July 15, 2026

18 Prompts to Maximize Manager Effectiveness with PI's Obi AI Agent

Most managers want to be better leaders. They want to give feedback that lands, run 1:1s that actually connect, and coach people in ways that stick. The intention is there.

What's often missing are the words. The right framing for a hard conversation. The approach that will actually reach this specific person, not a hypothetical average employee. That gap between knowing you need to say something and knowing how to say it is where things break down.

The Predictive Index (PI) built Obi to close that gap. For HR leaders, that gap isn't just an individual manager's problem. It shows up in engagement scores, in turnover you can trace back to a badly handled conversation, and in managers who mean well but keep missing. Closing it at scale is a workforce effectiveness question, not just a coaching one.

What is Obi?

Obi is PI's behavioral intelligence AI, built on 70 years of PI's workplace behavioral science. It stands for On-Demand Behavioral Intelligence, and that name is the point: instead of pulling a PI report and interpreting it alone, a manager can ask Obi directly, in plain language, how to coach someone, structure a team, or walk into a hard conversation. Behavioral intelligence is the ability to understand what drives people to work, how they naturally communicate, make decisions, take risks, and collaborate. Obi turns that understanding into practical guidance, so instead of reading a PI report and interpreting PI results on your own, you can ask Obi. Obi reads behavior at the PI behavioral drive, or factor, level, not just the general behavioral reference profile level. Two people can share the same profile and still be wired differently underneath. Obi accounts for that. The result is guidance built around how a specific person thinks and works, not advice that could apply to anyone.

To get started, just look for the “Ask Obi” button. It knows your team’s behavioral profiles, understands your org context, and respects PI privacy permissions. It doesn't guess, it knows.

For HR leaders, that's the appeal: PI's science at the moment it matters most, without training managers on another tool they have to remember to open.

Why it Matters

Workplace tension is inevitable, and to a point, necessary. Sometimes discussions get fumbled because the right words aren’t obvious, or the recipient interprets them differently. The cost of these slip-ups is real, and it can damage the retention of top performers fast. Anthony Klotz, an organizational psychologist, argues that these smaller things can quickly spill over into a larger issue.

According to PI's Senior Product Scientist Dr. Anthony Belluccia: "Managers who used PI's behavioral science in their daily communication were 49% more likely to rate their employees as ready for promotion. Obi puts that science in your managers' hands before every conversation." Obi is what puts that investment to work in the conversations that actually decide whether your managers are effective, not just well-intentioned.

Your organization has already invested in PI's behavioral science. Obi is what finally puts that investment to work inside the conversations that count.

How it Works

The flow for managers is straightforward.

1. You describe the moment. Type a prompt about a person or situation — usually to prep for a conversation you have coming up.

2. Obi draws on your org data. It pulls your people's actual behavioral profiles, your org context, and 70 years of PI science.

3. You get a playbook in seconds. Not generic advice. A behavioral playbook built around how that specific person thinks and works.

4. Your manager walks in with the right words. Conversations move forward instead of stalling.

On the admin side: you can add org context to help Obi understand your company, including your website, a short note, and up to three uploaded documents. PI's guidance is to load your values, your feedback norms, and similar material rather than logistics. Individual users can also toggle between PI's technical factor language (A (Dominance)/B (Extroversion)/C (Patience) /D (Formality)) and plain language.

No special syntax. No separate workflow. Plain language in, personalized guidance out.

What Makes Obi Different From Public AI Tools

Ask a public AI tool to help you prep a hard conversation, and you get generic advice. It doesn't know your people, doesn't know your org, and whatever a manager types can leave your organization's walls. Public models can also get PI-specific concepts wrong.

Obi is able to read your data at a deeper level, so it knows your organization. Everything stays inside your PI tenant. It's built on validated PI science, maintained by PI's behavioral scientists, and tested to deflect misuse and unethical asks.

That distinction matters most for the sensitive work: the performance conversations, the interpersonal conflicts, the questions a manager might hesitate to type into a public tool because they're not sure where that data goes.

Privacy and Security

Four commitments from PI worth knowing when using Obi and sharing your data.

Your conversations are completely private. Not visible to your manager, colleagues, or anyone else in your org. Not even an admin can see a user's prompts, by design.

Obi knows your actual people. Guidance is built around your specific employees and the org context you provide, not advice that could apply to anyone, anywhere.

Your data never leaves your organization. Conversations stay inside your PI tenant and never train outside AI models.

You guide the decision. Obi informs it. Every response is a starting point for your judgment. There's no AI making people decisions here. Just better-equipped humans doing it.

Obi only surfaces information a user is already cleared to see within PI's permission settings. For compliance and legal questions about AI-generated content, access The Predictive Index’s AI terms and FAQ, and for security matters you can review the PI Trust Center. For specific legal questions, consult your own counsel.

Where Obi Helps: Six Use Cases with Starter Prompts

PI organizes Obi's use cases into six buckets. The prompts below are starting points. Replace the bracketed placeholders with real names. The more specifics you can provide, including the name of the person, a description of the situation, or asking for a particular format, the better the output.

