Accenture turns to the metaverse to scale management training and improve EX

Accenture, named a Horizon 3 Market Leader in our HFS Horizons: Metaverse Services Providers, 2023 study, uses the metaverse to train managers and negotiators. It is banking on the effectiveness of immersive experiences to improve learning versus more traditional and passive learning techniques.

Working with partner Tailspin, Accenture has been developing simulation environments where managers can learn how best to respond to challenges they might encounter with employees. Simulations in immersive environments confront managers with various scenarios with virtual employees and ask managers what they think the best response is. Those virtual employees could be confused or angry, and as the scenarios play out, the virtual employees’ emotions might change depending on the manager’s responses.

The metaverse offers a route to consistent and scalable training

Accenture’s Allison Horn, Executive Director, Talent and Organization Consulting – Talent Strategy and Development, recognizes that the simulations involved could be presented face-to-face instead of in a simulation. The difference is that using the metaverse, Accenture can make the experience consistent and scalable, impacting and creating value across the business faster. The company is using the same method company-wide to develop negotiation skills.

Accenture’s internal “Well, Better, Next” coaching method is applied to drive feedback and improvement. It asks, “What did you do well? What could have been done better? What should we do next?”

This kind of scripted management coaching using decision trees makes scalable automation possible, giving more managers more skills to help them better connect with their teams as we manage the Great Freakout of 2023. HFS believes it’s important to automate the mundane to focus human empathy on emotional touchpoints.

Could generative AI be applied to create virtual managers?

Training that responds to manager input in real time begs the question, could a well-trained large language model (LLM) be applied to use generative AI to support managers dealing with their teams via digital channels? The problem is that it would be challenging to confirm the responses were correct for the individual you were dealing with. The end goal may be to have a model that can react in the moment (rather than one that simply trains the manager to react better when the moment comes), but that is still some distance away.

As we also pointed out in Automate the mundane to focus human empathy on emotional touchpoints, there is no version of ChatGPT ready to become our virtual managers. But we can and should apply automation now to help our managers support their teams more effectively.

The team at Accenture is also applying the metaverse to support employee wellness with programs designed to encourage desk-bound employees to take breaks in their days for pauses such as meditation and to be more active to support physical well-being.

The Bottom Line: Ignore metaverse potential at your peril. There has never been a better time to scale how managers connect with their teams.

Tools that bring employees and employers closer to understanding each other are increasingly important as we struggle through the Great Freakout. Can the metaverse replace the value of face-to-face human interaction in all cases? No, but in combination with improving automation, the metaverse does offer employers a way to scale an improved employee experience. There are circumstances in which only face-to-face human interaction will do. But if the metaverse can offer a broad improvement in the quality of people management across your organization now, it would be an unwise leader who delayed taking advantage.