Development of "soft skills" skills with the help of a virtual environment

Bodyswaps has developed a VR platform specialized in mastering soft skills skills. The platform, along with a content repository, is used by many companies to educate both sales staff and staff in human resources or management positions.

"Soft skills" skills are something they do not teach us during our formal education, although they prove to be very important in the business environment and career. While "hard" skills can be easily measured, "soft" ones are harder to measure, but they contribute a lot to the work environment. These are skills such as written and verbal communication, analytical thinking, negotiation, leadership skills, employee motivation skills, adaptability, problem solving and the like.

Project David – business leadership training

People in managerial positions often feel the pressure of "difficult conversations" in the workplace. With this knowledge, a VR simulator called Project David was created. Project David simulates a conversation between manager and employee David, and the user can experience both roles.

Using Oculus Rift controllers and voice via built-in microphones, the user first assumes the role of a manager who talks to an employee named David. In this scenario, David has below-average work performance. After talking to David, the user walks into his shoes and listens to what he just said from another perspective.

Since this VR training tool takes into account aspects such as eye contact, attention, and tone of voice, eventually the user receives a detailed scorecard of his performance. This experience has helped managers improve communication skills, build self-awareness and develop conflict management techniques in an environment that is reproducible and completely safe.

Project Susan – training of psychiatric staff

The Susan project focuses on the challenge of training psychiatric nurses. Interns engage in an interaction between Susan, a patient suffering from clinical depression, and a nurse. The company has worked with many consultants to provide the best possible and professional design.

Users specifically have the opportunity to develop communication skills, build empathy and improve patient care, without risking the lives of real patients. Using voice application programming interfaces (API) and body data recorded by movement, as well as Project David, Project Susan gives users a detailed table of performance results. This allows them to identify areas for improvement and then work on them using the same experience. Medtech students from London University tried Project Susan and gave very positive feedback. One user commented "I feel that VR technology helps you develop empathy for people you don't know."

Source: mbryonic.com