On-the-job learning, facilitated by line managers and mentors, is key for employee development. It provides practical, context-specific knowledge and experience that traditional training often lacks. Managers, by virtue of their position, are best placed to understand the specific needs and development gaps within their teams.

They can provide tailored guidance, feedback, and support, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement. However, this vital form of learning faces significant challenges, both for the managers acting as coaches and mentors, and for the employees receiving the guidance.

• Tracking Feedback and Progress: Monitoring employee progress and ensuring feedback is acted upon can be a cumbersome process. Traditional methods, like spreadsheets or email, are often inefficient and difficult to manage, making it challenging to track feedback to closure and measure the impact of coaching efforts. This lack of a structured system can lead to feedback being lost or forgotten, hindering employee development.

• Consistency and Objectivity: Providing consistent and objective feedback across team members can be challenging. Unconscious biases can influence a manager’s perception and assessment of individual performance, leading to inconsistencies in the development support provided.

• Scaling Coaching Efforts: As teams grow, the workload associated with coaching and mentoring increases exponentially. This can make it difficult for managers to provide personalized support to each individual, potentially impacting the effectiveness of development initiatives.

• Receiving Timely and Constructive Feedback: Employees often crave regular feedback to understand their strengths and weaknesses and identify areas for improvement. However, due to managers’ time constraints and other challenges, feedback can be infrequent, delayed, or lack the specific details needed for effective development.

• Tracking Feedback and Action Items: Similar to managers, employees can struggle to keep track of the feedback they receive and the agreed-upon action items. Without a structured system, it can be difficult to monitor progress and ensure that feedback is being implemented. This can lead to frustration and a feeling that their development is not being prioritized.

• Access to Relevant Learning Resources: Employees may not have easy access to the training and learning resources they need to address identified development gaps. This can hinder their progress and limit the impact of coaching efforts.

• Feedback Tracking and Management: AI can automate the process of tracking feedback, action items, and progress. These platforms must provide a centralized repository for all feedback, making it easy for both managers and employees to monitor progress and ensure accountability. This helps in tracking feedback to closure.

• AI-Powered Content Creation: AI tools can assist in content creation, generating customized training materials, assessments, and micro learning modules quickly. This reduces the time and effort required by managers and L&D professionals to develop relevant learning content. The idea behind using AI is to create a continuous and predictable flow of content that makes learning a habit.

• Personalized Coaching Tasks: AI can understand the subject of the coaching session (example: Customer meet preparation) and help create tasks for the mentee. The coach can using this as a starting point and tailor it based on the mentee’s requirements.

Bsharp’s Converse shows how AI is transforming on-the-job learning. Converse addresses many of the challenges discussed above by providing an AI-driven platform that streamlines the coaching process. It offers features like:

• Structured Feedback and Action Planning: Converse provides a structured framework for giving and receiving feedback, ensuring that feedback is specific, actionable, and trackable. This helps in tracking feedback to closure.

• AI-based task creation: Coaches can leverage Converse’s AI engine to create new task when coaching someone. These tasks help the mentee navigate the feedback in a structured manner.

• Integrated Communication Tools: The platform includes built-in communication tools to facilitate ongoing dialogue and support between managers and employees.

• Coaching templates for the future: Administrators can create coaching templates that have worked well on the field. These templates can be used by different coaches.