Most People Don't Have a Prompting Problem. They Have a Thinking Problem.

What two days with 32 officers from Majlis Agama Islam Selangor reminded me about using AI at work.

I stood in front of 32 officers from Majlis Agama Islam Selangor and asked a simple question. How many of you have already tried ChatGPT or a tool like it? Almost every hand went up.

That surprised a few people in the room. It did not surprise me. Most professionals today have already met AI. They have typed a question, received a flat answer, felt a little underwhelmed, and quietly decided the tool was overrated.

Here is what I have learnt after years of training across government, corporate, and education. The problem is rarely the tool. The problem is the thinking that happens before the tool.

The real gap

When an answer from AI feels generic, the instinct is to blame the machine. In truth, the machine only mirrors the clarity it was given. A vague request produces a vague reply. A scattered mind produces a scattered prompt.

That is why I do not begin my training with prompts. I begin with thinking.

The framework I teach is called PIDO. Four letters, four questions you answer before you type a single word.

Parameter. Who should the AI be? A school administrator, a finance officer, a calm advisor.

Instruction. What exactly do you want it to do? Explain, rewrite, summarise, compare.

Details. What context matters? The audience, the language, the length, the tone, and the things to avoid.

Output. What should the final answer look like? A table, a checklist, a short letter, three options to choose from.

None of this is complicated. That is the whole point. PIDO is not a clever trick. It is a way to think clearly, on purpose, before you ask. In Islam, we are taught that clarity of intention comes before action. PIDO follows the same quiet logic. Clear intention, clear instruction, better outcome.

Bits and bricks

There is a fear I meet in almost every room, especially among experienced professionals. Will this replace me?

My answer is always the same. AI does the bits. You bring the bricks.

The bits are the computational work. Drafting, sorting, summarising, and producing a first version at speed. The bricks are judgment, accountability, empathy, and the human sense of who you are writing for and why it matters. A machine can produce a thousand words in a second. It cannot decide whether those words are wise, kind, or true to your organisation's values. That part stays with you. It always will.

So the aim of my training is not to make people dependent on AI. It is the opposite. It is to make them more capable, more confident, and more in control.

Buat, bukan belajar

The other thing I refuse to do is fill two days with theory.

At MAIS, the officers not only listen. They built. Real reports from their own work. Official letters in their own voice. Posters for their own programmes. And something I now teach in every session, a personal AI context, so the tool actually knows who they are and how they work.

Buat, bukan belajar. Do, not just learn. People remember what they make with their own hands.

What the numbers said

I am careful about claims, so let me share only what the official evaluation recorded.

91 per cent of participants rated the programme as Cemerlang. Every single one said they would recommend it to a colleague. Their overall confidence rose from 3.87 to 4.74 out of 5.

The figure I am proudest of is this one. Before the training, only 44 per cent felt confident writing a clear instruction to AI. By the end, that number was 100 per cent. That is the real job. Not to impress people with what AI can do, but to leave them able to do it themselves.

What this means for your team

If your people have tried AI and walked away unconvinced, do not assume the tool failed them. They were most likely never taught how to think with it.

Give a team a clear framework, real practice on real work, and a little structure, and the change comes quickly. I have seen it in government offices, in classrooms, and in boardrooms. The technology is the easy part. The thinking is the part worth teaching.

Do not use AI. Create with AI.

An open invitation

I am bringing this same approach to a public masterclass this July, open to anyone who wants to stop fearing AI and start creating with it. If that is you, or someone on your team, the details and registration are here:

https://dreamfoundrymediabooks.ordersini.com/

For my eBooks and other resources, everything sits at linktr.ee/coachamirul.

To MAIS, thank you for two days I will not forget. Semoga ilmu ini terus memberi manfaat.

Let us work smarter, and lead with clarity.

Coach Amirul Iskandar Mannan

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