Communication is the exchange of information between two parties. We witness this on a day-to-day basis in every scenario – be it personal and professional. It involves a sender, a receiver and a message that is transmitted. In the absence of noise, this message is successfully delivered and received and when understood, the receiver responds with a feedback, thereby completing the communication process. Effective communication is the key to successful relationships. A little bit of misunderstanding can cause unwanted results; in the professional domain, this could be disastrous. So how do we ensure that such untoward instances don’t occur? One way to avert such disaster to invest in soft skills training to develop this crucial skill called communication. The AI-Humans platform uses conversational AI to provide users with real-world scenarios to polish their communication skills in a professional setting.
Workplace soft skills – Why are they important?
We can either name them workplace soft skills or durable skills, but mastery over them means a smooth working environment, with well-coordinated teamwork. This in turn means enhanced output and a positive approach to work. This, probably, is the reason why hiring managers are placing so much importance on hiring candidates with good soft skills. According to a LinkedIn survey, a whopping 92% of hiring managers and talent professionals believe soft skills to be equally important as hard skills, if not more.
This gives every professional, current and prospective ones, a reason to polish, brush and buff their soft skills. While experience is a good way to do it, merely relying on experience would mean waiting for years to achieve that level of expertise. So, what does one do in such a scenario? Thankfully, platforms like AI-Humans are there to provide that ‘much in demand practice’ in soft skills. This is available in multiple setups and for multiple industries.
Why choose an AI platform for soft skill training?
An AI-powered platform like AI-Humans presents learners with realistic scenarios to provide practice in conversational skills, among other soft skills. Why should a learner choose AI-Humans to build and develop their soft skill, is a good question to ask. After all, how can an AI-platform help practice this very crucial skill to progress in life? There are multiple reasons for this.
Realistic scenarios – When a customer walks into a store with a defective item, it takes skills to talk to the customer, understand the problem and look for an appropriate solution. A major part of this process involves talking to the customer and the concerned department. Or take another case where a traffic cop is interrogating a driver for speeding. Once again, the officer will have to talk to the driver and proceed with the necessary steps. When practicing such scenarios, users are able to modify their conversation as per the need of the moment, helping them think on their feet and develop confidence. With a range of scenarios, the experience gained is also wide.
Non-judgemental environment – Practicing with AI-enabled characters in AI enabled virtual environments means the practice session is judgment-free. The thought that what will ‘so and so’ person think weighs heavily on many people and this prevents them from performing to their best, or from taking risks. In a virtual environment with a virtual character, all that a person is facing is themselves. The character, being virtual, cannot form an opinion of the user, pass a comment, or reprimand, or get angry. So, if you go wrong with your interview session
Continued learning – Learning through an AI-powered platform means engaging with learning content as one’s own pace, own time and as many of number of times as required. Unlike traditional ways of learning, one is not restricted to a particular session happening at a specific time in a certain location at the availability of a trainer and a batch of other learners. Users are free to choose their learning material at their chosen time allowing them to continue their skill enhancements at a continuous rate and also apply their learning to their day-to-day functioning.
Instant feedback – Feedback in any training session is significant. In its absence, a learner will never know how they performed, and the trainer will not get to know what the learner has learned. With conversational AI training material, the user gets instant responses, and these responses reflect real-world interactions providing a fair and accurate feedback to the user. How does a person handle a request to revive a lapsed insurance policy? Technicalities are involved and the client needs to be provided specific information to process the request. Having practiced the scenario with a virtual character, a user is prepared to handle the case with confidence and promptness, providing efficient customer service.
Unique training experiences – When practicing conversation skills with conversational AI training modules, every user is guaranteed a unique, personal experience. Since these virtual AI characters leverage NLP, their responses are based on what the user says. Since every user is unique in themselves, the responses and conversations they have with the AI character will be different, leading to varied results.
Scalable and reasonable – Looking at the training material from a trainer’s perspective, one must say that it is a win-win situation. Realistic conversational modules offer close-to-reality training in highly realistic environments where once a training module is created it can be accessed by any number of participants, making it highly scalable with a high return on investment (ROI). Apart from the initial investment, there is no other expense involved and modules can be accessed by innumerable people from any given location.
Practical Application of Conversational AI at the Workplace
Since communication and interactions lie at the heart of all day-to-day activities, we can find multiple areas in which conversational AI can be used in a workplace environment. A few significant areas in which it can be employed include:
Conducting employee performance appraisal sessions – Be it the HR or a team lead, this function is common across organizations and required good communication skills review an employee’s performance and provide feedback on work done, and all this needs to be done with a sincere and convincing approach. Receiving training for these sessions can prepare professionals to handle these scenarios with confidence and efficiency.
Attending to customer complaints – Customer or client complaints about products and services can come in a variety of forms and in many ways. There could be very angry customers, some abusive, some very polite, some simply looking for a quick solution, some impatient etc. etc. Tackling each of them calls for quick thinking, analytical skills, diplomacy, professionalism and smooth communication skills. Conversational AI helps practice each situation and get ready to tackle every situation.
Conflict resolutions – Conflicts could arise among employees, with customer, or among organizations. Each one is at a different scale and requires a unique way to handle it. Communicating effectively with no room for misunderstanding can help sail through each of these situations, once again laying emphasis on communication skills.
Employing conversational AI as a training tool is an innovative way to provide effective and meaningful training to help build durable skills, or soft skills at the workplace. Each trainee gets a personal and unique experience that helps them develop and polish their skills to help them succeed in today’s dynamic workplace.
AI-Humans from ELDC is a SaaS-based platform that enables trainers to develop AI-powered durable skills training solutions within minutes. While all technical aspects of creating these AI-powered scenarios have been taken care of by the team, trainers can devote all their attention towards giving shape to highly effective and relevant training and provide learners with engaging and immersive training opportunities. Practicing durable skills is the best way to learn and this is precisely what AI-Humans is providing.