Soft talents are becoming increasingly scarce in organisations. According to a Harvard Business Review poll, 59 percent of recruiting managers and 89 percent of executives had difficulty finding applicants with the necessary soft skills. Communication, teamwork, and leadership are examples.
Worst of all, this shortfall occurs at a time when most businesses are digitally transitioning — either voluntarily as part of their strategic growth goals or as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic. Businesses may struggle to build these abilities in their staff if they do not have access to in-person education and training. Right?
Not always, to be sure.
You may now take your training programmes online thanks to technological improvements. Several organisations, in fact, have educational and training materials available online.
Employees may learn by logging into these repositories. Many firms also have online video programmes and resources, and some even provide live soft skill training sessions. Virtual reality (VR) is one such product that might be a great substitute for in-person training.
Worst of all, this shortfall occurs at a time when most businesses are digitally transitioning — either voluntarily as part of their strategic growth goals or as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic. Businesses may struggle to build these abilities in their staff if they do not have access to in-person education and training. Right?
Not always, to be sure.
You may now take your training programmes online thanks to technological improvements. Several organisations, in fact, have educational and training materials available online.
Employees may learn by logging into these repositories. Many firms also have online video programmes and resources, and some even provide live soft skill training sessions. Virtual reality (VR) is one such product that might be a great substitute for in-person training.
Unlike traditional digital learning tools, which can feel fake and uninteresting, virtual reality training delivers a memorable, compelling experience without any real-world implications. More significantly, virtual reality solutions can lower the price and logistical challenges of in-person teaching.
Also keep in mind that many employees already have mobile devices with which they may access virtual reality training. This can help you save even more money.
According to a 2020 PwC research, the VR technique decreases course completion time by 75% when compared to traditional in-person training when adopted at scale. Virtual reality training is also 1.5 times faster than e-learning.
The PwC study also discovered that VR training participants are four times more emotionally linked to the topic than classroom learners and twice as emotionally connected to the subject as non-VR training participants.
Employees can have conversations that feel uncomfortable or even emotional. Examples of such situations include;
- When managers communicate modifications with a negative impact
- When employees need to raise conflicting concerns about their manager
- When a supervisor needs to settle a dispute between colleagues.
- Handling angry customers, especially those in the retail industry.
Virtual reality is already being used by managers at most digital-first retail establishments to practise conducting these conversations with team members. From tardiness to bad customer service techniques and shift changes, VR provides opportunities for learners to make errors and try again in a secure setting.
You, too, should use this approach to assist your staff acquire the soft skills they’ll need to deal with a variety of challenging situations. VR modules imitate real-life interactions, allowing learners to practise coping with similar situations in a risk-free setting.
In every sector, getting feedback is a make-or-break situation. Whether an employee is working with a client or a coworker, the sort of feedback they provide has a significant influence on the health of the company. VR might be a great way to teach staff how to give feedback in the most effective way possible.
For learning, practise, and evaluating, virtual reality training can be built to imitate feedback discussions. VR may be used by course supervisors to uncover soft skills deficiencies in learners’ answers or how they manage situations. As a result, supervisors can create situations to aid in the development of soft skills in these areas.
The greatest thing is that scholarly study reveals that even when individuals are aware that a character isn’t genuine, they are still prone to listen, interact, and form relationships with them as if they were.
Empathy is a crucial component of any soft skill set, but it’s also one of the most difficult to master. This helps to explain why most companies prefer to hire employees who are inherently compassionate rather than having to coach them.
Nonetheless, virtual reality may help you develop your workforce’s empathy abilities in order to increase client happiness and loyalty.
VR allows trainees to walk in the shoes of customers (or coworkers), a notion known as embodiment, allowing them to get a fresh perspective on the world.
You could opt to create material that allows readers to put themselves in the shoes of a disgruntled client or a distraught employee. You may also assist management in seeing the world through the eyes of an employee on the verge of losing their job. Watching a video of someone who lost their job a few years ago is an entirely different experience.
As the globe strives to address historical discrimination concerns, diversity and inclusion have become important discussion points. Most HR departments nowadays are concerned with issues like as religious tolerance, acceptance and respect, gender equality, and racism.
The first step in tackling these concerns is to teach inclusive behaviour and to prepare your teams and supervisors for difficult dialogues about diversity and acceptance. Unfortunately, existing diversity and inclusion training lacks a practical component, limiting the efficacy of these programmes.
This is changed via virtual reality training, which immerses the student in a realistic setting where they may watch a colleague engaging in non-inclusive, discriminating conduct. After that, the learner can have a simulated face-to-face interaction with the victim to discuss the trauma and learn how to confront and constructively challenge prejudices.
Virtual Reality (VR) may also be used for soft skills training in a variety of other ways.
Some companies, for example, utilise technology to teach employees on general customer service, while others use it to assist employees improve their presenting abilities.
Still on the fence about it? To understand how to leverage VR technology to overcome these and other soft skills gaps in your business, contact Sharptechnica Solutions.