Underperformance compounds
Vague feedback and delayed accountability let preventable problems continue.
Leadership capability that shows up at work
Build leaders who can handle the moments performance depends on.
Unresolved underperformance, conflict, and stalled change carry a real business cost. Practice Ground helps leaders build the behaviors to address them, then gives organizations evidence of capability and progress.
Practice grounded in real leadership moments Behavioral evidence, not generic advice Individual growth + organizational intelligence
Your direct report
Jordan Reed
Live
“
I’m surprised to hear this now. I thought the launch went pretty well, considering everything the team was dealing with.
Listening to your response…
Assessment completeYour opening created space for candor.
Your coach is ready to examine what happened next.
82
ScenarioThe missed commitment
Practice moments like
Give difficult feedbackAddress underperformanceNavigate team conflictLead through changeCoach a high performerPush back with candor
6leadership competencies
60+ yearsof behavioral measurement lineage
SOC 2 Type IIreport available through Virbela
The business problem
The conversations leaders avoid become the problems organizations pay for.
Most organizations can see whether leaders completed a program. They cannot see whether those leaders can act effectively when performance, trust, or execution is on the line.
Good people disengage
Poorly handled conflict, coaching, and change erode trust and increase avoidable turnover risk.
Strategy stalls in conversation
Execution depends on leaders securing clarity, commitment, and candor across the organization.
Practice Ground closes the visibility gap
Give leaders a safe place to practice before the real moment, and give the organization structured evidence to target development and track improvement.
See the practice loopFrom knowing to doing
Leadership isn’t learned by watching.
Most leadership development stops at insight. Practice Ground turns frameworks into behavior through realistic conversations, immediate feedback, and another chance to try.
Understand the concept
- 01 Watch an expert explain the framework
- 02 Discuss what a good leader might do
- 03 Hope it transfers under pressure
Build the behavior
- Step into a consequential moment
- Respond naturally in your own voice
- Get feedback and practice again
A complete leadership practice loop
Three specialized systems. One continuous experience.
Roleplay, assessment, and coaching are different jobs. Practice Ground gives each one a system designed for the task.
SYSTEM 01
RoleplayPractice the moment
Speak naturally with an adaptive AI counterpart that stays in character and responds to what you actually say.
ProducesConversation + transcript
SYSTEM 02
AssessmentExamine the behavior
A separate assessment engine analyzes the completed transcript against scenario-specific behavioral criteria.
ProducesEvidence + development priorities
SYSTEM 03
CoachingCoach the next move
A dedicated AI coach uses the full transcript and structured assessment to guide reflection and rehearse a stronger response.
ProducesInsight + the next rep
Why the separation matters
The roleplay stays in character. The assessment judges evidence. The coach helps the learner make sense of it and act on it.
Behavior you can develop
Feedback specific enough to change what happens next.
Practice Ground turns the transcript into evidence. Leaders see the moments that strengthened the conversation, what limited the outcome, and a stronger move they can practice next.
- Competency-aligned behavioral feedback
- Coaching grounded in the full transcript and assessment
- Learner and facilitator views built for development
Practice report
The Valued Contributor
L1Foundational
Signature moment
Holding both frames under pressure
You acknowledged the contribution, but the accountability frame collapsed when resistance increased.
Specific acknowledgmentStrong
Redirects after the pivotPartial
Specific commitmentMissed
A stronger move sounds like
“The optimization mattered, and it does not close the conduct conversation.”
Organizational intelligence
See the leadership capability behind the completion rate.
Turn structured simulation results into cohort-level insight. See where capability is strong, where leaders struggle under pressure, and how performance changes over time, without turning private practice into surveillance.
Diagnose behavioral gaps
Move beyond attendance and satisfaction to the observable moves leaders make.
Target development
Focus programs, scenarios, and coaching on the moments that matter most.
Demonstrate progress
Track change across comparable practice without reducing people to a leaderboard.
All cohortsManagement levelAll functionsJan–Jun 2026
Cohort readiness72%Across comparable scenarios
Leaders assessed1484 participating cohorts
Strongest competencyJudgmentConsistent behavioral evidence
Priority areaIntegrity &
AccountabilityDevelopment opportunity
AccountabilityDevelopment opportunity
Competency distribution
ReadinessJudgment84%
Communication78%
Interpersonal effectiveness73%
Coaching & development69%
Learning agility66%
Integrity & accountability58%
Moments requiring attention
Cohort pattern- 01Holding standards under resistanceAppears in 42% of relevant simulations
- 02Securing a specific commitmentAppears in 37% of relevant simulations
- 03Exploring before moving to solutionsAppears in 31% of relevant simulations
Comparable scenario progress+14 pts
Average readiness across four practice rounds
Development, not surveillance
Organizations receive structured capability insights and program-level trends. Access to individual reports, transcripts, or coaching data is governed by the program design and clearly disclosed to participants.
The science beneath the practice
Established methods. A novel application. Clear claims.
Practice Ground draws on six decades of behaviorally anchored rating scales, structured behavioral observation, assessment centers, role play, and situational judgment research.
We are equally clear about the frontier: using AI to score open-ended leadership conversations is a new operationalization that requires ongoing reliability, fairness, and validity work.
Research lineage
Virbela began in a UC San Diego research lab with a GMAC-funded global business simulation. Its founders later published the virtual assessment center as a proof of concept in the Consulting Psychology Journal.
Built around your standards
Your competencies. Your language. Your consequential moments.
Enterprise trust
Visit Trust Center Security teams should not have to take our word for it.
Virbela’s SOC 2 Type II report and supporting security documentation are available through the Trust Center.
Ideas for better practice
Explore the Virbela blog Leadership development, examined.
New whitepaper
From Leadership Theory to Observable Behavior
The empirical foundations and validation agenda for AI-powered leadership simulations.
Download the whitepaper ↓MeasurementMeasure leadership skills before they become business problems
Move from participation metrics to observable behavior.
Read article →Manager developmentSeven conversations every new manager needs to practice
A practical agenda for first-time leader development.
Read article →Better conversations start with practice
Develop every leader. Understand the capability of the organization.
See how Practice Ground combines realistic practice, behavior-based assessment, evidence-grounded coaching, and cohort-level intelligence.