Managers Use AI Coaching to Rehearse Difficult Pay and Performance Talks

The survey results point to a gap between leaders and managers. A July survey fielded by The Predictive Index, which offers a text-based chatbot called Obi that assists with role-playing, coaching and preparing managers for difficult conversations, found that 74% of CEOs and business leaders say their managers are "very confident" handling tough people conversations on their own. But 42% of managers say they know what they want to say and struggle with how to say it. Only 20% of managers say they prefer to prepare for a difficult conversation on their own, without a framework, a coaching guide or input from HR. The survey found that managers' top blind spots include delivering criticism constructively, anticipating an employee's reaction and staying objective.

Emily DeJeu, a professor of business communication at The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, told CNBC that spontaneity is not a goal of a high-stakes work conversation. "You want to know the executive has really thoughtfully prepared for an important conversation," she said.

The market includes free and paid tools with varying features, CNBC reported. Some offer text-only interactions; others are voice-enabled. Some incorporate employee data such as personality profiles to help prepare the AI, while others are more generic. The tools can offer instruction to improve a manager's tone, delivery or message. Regardless of the tool, the goal is not to automate the people process but to allow the manager to practice delivering hard messages and simulate how a person might react in a specific scenario. DeJeu said this is better than talking in front of a mirror because the manager can actually get feedback.

Managers can run multiple scenarios before a real conversation. In a first round, they might ask the AI to simulate an employee who reacts angrily to the manager's guidance, then ask it to simulate an emotional employee. Karan Kashyap, co-founder and chief executive of Posh, which offers an AI role-play training tool for businesses, said practicing multiple scenarios can be useful "because you don't know what real life will throw at you."

Managers often find their communication improves through such drills. John Morgan, president at LHH, a human resources consulting firm that offers an AI coaching tool through a subsidiary, compared the practice to batting practice. He said the only way to get better is practice, but in the real world managers get only so many chances. Another advantage, according to Casey Schaffer, founder of Definitions Coaching and Consulting, is that the tools are accessible 24/7. A manager who wants to practice at midnight on a Sunday can do so, while a human coach is not always available on a whim. Schaffer said most companies are not hiring 500 coaches for 500 managers.

AI works best when it has specific parameters and context, CNBC reported. For example, a manager can tell the AI tool to role-play a scenario involving feedback to a sensitive employee who is habitually late to work. Megan Barbier, chief human resources officer at Xactly, said managers could tell the AI to grade them on specific measures, offer critical feedback on their message or flag if they move into risky topics from a legal perspective. Xactly's text- and voice-based AI tool, Penny, gives managers tailored scripts and real-time coaching guidance. Managers could also ask for feedback about tone, or tell the AI tool they are trying to be more direct and ask for constructive criticism on whether the language is concise, Barbier said.

Anthony Belluccia, senior product scientist at The Predictive Index, said role-playing alone is good, but the real lessons come from the feedback. Chatbots can deliver feedback in a constructive, tailored way to help managers understand what they can do better, he said. Without this feedback, many managers do not realize how others may perceive their tone or word choice, according to the report.

DeJeu offered an example of a manager who began difficult conversations with the bad news rather than easing into the message. Before AI pointed it out, he did not realize his blunt delivery could be off-putting to employees. AI advised the manager to start by discussing the importance of the employee's contributions and his value to the company before easing into the negative news. "It guided him on how to reframe the conversation," DeJeu said. CNBC also reported that AI can point out when managers talk too much and repeat themselves.