Why Vocal Empowerment Matters More Than Ever in the Age of AI

There’s no question that AI is transforming the talent development landscape.

From AI’s ability to tailor an employee’s learning journey, learning preferences, and previous courses to virtual training that uses AI chatbots to answer questions and provide on-demand microlearning support, AI has opened so many developmental possibilities.

While some trainers, understandably, are worried about being rendered irrelevant, here’s some context (and potentially good news) about skills-based communication and leadership training.

Organizations are not seeking external training for purely knowledge-based issues, since AI can put together training on just about anything.

Good information is not a differentiator. But with more technology comes more miscommunication.

Employees may have instant access to information, but retention of that information, and the emotional intelligence and ability to navigate high-stakes conversations are still deeply human skills that require live, synchronous training, real-time coaching, and feedback to build.

The Shift from Knowledge Acquisition to Skill Embodiment

AI can provide knowledge, but it cannot replace human connection, trust, or the ability to adjust in real time to the nuances of communication. The most effective L&D initiatives aren’t just about acquiring knowledge; they’re about building the confidence and competence to use it when it matters most.

Skills-based trainers can make the most impact by using role play to help people practice communication and aligned leadership skills for learning transfer to happen.

The best way to ensure that learning sticks? Live, immersive role-play training.

What True Role-Play Training Looks Like

Many trainers say they use role playing for skill development, but it’s often a surface-level exercise—scripted, predictable, and failing to replicate the real-world pressures of high-stakes communication.

True role-play training requires:

• Tension and unpredictability. Learners can experience and navigate the realities of high-stakes conversations.

• Customization. Scenarios are tailored to an organization’s or team’s specific challenges and areas for communication growth.

• Live coaching and feedback. Participants can adjust in real-time and retry their communication to make it more meaningful.

• Psychological safety. Learners can take necessary risks and try out different messages and styles before communicating their ideas in real life.

Vocal Empowerment: The Key to a Speak-Up Culture

As AI reshapes the learning landscape, organizations must prioritize training that helps employees not just know what to say but embody the skills to say it effectively. This is especially critical for fostering a speak-up culture.

Every time an employee fails to speak up in the workplace, research shows it costs a company at least $7,500 USD (Crucial Learning). And yet nearly 70 percent of employees feel they cannot speak up about their concerns or issues at work (Harvard Business Review, 2022).

The top reasons employees give for not speaking up include:

• A perceived lack of safety and trust

• Fear of retaliation or career derailment

• Not knowing how to communicate or who to communicate with in high-stakes situations

• Lacking the skills to move through the discomfort that typically accompanies speaking up

While talent development is only one piece of ensuring organizations foster a speak-up culture, it is a critical component.

Unfortunately, too much speak-up training doesn’t work because it doesn’t address all five communication competencies that Step Into Your Moxie has identified are necessary for vocal empowerment.

1. Self-talk – Managing the inner narrative that shapes confidence and clarity.

2. Navigating discomfort – Recognizing and moving through uncomfortable sensations that often arise during important communication.

3. Messaging – Knowing what words to use in high-stakes moments.

4. Presence – Communicating with credibility and authenticity while cultivating safety and trust.

5. Moving people to action – Ensuring messages ethically influence and drive lasting change.

Join Me at ATD25 for a Deep Dive Into Vocal Empowerment

If you want to learn actionable strategies to help employees confidently speak up that you can integrate into your training and overall talent development strategy, be sure to attend my session at the ATD International Conference on Wednesday, May 21, from 8–9 a.m., “Foster a Speak-Up Culture Through Vocal Empowerment Training.”

In this session, we’ll cover:

• The financial and cultural costs when employees don’t speak up

• The key impediments to employee vocal empowerment

• The five core communication competencies that employees at all levels need to advocate for themselves, their coworkers, and their clients

• Role-play activities focused on self-advocacy, naming injustice, and navigating high-stakes conversations that you can integrate into future speak-up training experiences

• How to create trauma-sensitive and psychologically safe training environments

• Strategies to gain buy-in from senior leaders by connecting speak-up training to its financial benefits

In the age of AI, human connection and vocal empowerment are more essential than ever. They aren’t just a nice-to-have; they’ve become a business imperative.