and help you see the possibilities. We focus on defining how AI fits into your actual work, designing clear roles, boundaries, and expectations, building continuity so your AI compounds the leverage you want instead of just sitting there like a tech tool nobody wants.

We help leaders learn how to manage AI assistants like a real contributor… a digital teammate.

If you’re already using an AI assistant, congratulations, you’re off to a great start. But if you feel like the value is inconsistent, or you’re unsure how to scale it responsibly across your most important initiatives, that’s usually a sign the human management layer is missing.

That’s the gap we help close.

If this article resonates, we should probably talk.

One last thought

AI doesn’t replace your intuition.

It supports it.
Sharpens it.
Carries work forward when you’re busy being human.

But the responsibility stays with you.

When leaders manage both the AI assistants and the work it supports, with clear expectations and shared understanding, the relationship works far better than you would expect.

And when it works, you will probably never go back to fighting through work again by yourself.

Written by Scott MacFarland, founder of YourBrandExposed, with Alex, his AI executive, supporting AI-powered business growth.

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#DigitalTeammate

Sources:

Image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E via ChatGPT.

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