Rising to the Challenge

Case Study: Reinforcing Leadership Skills Through AI-Powered Role Play

Written by Jim Brodo | Jun 23, 2025 6:28:13 PM

Strengthening new manager capability through self-paced learning and AI-powered practice

Business Challenge

A global consumer goods company recognized that its new managers were stepping into roles that required more than strong individual performance. These first-time leaders needed a sharper understanding of business drivers and the ability to coach, influence, and make decisions that impacted both people and profit. The company sought a modern, scalable solution to build both leadership confidence and business fluency.

Solution

To address this challenge, the company partnered with Advantexe to deliver a blended learning experience centered on two key phases:

  • Learn
    Managers began with a series of short, self-paced video modules covering foundational leadership skills such as coaching, feedback, and conflict resolution.  

  • Practice
    Learners then applied these concepts through Practice AI, an AI-powered simulation tool that allows managers to engage in realistic leadership dialogues with an AI-enabled avatar and receive instant, personalized feedback.

Each participant completed two core exercises:

  1. Resolving Conflict – Navigate a conversation between two employees competing for limited team resources.
  2. Coaching for Accountability – Coach a team member whose inconsistent performance was impacting gross margin and overall team effectiveness.

Here’s how Praction AI works:

  • Learners respond to prompts in a simulated dialogue, choosing from multiple realistic response options.
  • The AI evaluates responses based on tone, empathy, business accuracy, and alignment to leadership best practices.
  • Instant feedback is provided after each exchange, including coaching tips, model phrasing, and remediation opportunities.
  • Learners are encouraged to retry sections to improve their responses, building both confidence and skill mastery through repetition and reflection.

Results

The integration of AI-driven practice delivered measurable improvements in both leadership behaviors and business acumen:

  • 84% of learners improved their score on second attempt in Praction AI after receiving remediation tips and feedback.
  • 91% of participants said the AI feedback felt personalized and relevant to their day-to-day challenges.  
  • The system flagged over 320 instances of low-confidence language in initial attempts, enabling targeted coaching at scale and reinforcing more effective communication patterns.

Participant Quote:
"Praction was the part that made it real. I got to actually test how I’d handle tough conversations and hear immediately how I could do better. The feedback wasn’t just helpful, it stuck with me the next time I had to talk to my team."