Last week, I was fortunate enough to be part of an innovative leadership training session on coaching, leveraging the power of VR technology.
Immersive experiences allow participants to practice real-world scenarios in a safe, controlled environment. By now, you have probably seen many studies showing (eg. PwC, 2020) that VR-based learning can increase retention rates and confidence to apply the skills learned immensely (275%), 4x faster than traditional methods.
What struck me was, in another job, I ran coaching workshops with group discussions and activities, yet this time it was quite different seeing a room full of leaders, each immersed in their own VR coaching simulation. After their personal VR experiences, the facilitator brought the group together to share insights and strategies, an interesting blend of individual exploration and collective learning.
AI-generated concept art. Still, not too far from what we had that day.
Positive feedback reinforces the potential of VR in leadership development.
I was very grateful for the opportunity to be part of this training. Witnessing leaders enthusiastically engage with a virtual ‘coachee’ and navigate non-linear conversations was truly inspiring. In 2018, I proposed a similar idea to my previous team, but it was deemed too complex and resource-intensive. Fast forward to today, and it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come!
As we embrace this ever-evolving tech, I’m excited about the future of learning and development.
Thinking more about this idea of real benefit, lately, this story came to mind.
Once upon a time, in a faraway forest*, a Tree from the enchanted forest asked the tiger Laohu to put together a training to teach the elves how to properly log their timesheets. When he asked what for, she explained they were being naughty and “gaming the system”, putting down more time than they actually worked. ‘If you say they’re being naughty’, Laohu asks, ‘it means they know they’re not supposed to do this, right?’ She agrees. ‘And if they’re knowledgeable enough to game the system, it’s not like they don’t know how to do it properly, so it’s not a skill issue. Quite the opposite, they learned it so well, they can now bend the rules, correct?’ The Tree agrees again and says, ‘some managers will even look the other way to keep the site out of trouble and the numbers looking good’.
Laohu let the information sink in for a moment and, after careful consideration, declares: ‘Training is not the answer’. From the top of her age, the elegant oak stares at him in disbe-leaf. He continues, ‘I can do it if that is what you really want, yet this will not solve the problem’. It took him some explaining but, eventually, she agreed. Together, they saved the forest hundreds of thousands of pine coins, and everyone lived happily ever after. Or at least until the next revision cycle of the available training.
(*Any similarities are mere coincidences; no elf was harmed during the production of this story)
In the e-learning space, one of the things that I really enjoy is being able to work with characters. Luckily, video-based character-led training is a popular choice, so I get to put this old passion to good use.
Considering production time (and cost) can be a deal-breaker for choosing 3D animation as an option, I’m always on the look for better ways to accelerate the process. Motion capture, often referred to as mocap, is a good example. After a long time trying to figure out a way to use it, without much hassle, I finally got it to work. This is my test animation. Ahmed here is doing his happy dance, celebrating our new workflow, for those times when mocap can save you hours of animation work. Although I enjoy animating, good use of time is still a key component of any successful project.
And that is Sissy, an SIS expert that will provide the intelligence team with invaluable spatial information. She agrees mocap is very cool and couldn’t help doing her happy dance too.
While trying to figure out a way to meet the tight deadlines for the training courses we have on, after a bit of research, I’ve started testing the lip sync features of Character Animator, one of the newish apps Adobe has made available through CC. Turns out, it works like magic, the team really liked the results and was happy to add it to the workflow.
If anything, perhaps not as cool as the actual 3D mouths, in my view, but it’s a way faster process and will save us loads of time (equals budget). Pretty decent compromise to get the issue solved and the project delivered on time.