Tough feedback

Say the hard thing clearly, in a way the person can actually hear.

"I need to give [name] feedback that their work has slipped and deadlines are being missed. Based on their PI profile, build a playbook: how to open, what to say, what to avoid, and how to respond if they get defensive."

"Draft feedback for [name] about [specific behavior]. Give me an email version and a spoken script, tuned to how they prefer to receive information."

"Rewrite this feedback to be more direct while staying respectful for [name]'s profile: [paste your draft]."

Coaching and motivation

Understand what drives someone and bring out their best.

"What motivates [name] based on their behavioral profile, and how should I adjust my coaching to keep them engaged?"

"[Name] seems disengaged lately. Based on their drives, what might be draining their motivation, and how could I re-engage them?"

"Build a 90-day coaching plan for [name] that plays to their behavioral strengths and develops [skill or area]."

1:1s and performance reviews

Prep for conversations that connect and land.

"I have my first 1:1 with [name], a new report. Based on their PI profile, how should I run it so we connect and set the right tone?"

"Help me prepare a performance review for [name]. Frame their strengths and growth areas around how they're behaviorally wired."

"[Name] gives short answers in 1:1s. Based on their drives, how can I create the conditions for a more open conversation?"

Team friction

Ease tension between two people or across a team.

"Build a playbook to ease the growing friction between [name] and [name], using both PI profiles, plus management strategies that might help."

"[Name] and [name] keep clashing on [topic]. Based on their profiles, what's the root of the tension, and how do I address it with each of them?"

"My team keeps stalling on decisions. Based on the mix of behavioral profiles, what's likely causing it and how do I unblock us?"

Team design and hiring

Use behavioral data to build balanced teams and think through fit.

"Based on the behavioral profiles of my team, where are our collective strengths and gaps, and what should I consider before adding a new role?"

"I'm hiring a [role]. Based on the job's demands, what behavioral traits should I prioritize, and what interview questions will reveal them?"

"Assess how [candidate] might fit the [role] and this team based on behavioral data. What are the risks, and how would I manage them?"

Admin and time-savers

Cut the manual work: lookups, pairings, exports.

"Pull the working relationship guides for everyone who reports to [name]."

"Give me a plain-language summary of the behavioral makeup of [team or department]."

"Compare the reference profiles of [name] and [name] and tell me where they'll naturally align or clash."

How Our Clients Are Already Using it

We pulled usage data from across the book of PI clients under Lever Talent’s management to see where Obi is actually getting used. Here are the top 10 use cases pulled from Lever Talent’s usage data.

Use Case	Uses
Working Relationship Guidance	271
Employee Lookup	248
Interview Preparation Guidance	137
Employee Coaching & Development	125
Candidate Fit Assessment	109
Role and Title Lookup	100
Behavioral Assessment Distribution	86
Reference Profile Comparison	86
Document Export Request	81

Source: Internal Predictive Index Usage Data from Lever Talent’s Clientbase

Of the 1,875+ uses analyzed amid a wide cross-section of categories, a few things stand out. Managers are using Obi most to figure out how to work better with specific team members. But looking at the data cluster above, the Employee Lookup, Role and Title Lookup, Behavioral Assessment Distribution, Document Export are some of the top uses. That's Obi as a time-saver, not just meeting prep. Hiring assistance is strong too: Interview Preparation Guidance and Candidate Fit Assessment are both in the top five.

People aren't using Obi one way. The long tail of 1,875 additional uses is the real headline. Once managers have it, they find dozens of ways to fold it into their workflow every week.

Getting started

If your PI account includes Obi access, you're ready to go. Not sure? Check with your PI account team or with us.

Open Obi: From your PI dashboard, select "Chat with Obi."

Set your org context: Ask your admin to add your company website, a short context note, and up to three files (values, feedback norms, and similar).

Pick your language: Toggle between PI's technical factor language and plain language — both work.

Start with a real moment: Pick an actual conversation you have coming up, not a test. That's where Obi gives you the most useful output.

Obi is currently in open beta. It is a priority on PI's product development roadmap, and they are releasing continuous updates as the product evolves.

Questions? Let’s Talk

Lever Talent is a PI Certified Partner and Master Training Center. If you're a Lever Talent client, or PI user in general, and want to maximize the use of Obi to put practical behavioral intelligence in the hands of your workforce, contact our team.

We can help you establish your organizational context, develop a training built for your managers, and build implementation guides tailored to your business needs and objectives. Book a meeting with a PI consultant today.

Also, if you'd like to share the above prompts with Obi, download them here.

Tag(s): Future of Work , AI , Performance Management , The Predictive Index , Featured , Employee Engagement , Employee Retention , Automation , Career Development , HR technology

Drew Fortin

Drew is a people-first, values-driven leader with nearly 20 years of growth strategy and team-building experience across retail, marketing technology, local media, and HR tech. He spent 7 years at The Predictive Index, where he was Chief Growth Officer responsible for the company's strategy to build the world's first...