There’s no doubt about it: AI is changing the way we work. From writing emails to building reports to organizing our calendars, it’s tempting to believe that the right tool can take work entirely off your plate.

But here’s the truth: tools replace tasks and amplify great employees 

The teams seeing the biggest wins from AI aren’t the ones who’ve fully automated everything. They’re the ones who’ve paired smart tools with even smarter humans. When people know how to use AI instead of relying on it to do the job, productivity skyrockets.

Let’s talk about how.

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The Two Common Missteps

When business owners or founders hit a wall with time or capacity, they often jump to one of two extremes:

1. “I’ll just use AI to do it all.”

We’ve all heard this one. Someone tries to save time by letting AI write emails, create social posts, sort files, manage outreach, even respond to clients. But soon, they’re spending more time tweaking results, rewriting drafts, and manually fixing things that don’t sound right.

Why? Because AI doesn’t know your voice, your priorities, or your people, even if you give it examples.

AI can’t read between the lines of an email and realize that request for a meeting is actually a quick Slack message. It can’t pick up on the tone of a client who’s frustrated but not saying it outright. It won’t remember that someone just got back from vacation and ask how it went.

AI can organize, summarize, and even draft things based on what you tell it. But it still needs clear prompts, thinking, judgment, and empathy to be useful. Without that, you’re just generating content, not solving problems or building trust.

2. “I’ll just hire someone who can do everything.”

The other common fix is hiring one person to take it all on, scheduling, finances, social media, customer support, operations, and a bit of sales too. This approach can work if you happen to find someone with a dozen different strengths and an unlimited amount of time.

99% of the time, it leads to frustration. That person either burns out or ends up doing some of the tasks well, but not all of them.

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The Real Fix: Fractional Support with the Right Tools

If hiring one person to do everything doesn’t work, and relying on AI alone doesn’t cut it either, what does?

Here’s what we’re seeing more and more of: teams that run lean, stay flexible, and get things done by hiring fractional support. Instead of one full-time person with too much on their plate, they build a team of part-time specialists who each bring exactly what’s needed, and know how to use AI tools to work faster and smarter.

That might mean:

• 15 hours a week from a social media manager using AI to streamline content
• 10 hours from a bookkeeper who uses automation to speed up financial reporting
• 20 hours from an EA who can triage communication, delegate tasks, coordinate logistics and keep projects on track

This model gives you high-level output, customized skill sets, and the kind of flexibility most growing businesses need, all without the overhead or commitment of full-time hires.

The best part? With the right tools in the hands of the right people, work that once took all week now gets done in a fraction of the time.

The Smarter Move: People Who Know How to Use the Tools

This is where fractional support really shines. You don’t need someone to do everything, you need the right people doing the right things, using the right tools.

Whether it’s an Executive Assistant, a part-time social media manager, or a fractional operations lead, the most effective professionals today are using AI to speed up their workflow, not to replace their thinking.

Here’s what that looks like in action:

• Drafting social captions using AI to get started, then editing for tone and clarity
• Using tools like Notion AI, Grammarly, or ChatGPT to clean up reports and summaries
• Organizing incoming data or client responses, but applying human judgment to prioritize what matters
• Automating follow-ups without sounding robotic
• Repurposing long content into emails, snippets, or posts in less time

Fractional team members bring the strategy, voice, and relationship-building that AI can’t replicate. They’re just doing it faster and more effectively, which means you get high-quality output without overextending your budget or staff.

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How to Actually Use AI as a Tool (Not a Shortcut)

If you’re trying to teach your team (or yourself) how to use AI productively, here’s a quick mindset shift that helps:

AI is here to assist your thinking, not replace it.

You do the thinking, the values, the message, the decision-making, and let the tool help organize and execute.

Here are a few practical ways to get better results:

• Teach the tool: Upload examples of your best work. Give it your preferred tone or writing samples. Use detailed instructions.
• Use it to start, not finish: Let AI give you a rough draft or outline, but expect to revise it with a human eye.
• Build templates and prompts: Don’t wing it every time. Create prompt banks for repetitive tasks like emails, reports, or social posts.
• Know when not to use it: If something requires empathy, nuance, or reading the room, trust your team, not a tool.

When used this way, AI becomes less of a shortcut and more of a supercharger.

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The MPG Approach

At MPG, our Executive Assistants are trained to use AI tools effectively, boosting productivity without losing the human touch. Clients often find they don’t need one full-time hire who can “do it all,” but rather a fractional team of specialists who each bring the right skills, powered by the right tools.

It’s not about choosing between AI or people. It’s about having the right people who know how to use the tools well.