Even though I knew I was talking to an AI-created persona, it didn’t stop me feeling the pressure. I felt weird talking to the computer, although Natalie, Jake, Nova, and other colleagues have believable images and voices.

Strong communication skills can have an impact in any environment. Some years ago, I trained as a volunteer counsellor for the Australian Breastfeeding Association and was taught listening skills, empathy, how to run a discussion group, and other soft skills. This knowledge directly translated into better understanding of client needs for my customer service role in a financial institution.

With this background, I was interested to find out how much I could learn from the Supercommunicators – Have Conversations that Matter learning path offered by CodeSignal Learn, an interactive AI-native learning platform. I was also intrigued by the thought of learning communication by interacting with AI rather than actual people.

Why Take This Course

According to research by Indeed, more than two thirds (67 percent) of employers say they value soft skills more than educational qualifications when hiring. And you’ll find communication skills at or near the top of most lists of highly-valued soft skills. Communication fosters teamwork and plays a major part in negotiation, leadership, and setting goals. Supercommunicators is a great way to boost those communication skills.

The four courses are:

• Introduction to Conversations That Matter
• The “What’s This Really About” Conversation
• The “How Do We Feel” Conversation
• The “Who Are We” Conversation.

This learning path is based on the book Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg. It makes use of many role-plays, which have always struck terror into my heart. Although I don’t get palpitations from delivering a prepared speech to groups of people, I’ve never been good at thinking on my feet or speaking off-the-cuff. I thought about the scenarios before starting the discussion, but occasionally, unexpected questions or comments tripped me up. The great thing was, I could simply stop the conversation and prepare some more before trying again.

Even though I knew I was talking to an AI-created persona, it didn’t stop me feeling the pressure. I felt weird talking to the computer, although Natalie, Jake, Nova, and other colleagues have believable images and voices. The scenarios are set in a fictitious company “SurveyFlow” that creates customer surveys. You deal with various issues such as the team being worried that a major client deal might fall through, concerns about performance and sales targets, introducing a new sales tool, and a business merger.

How the Course Works

The learning path is made up of four courses with four bite-sized lessons followed by three role-play practices for each, making a total of 48 hands-on practices. And the practices were effective learning tools! Did I mention I feel pressured doing role-plays? I shouldn’t have worried. Cosmo (the cute AI corgi who guides you along the path) is there with encouragement and hints and I found that my nervousness decreased as I progressed through the course. I found the unlimited attempts at the role-plays useful, as sometimes I needed to submit my conversations several times before covering all the required points. Cosmo also offered extra hints for better answers even when I passed.

While you’re working on a course, you can download your conversations as you go along. You can also review Cosmo’s comments on your previous answers. But be aware that your conversations aren’t saved and once you’ve finished the course, Cosmo’s comments are no longer visible. You can only see the brief course outline. I took notes and screenshots, and although I downloaded the recordings of my attempts, I hate listening to recordings of my voice, so I rarely listened to them again.

The platform runs on a freemium model. You don’t need to pay to use most features, but interactions are limited in the free version. If you find yourself wanting more AI help or want to submit the exercises more frequently, I recommend the premium subscription.

There’s a Duolingo-style daily streak counter, and you can earn streak freezes for occasional days off. After I finished this learning path, I started another so I wouldn’t lose my streak.

Interacting With AI

There are a few differences between speaking to AI characters rather than real people. The main one was when I hesitated before speaking (which happened often). Sometimes the AI would jump in and speak just as I did, then we’d both stop. Sometimes the AI persona would respond as if I had said something useful. Other times, I would say “Um” or “Er” and the AI replied with “That’s a good point.” The positive aspect, though, is that after I submitted my role-plays for feedback, Cosmo was able to sort through my ramblings and let me know what aspects of my reply were spot on and what needed improvement.

What I Learned

The learning path presented a range of scenarios talking to peers, subordinates, and mentors. Some just want you to listen, some are angry, some are worried. Situations include listening, asking relevant questions, identifying feelings, and dealing with colleagues with various issues. They might be worried that their productivity and standing within the business may suffer due to personal or work-related reasons (e.g. others missing a deadline causing a roadblock for the whole team), issues due to a new product not being fully ready in time, unhappy clients, changing company values, and dealing with the uncertainties of a business merger. I learned how to deal with all these issues.

Certificates

When I finished each course in the Learning Path, I received an email with a link to the certificate. When I finished the fourth (final) course, I received the Path certificate, but no certificate for the 4th course. This is different from some other learning platforms, where you get a certificate for every course as well as the Specialization/Professional/Path certificate.  I also was unable to find the individual course certificates on my profile, only the Path certificate. To see my course certificates, I had to find each email again and click on the link. I would recommend you download and save your certificates as they arrive so they don’t get lost.

What Next?

I’ve already started How to Win Friends & Influence People in Practice. Or if you’re interested in leadership, you could try Adapting Your Leadership Style to Different Personalities or Dare to Lead – Unlock Courageous Leadership. Another learning path designed particularly for engineers is Mastering Public Speaking Through Practice which will prepare you for presentations including practicing how to improvise in unscripted scenarios and disruptions.

Conclusion

Despite my initial nervousness, I enjoyed improving my communication skills through the interactive exercises. I found Cosmo’s AI-generated feedback invaluable and have no hesitation recommending the CodeSignal Supercommunicators Learning Path if you’re looking to enhance your soft skills.

This post is sponsored by CodeSignal. All opinions are my own.