Fostering team engagement and a positive work culture starts with empowering managers. Standard training often falls short, which is why personalized AI-driven programs for each manager are key to driving real impact in employee engagement and team development.

Jennifer Dulski, CEO and founder of Rising Team, highlighted how personalized AI training can help managers and their teams during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Washington, D.C. conference.  

“The great news is that with AI, we now can finally do this,” said Dulski. “We can give every single manager a personalized plan that’s targeted to their own needs and context. We can give them consistent practice over time.”

This is what Rising Team’s training accomplishes with its AI personal leadership trainer, aRTi. “It essentially takes every manager, gives them a personal leadership trainer, creates a plan based on intake of what they need, which is also customizable,” Dulski said. The training features a wide array of activities, such as one-on-one practice and skill learning as well as team building that’s personalized to fit the needs of each manager.

aRTi starts the training by asking a variety of intake questions involving topics such as number of direct reports, years as a manager, managing duty that is easiest to perform, and overall goal of employee training, says Dulski. The manager is then asked how much training time is requested and the AI trainer creates a growth plan that the manager can follow exactly or alter if they choose to do so.

Over time, the AI gets to know the manager and the training preferences. The training sessions can be added to the manager’s calendar, and aRTi will even practice training scenarios with the manager. 

“So the scenario I picked is I need to tell Ted that I’m giving him a lower rating on his performance review than he gave in his self-rating, involving all kinds of hard situations, like I need to tell him he’s not getting promoted when he expected a promotion, or if I’m managing up and I want to ask my manager how do I get on track for a promotion,” said Dulski. “All of these conversations can be practiced here.”

Dulski practiced the scenario with the AI system for the audience and showed how the role play session can help managers practice their conversation before putting it into motion. aRTi will prompt the user to improve their conversation, if needed, and provide a score and tips on how to improve in future conversations. The score is based on effectiveness of achieving the objective, clarity in doing so, and empathy used along the way. aRTi then recommends phrasing to use and a plan for future conversations.

The next step is putting aRTi to work with your team via live practice sessions. 

“That’s another part of this process, and it gets all kinds of insights about the team that managers just wouldn’t get on their own because they don’t know what questions to ask,” Dulski said. 

“We get everyone’s strengths and we know what makes people want to jump out of bed in the morning,” she said. “I know how to put people on projects, and we know exactly how each person likes to receive feedback.”

With the help of aRTi, going through these training sessions provides managers with insights as to how employees want to receive feedback, encouragement, and appreciation.

“All of this comes together into giving every single manager a personalized leadership trainer, coach, role play partner, and team building facilitator and the amazing thing is it works,” stated Dulski. “The data is super clear on this and within six months, you’re getting massive, statistically significant lifts on manager effectiveness.”

And when a manager is effective their team members feel valued and heard, which can lead to improved productivity and retention within an organization.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Rising Team, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. 

Kristen Kwiatkowski is a professional freelance writer covering a wide array of industries, with a focus on food and beverage and business. Her work has been featured in the Bucks County Herald, Eater Philly, Edible Lehigh Valley, Cider Culture, and The Town Dish. 

(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)