Are You Leveraging AI to Its Full Potential?

With the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, it’s easy to get lost in their endless possibilities. But to truly harness AI’s power, you need a structured approach—one that turns AI into a collaborative partner rather than just a tool. That’s where the 10/80/10 Principle comes in.

In Today’s Email:

• The 10/80/10 Principle for Maximising ChatGPT: Collaborating with AI: It’s More Than a Process—It’s a Partnership

• ICYMI:

  • Read last week’s newsletter: The AI “Magic Button” Myth (Why AI Success Takes More Than a Single Click)

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    • Let AI Do the Admin So You Can Lead

    • Think Artificially: How to Start Thinking like a Machine

    • AI is Disrupting my Business and Why that’s a Good Thing

Let’s dive in!

The 10/80/10 Principle for Maximising ChatGPT

Collaborating with AI: It’s More Than a Process—It’s a Partnership

Borrowing Leadership Wisdom

Great leadership principles are timeless—and often, adaptable. John Maxwell’s 10/80/10 Principle is one such framework. Traditionally used in project management, it divides a project into three key phases:

• First 10%: Planning and Direction (Leader)
  Leaders set the vision, define goals, and provide clear instructions to lay the foundation for success.

• Middle 80%: Delegate Execution to the Team (Team)
  The team takes ownership of the bulk of the work, executing tasks with autonomy while the leader provides support when needed.

• Final 10%: Review and Refinement (Leader)
  Leaders step back in to review the output, ensure it aligns with the vision, and refine the final product to meet quality standards.

But here’s where it gets exciting: this framework isn’t limited to managing teams. What if you could apply it to working with AI? 

Think of AI as your “execution team,” ready to take on repetitive or process-heavy tasks while you focus on planning and polishing.

Applying the 10/80/10 Principle to AI

The principle transforms into an AI collaboration framework like this:

1. First 10%: Plan (Human-led)

   • You set the vision, define goals, and create detailed instructions.

   • You set your intention

2. Middle 80%: Delegate (AI-led)

   • AI handles the bulk of the heavy lifting, guided by your prompts and feedback.

   • The Machine completes the repetitive, process-heavy tasks such as drafting, data processing, or analysis. 

   • This is where automation excels, freeing you for strategic or creative work.

3. Final 10%: Polish (Human-led)

   • You step back in to review and refine the AI’s output, ensuring it meets expectations and aligns with the original vision.

   • You check for errors.

   • You add the creative final touches.

This balance between human creativity and AI efficiency unlocks superior results—fast. Let’s break down how to apply this principle in practice.

The First 10%: Plan—Intention Setting (Human)

This phase is where you take charge. It’s all about setting the stage for AI to succeed.

• Define the goal: What are you trying to achieve?

• Set the vision: What does the final product look like?

• Provide context: What information does AI need to perform effectively?

• Write precise prompts: AI thrives on specificity.

Example: Let’s say you’re drafting a blog post on sustainability practices for small businesses. You want to be clear on why you are writing this prompt.

You’d define your goal (educating small business owners on sustainable strategies), provide context (current trends, industry-specific challenges), 

By planning meticulously, you’re ensuring that AI delivers high-quality outputs aligned with your vision.

I go to paper first and AI second. I know it is 'old-school' but I like to sit with a pen and paper before I start using AI. It helps me clarify my thoughts, and activates my critical thinking cap. Else I always have the risk of going down an AI rabbit hole.

Why It Matters: Mastering this stage sharpens your critical thinking, goal-setting, and prompt engineering skills—essential for successful AI collaboration and leadership in any domain.

The Middle 80%: Delegate—Let AI Handle the Heavy Lifting

During this phase, AI becomes your team member, taking on the bulk of the work. Tasks like generating drafts, analyzing data, or creating outlines fall under its domain.

• Delegate tasks: Use AI for repetitive or process-heavy work.

• Guide with feedback: Treat AI like a junior team member—give feedback to refine its outputs.

In this phase, you will need to master two skills:: 

• Priming: Priming means giving ChatGPT enough context, background, and structure before asking it to generate responses. 

• Prompting: Giving very clear instructions on what you want ChatGPT to execute. 

(Next week we will give you a crash course on this.)

Example: 

• Step 1: You will start with a prompt: "Draft a 1,000-word blog post on sustainable practices for small businesses in South Africa. Include 5 actionable strategies and examples tailored to industries like retail and food service. Keep the tone approachable and practical."

  Remember, the more context you give, the better the output.

  Using the prompt from the planning phase, you let AI draft the blog. 

• Step 2: As it generates content, you give feedback like:"Expand on the section about renewable energy use in retail. Browse with bing and add a source for credibility."

• Step 3: By iterating with AI, you shape the output into something closer to your vision.

How It Enhances You: Delegating execution reduces cognitive load, freeing you to focus on strategic and creative thinking. The process sharpens your ability to lead and manage AI as a collaborator, not a tool.

This phase allows you to offload routine or resource-heavy tasks to AI, reducing cognitive load and freeing you up to focus on creative and strategic efforts. 

By working alongside AI, you achieve efficiency without sacrificing control.

The Final 10%: Polish—Refining the Output

AI provides a strong draft, but your input transforms it into something truly impactful. Here’s what you do:

• Review Outputs: Ensure alignment with your original goals and catch any errors or “hallucinations.”

• Enhance Creativity: Add emotional nuance, context, or unique insights that only you can provide.

• Perfect for Quality: Refine language, tone, and format to meet your standards.

Why this matters: 

AI is fast, but humans add finesse. During this phase, you ensure the final result is accurate, compelling, and free of errors like hallucinations or biases. 

Think of it as proofreading a recipe—AI might provide the ingredients, but you add the magic touch.

Review, refine, and align the final product with your goals and creative touch.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Even the best frameworks can stumble without care. Here’s how to sidestep common issues:

• Skipping the Planning Phase: Without clear instructions, AI outputs can feel scattered.
  Solution: Spend time clarifying your vision and crafting detailed prompts.

• Neglecting the Polish Phase: Unrefined work can feel robotic or incomplete.
  Solution: Always review and enhance AI outputs with your expertise.

• Over-Relying on AI: AI lacks judgment and understanding of subtle nuances.
  Solution: Stay engaged, provide iterative feedback, and guide the process.

• Getting Distracted: It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole with AI.

  Solution: Keep returning to your original plan to stay on track, that is why the planning phase is so important.

Continuous learning and practice is the key.

Refining the Framework with Adaptive Learning

Every project is an opportunity to improve. After completing a project, reflect:

• Were the prompts clear? 

• Did I get the output I expected?

• How could ChatGPT have misunderstood me?

• Did ChatGPT require additional context? What context was it?

• How could feedback loops be improved?

Good priming and prompting come with practice and intentionality. Use each experience to refine your approach.

Automating Repetitive Tasks

Once you’ve mastered the 10/80/10 Principle, you can build AI bots to automate recurring tasks entirely. This step eliminates the need for rewriting or manual copy-pasting, allowing you to scale your operations effortlessly.

This is where the true power of AI emerges—and where our expertise shines. From creating bots to crafting the perfect prompts, we specialize in building systems that help you work smarter.

More Than a Process: A Partnership

The 10/80/10 Framework is more than a process—it’s a mindset. By thoughtfully dividing responsibilities, you get the best of both worlds: AI’s power to handle the grunt work and your creativity to lead and refine.

By applying this principle, you achieve faster, higher-quality results while empowering both your human team and your AI “execution team.”