AI-Powered Soft Skills Coaching, Anytime, Anywhere

The Olympics are a masterclass in skills development and human excellence. No matter how unique their preparation, all winning athletes have two things in common: deliberate practice and feedback from a great coach. 

And it’s no different with employees developing business-critical soft skills. 

Deliberate practice + coaching = accelerated learning

For Olympians, Gold hangs in the balance.

But for your business, what’s on the line when employees can’t properly and delicately address high-stakes scenarios?

• Happy or upset customers?
• Won or lost business?
• Employee and team harmony or strife?
• New hire retention or turnover?

Coaches would NEVER send an athlete to any competition without lots of high-quality practice and feedback. Imagine a football player who has only watched videos and taken multiple-choice quizzes–never actually practiced the skills before going into a game. Yet, we do this all the time in business situations.

Do you have a training methodology for building these soft skills in your business?

-How will employees recognize the problem and practice the response?

-How can they practice and receive useful feedback?

Take these scenarios, for example:

• An angry customer is yelling at your employee about a perceived mistake. Will your teammate be devastated, hostile, or confident in the de-escalation and communication skills she’s practiced? 
• A salesperson needs to overcome a keen objection from an interested but savvy customer. Do they nail it or miss the opportunity to close?
• A new manager needs to correct an overconfident veteran employee. Do they lose or gain the employee’s respect?

Today, soft skills are more crucial than ever. Whether it's de-escalating a tense customer interaction, delivering constructive feedback, or navigating workplace conflicts, your employees must be prepared for a wide range of challenging scenarios that impact your business.

But how can you ensure they're ready when emotions and scenarios are so varied?

The Soft Skills Training Dilemma–How?

Traditional soft skills training methods often fall short:

• “They’ll figure it out” - on-the-job training is inconsistent and can cause irreparable damage while learning
• Shadowing doesn’t expose new employees to enough scenarios
• Lecture and video-based learning lacks interactivity and practice
• One-time role-playing exercises don't provide enough practice for mastery

Research shows that learners need repeated, high-quality practice opportunities with immediate, personalized feedback to truly develop a skill. A study by the National Training Laboratories found that practice with feedback leads to 75% retention rates, compared to just 5% for lecture-style learning.

The Frustrating Reality of Current Online Training

There aren’t enough great coaches to solve the problem. So, we turn to technology–which tends to make matters worse. Most existing online training solutions are:

• Boring and unengaging
• Inflexible and not personalized
• Easy to "game" without real learning taking place

Is it any wonder that employees often view mandatory training as a checkbox rather than a valuable learning opportunity?

Introducing AI-Coach: Your 24/7 Personal Trainer for Soft Skills

Imagine if every employee in your organization had access to:

• A personal coach that you helped create–using your playbook
• Unlimited, on-demand practice scenarios
• A patient, knowledgeable coach available anytime, anywhere
• Personalized feedback tailored to their specific performance

With NextThought's AI-Coach, it’s here now!

How the AI-Coach Works

1. Realistic Scenarios: Employees engage with AI-powered conversations that mirror real-world situations they'll face on the job.
2. Natural Interactions: Using advanced language models, AI-Coach understands and responds to learners' voice inputs, creating a dynamic, conversational learning experience.
3. Instant, Personalized Feedback: After each practice session, AI-Coach provides detailed insights on what went well and areas for improvement.
4. Progress Tracking: Both learners and L&D teams can monitor skill development over time, ensuring continuous growth - both qualitatively and quantitatively.
5. Integrated with your LMS: AI-Coach can integrate seamlessly with any learning system that supports SCORM or xAPI.

The Business Impact of AI-Powered Practice

By implementing AI-Coach, organizations can expect:

• Better and faster skill acquisition and improved job performance
• Lower risk for employees, customers, and all stakeholders
• Increased employee confidence in handling challenging situations
• Reduced training costs and time away from work
• Consistent, scalable training experiences across the organization

Experience the Future of Soft Skills Training

Ready to see how the AI-Coach can transform your organization's approach to soft skills development? NextThought is now offering free demos of our groundbreaking technology.

Try AI-Coach today and witness firsthand:

• De-escalation techniques for angry customers
• Delivering constructive performance feedback
• Navigating difficult conversations with clarity and empathy

Don't let your employees face high-stakes situations unprepared. Equip them with the power of AI-driven practice and coaching.

Transform your soft skills training. Empower your workforce. Experience the NextThought difference.