SIMmersion: Simulating Crucial Conversations

This case introduces readers to SIMmersion, a company founded in 2002 that creates and sells training programs to firms, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals (B2B and B2C). Their training programs are built around simulations (“sims”) that allow human trainees to talk to simulated people—characters designed by SIMmersion in partnership with their clients to closely resemble real people. These characters are portrayed by human actors (recorded on video), who deliver conversational turns as conversation partners would in real life. This approach allows people to practice communicating in familiar and unfamiliar contexts, with familiar and unfamiliar people, on familiar and unfamiliar topics—and to receive detailed feedback about their performance. This case allows instructors to ask students to reflect and make decisions from two perspectives: 1) as leaders of SIMmersion, and 2) as humans navigating crucial conversations every day across a wide array of contexts (such as job interviews, healthcare diagnostics, therapy, and crisis counseling).