Make my message sound collaborative, not defensive
Rewrites a tense or defensive reply so it stays firm on facts while inviting cooperation instead of a fight.
The prompt
Rewrite my message so it sounds collaborative rather than defensive, while keeping my position.
My draft: [PASTE]
The message I'm responding to (if any): [PASTE]
Recipient and relationship: [e.g. "peer who criticized my team's work", "client questioning our invoice"]
What I must not give up: [THE FACTS, BOUNDARIES, OR POSITION I'M KEEPING]
What a good outcome looks like: [e.g. "we agree a fix", "they accept the timeline"]
First, point out the defensive signals in my draft, quoting each phrase:
- Justifying or over-explaining, counter-accusations, "as I already said", sarcasm, absolutes ("always", "never"), passive-aggressive politeness, excessive CCs.
Then rewrite it to:
1. Acknowledge their concern or point in one sentence, without conceding what isn't true.
2. State the facts neutrally, separating what happened from interpretations.
3. Shift to the shared goal ("we both want...").
4. Propose a next step or ask a genuine question.
5. Keep my boundaries and key facts intact.
Return:
1. The defensive phrases and why each might land badly.
2. The rewritten message.
3. An even shorter version for Teams or Slack.
4. A one-line suggestion if this would go better as a call.
Don't change facts or make concessions I haven't approved.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Email & Workplace Communication prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE
- THE FACTS, BOUNDARIES, OR POSITION I'M KEEPING
- e.g. "we agree a fix", "they accept the timeline"
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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