Think your AI coworker lets you off the hook from being a great communicator? Think again.
I'm finding that the marketers who collaborate most effectively with AI aren't necessarily the most technical—they're the ones with high EQ and strong people leadership skills. Those who understand how to bring out the best in their teams instinctively know how to bring out the best in artificial intelligence.
When I collaborate with Claude or ChatGPT, I'm not executing technical instructions—I'm navigating a creative partnership. The skills that make this partnership productive mirror what makes human collaboration work:
These are fundamentally EQ skills, not IQ skills. They're about relationship and communication, not just technical execution.
We tend to sometimes think that great people leadership skills are an innate thing. And to some extent, high EQ is. But that overlooks the crucial point that many of these skills can be learned: There are tested frameworks that help us become more effective leaders, regardless of our natural tendencies.
Some of these frameworks also port over beautifully to AI collaboration. You don't necessarily need to invent new methodologies or become a prompt engineering expert. The same structured approaches that elevate your people leadership can be repurposed to create more productive AI partnerships.
Let's explore two models that translate particularly well from human dynamics to AI interaction, bringing depth and nuance to what might otherwise remain superficial exchanges:
CEDAR (Context-Examples-Diagnosis-Actions-Review) is a structured feedback approach that transforms one-way directives into collaborative dialogue. Rather than jumping straight to solutions or critiques, it creates space for shared understanding and exploration before determining next steps.
👩👨 In people leadership: It builds mutual understanding by inviting the team member's perspective before jumping to solutions.
🤖 In AI collaboration: Instead of dictating exactly what you want, you:
IDEA (Identify-Describe-Encourage-Action) is a reinforcement-focused approach that emphasizes recognition of specific strengths while guiding improvement. Unlike purely corrective feedback, IDEA intentionally builds confidence through acknowledging what's working.
👩👨 In people leadership: You build confidence by encouraging positive behaviors.
🤖 In AI collaboration: The "encourage" step becomes crucial—when you explicitly highlight what aspects of a response worked well, future outputs consistently improve in that direction.
I've found that when I tell Claude "I really like how you approached X" or "That metaphor was particularly effective," subsequent responses reflect those preferences without me having to create elaborate technical prompts.
There is increasing evidence that how we communicate with AI influences how we communicate with people.
"We explore this question in the context of unfair decisions determined by AI versus humans and focus on the spillover effects of experiencing such decisions on the propensity to act prosocially.... These findings illustrate the spillover effect of human-AI interaction on human-to-human interactions and suggest that interacting with unfair AI may desensitize people to the bad behavior of others, reducing their likelihood to act prosocially." (Cognition)
If you spend hours each day barking rigid commands at AI systems without context, appreciation, or collaborative framing, that transactional mindset can subtly infiltrate your human interactions.
Think of it as a communication flywheel. When you practice thoughtful, context-rich interactions with AI (explaining your reasoning, acknowledging good outputs, building on strengths), you're not just getting better results from the technology. You're actively strengthening the same neural pathways that power your most effective human leadership moments.
The inverse is equally true. Falling into patterns of impatient, context-free demands with AI systems creates habits that can bleed into your team interactions. "Why can't you just understand what I want?" becomes a sentiment expressed not just to your AI assistant, but potentially to your colleagues and even beyond the workspace.
This presents a fascinating opportunity: AI collaboration becomes a low-stakes practice ground for refining your leadership communication. The immediate feedback loop helps you witness firsthand how providing context, expressing appreciation, and building on strengths yields superior outcomes, all without the social complications of human interactions. You're essentially getting leadership reps in a consequence-free environment.
By approaching AI with the same thoughtfulness you'd extend to valued team members, you're reinforcing your best leadership instincts, creating a virtuous cycle that elevates both your digital and human collaborations.
Beyond effectiveness, there's something profoundly more satisfying about collaborative AI interaction versus transactional prompting. The same joy that comes from watching a team member grow applies when you see an AI response evolve through thoughtful feedback.
This approach transforms AI from a vending machine for answers into a thought partner for exploration. You're not just extracting value—you're creating something new together.
The leaders who will thrive in the AI era aren't those with the most technical prompt knowledge—they're those who understand how to create conditions for collaborative success, whether with humans or artificial intelligence.