--- title: "Difficult conversations: practise before it is real" description: "Practice for feedback, performance, complaint and bad-news conversations: VR titles, custom roleplay, AI practice and Didymo, with Google and Mayo research." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/difficult-conversations --- [Training programs](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training) / Difficult conversations # Difficult conversations: practise the conversation you keep putting off Feedback, a complaint, a performance concern, bad news. Rehearse it with someone who answers back, before it is real. The moment ## You know what to say until they answer A report who keeps missing deadlines. A family who wants to know what went wrong. A colleague whose comment in the meeting landed badly. The opening line is ready. The conversation turns on the reply that was not in the plan. A team member waits for a review. A consultant speaks with a family member. A team leader gives a colleague feedback. Why it goes wrong ## Scripts break at the first surprise Most preparation is a script. Real conversations bring an explanation the manager had not heard, a flash of anger or a long silence. An employee faces a senior stakeholder. ### Practise the decision, not the words Guidance from the [Fair Work Ombudsman](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/best-practice-guides/managing-underperformance) and [Acas](https://www.acas.org.uk/acas-guide-to-challenging-conversations-and-how-to-manage-them) describes the same shape: prepare, explain, listen, agree the next step. A good rehearsal gives the other person something new to say, and rewards asking, summarising and agreeing an action. Every way to practise it ## Headset, browser, twin or a facilitated room Pick the format for the conversation and for the people who need it. A man in a lift lobby, mid-request. ### Ready-made VR titles [Lift VR](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library/lift-vr) gives a leader seconds to answer a sensitive request in their own words. [Everyday Inclusion](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library/everyday-inclusion) moves people into the manager’s chair to decide what to say after a moment of bias. A manager rehearses across a small table. ### Custom scenarios from your own cases A [custom roleplay](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/vr-training-and-roleplay) is written from the conversations your managers or clinicians find hardest, reviewed by HR or a clinical lead, and delivered in VR or on a screen. [Rapid custom builds](https://peopletechrevolution.com/fast-builds/rapid-custom-builds) put a first version in front of users quickly. A manager on screen, mid-sentence. ### AI roleplay in a browser With [AI roleplay practice](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/ai-roleplay-practice), the other person is an AI character on a laptop or phone. A manager reads the brief, talks it through, gets feedback against set criteria and runs it again. A professional faces her own digital twin. ### A digital twin for the questions around it [Didymo](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/didymo), PTR’s [digital twin](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/digital-twins) product, answers from an organisation’s approved material and hands over to a person when judgement is needed. Staff can check the process before the conversation and after it. A facilitator and colleague rehearse feedback. ### A facilitated session and debrief The debrief asks what the manager intended, what the other person understood and where the conversation turned, then picks a response to practise again. The evidence ## Peer-reviewed studies of rehearsed conversations Studies of VR diversity and inclusion training, with the conversation each tested. A feedback scenario from the Google training. ### Peer reviewed: Google, ACM CHI 2024 The training was built with Equal Reality, a subsidiary of People Tech Revolution, and included a manager’s performance feedback shaped by bias. In the [published paper](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-google-vr-inclusion-training-chi-2024.pdf), the 7 trainees who returned the optional survey gave 82% average agreement that it was better than Google’s standard DEI training, and 94% average satisfaction. [Download the Google research paper PDF](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-google-vr-inclusion-training-chi-2024.pdf) A clinician at a hospital bedside. ### Peer reviewed: Mayo Clinic, a controlled trial A DEI program People Tech Revolution built for Mayo Clinic nurse leaders was tested against a control group. Of 1,149 eligible leaders, those who trained gained in empathic feeling ([p = .002](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648)). [Read the Mayo Clinic papers](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-nursing-leaders-mayo-clinic). How it runs ## Run it the way your team already learns. [Run it yourself Your facilitator runs PTR VR Library titles on standalone headsets.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library) [In a browser Staff rehearse with an AI partner on a laptop, no headset.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/ai-roleplay-practice) [Facilitated over video A PTR facilitator runs the debrief by video, wherever teams sit.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/how-we-deliver) [With your trainer A trainer you already know runs it, licensed and prepared by PTR.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/for-trainers) A senior leader listens across a table. ### Start with the conversation people avoid Tell us which conversation your managers or clinicians keep putting off, and we will show you how teams rehearse it. [Talk to us](https://peopletechrevolution.com/talk-to-us) or [book a time with our team](https://calendly.com/simon-ptrvr/30min?utm_content=soldifficultconversations). Related pages - [Difficult conversations guide](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/difficult-conversations-training) - [Google case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/google-vr-dei-training) - [Complaints & open disclosure](https://peopletechrevolution.com/insights/aged-care-complaints-open-disclosure) - [Workplace & enterprise](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/workplace-enterprise) - [Healthcare](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical) - [All training programs](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training) Planning a hard conversation? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/difficult-conversations#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources Each result and guide at its source. ### [VR inclusion training at Google (ACM CHI 2024)](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-google-vr-inclusion-training-chi-2024.pdf) Peer-reviewed paper, hosted by PTR Agreement that the training was better than the standard DEI training, and satisfaction. ### [VR training for nursing leaders: a controlled trial](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648) Social Science and Medicine Empathy and upstander outcomes against a control group. ### [Managing underperformance](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/best-practice-guides/managing-underperformance) Fair Work Ombudsman, Australia Specific examples, a chance to respond, and agreed support and follow-up.