How PMI turned feedback into a daily habit for managers worldwide with AI Avatar roleplays
Industry
Products Used
Philip Morris International (PMI) is a leading global tobacco and smoke-free product company, headquartered in Switzerland and operating across more than 180 markets. With a workforce of over 80,000 employees, PMI is undergoing one of the largest transformations in the consumer goods industry with a public commitment to move away from cigarettes and grow smoke-free products.
Backed by significant investment in R&D, digital innovation, and large-scale commercial execution, PMI operates at a level of complexity that spans global supply chains, regulatory environments, and multi-market product launches. As the organization accelerates its transition into a smoke-free future, it requires leadership capabilities that can navigate change, empower cross-functional teams, and sustain performance in a high-pressure, highly regulated environment.
Challenges
PMI had a solid leadership development foundation, including its global feedback model, AGA (Ask – Give – Act). But managers still struggled to use it in their day-to-day conversations. Many avoided difficult discussions, softened messages to prevent discomfort, or hesitated to address performance issues directly. Even experienced managers found it hard to deliver clear, timely feedback in high-pressure moments. The problem wasn’t knowledge- it was the lack of realistic practice and support.
Solution
PMI partnered with Coachello to embed feedback practice directly into managers’ daily workflow through AI Avatar Roleplays integrated inside Microsoft Teams. Managers received personalised practice journeys, trained with lifelike avatars that mirrored real workplace tension, and received instant debriefs mapped to the BOOST and BIFF models of feedback. PMI also introduced optional live meeting analysis, enabling managers to receive AI-driven feedback on how effectively they applied the feedback models in real 1:1 conversations. The impact was significant: managers progressed 10× faster than with traditional training, with 79% choosing to participate voluntarily, nearly 3× higher than typical corporate learning engagement. The program helped transform feedback into a regular, measurable practice for managers at scale, while giving PMI clear insights into where capabilities varied across countries and populations, strengthening their overall talent strategy.
Results
- +15% improvement in feedback skills vs. traditional learning
- 79% Voluntary engagement
- 60%+ Sessions with video avatars and increased emotional engagement and memory.
- 4.6 / 5 Satisfaction score
The AI Avatars gave our managers something we couldn’t scale with traditional training: a safe, realistic space to try, fail, and try again with real feedback conversations.
Challenges
- A Feedback Model that wasn’t embedding into daily practice: PMI had a strong leadership foundation supported by its global AGA (Ask – Give – Act) process and the BOOST and BIFF feedback models. But while managers understood the framework, they struggled to use it in real conversations. Difficult discussions were often avoided or softened, and performance issues went unaddressed. The challenge wasn’t knowledge — it was translating the model into confident, consistent behaviour.
- Feedback Behaviours that couldn’t scale across a Global workforce: Across teams and markets, managers experienced consistent challenges: Managers rarely used the model in real conversations, feedback remained occasional and uncomfortable and traditional trainings were hard to scale across countries, languages and time zones. Even seasoned managers found it hard to deliver timely feedback under pressure. What was missing was practice- realistic, repeated, and accessible.
- A Strategic Challenge: Turning Theory Into Real Capability at Scale. For PMI’s Global Talent team, the question became how to help thousands of managers practise, not just learn – feedback conversations. Workshops alone couldn’t create lasting behaviour change, and managers lacked a safe, realistic environment to build confidence. This led to the core people challenge:
How do we help thousands of managers practise feedback conversations — not just learn the theory?
Solutions
1.Embedding Feedback Practice Into the Flow of Work
To address the need for daily, scalable reinforcement, PMI partnered with Coachello to integrate AI Avatar Roleplays directly inside Microsoft Teams—the platform managers already used. This made practice effortless: available 24/7, no additional logins, and no classroom sessions required. Coachello introduced AI-powered avatars trained on the exact situations PMI managers struggled with: unclear ownership, underperformance, and tough feedback moments. The goal was to make learning continuous and integrated into daily routines rather than isolated in the classroom.
These simulations were built to reinforce structured feedback models like BOOST and BIFF, allowing managers to practise applying these frameworks in scenarios that felt emotionally and contextually real.
The avatars responded with natural emotion and adaptive behaviour, recreating the discomfort of real conversations and ensuring leaders have a safe space to practice leadership moments.
Together, these simulations gave managers a realistic, low-risk environment to build feedback capability and turn challenging conversations into a skill they could practise and refine over time.
2. Personalised, Realistic Practice Journeys with AI Avatar Role-Plays
Managers began with a short reflective assessment with personalised practice journeys reflecting their real-world challenges, from team performance to workload distribution, conflict, and career development. Each journey included lifelike AI avatar conversations that pushed back, expressed emotion, and recreated the tension of genuine workplace scenarios. This environment allowed managers to rehearse difficult conversations safely and repeatedly.
After each session, managers received a detailed report and scorecard outlining what they did well, what they could improve, and concrete suggestions for phrasing or behaviour — all mapped directly to PMI’s AGA (Ask – Give – Act) model. Further to this, the learner can deep dive into the report with an AI debrief and subsequently create a PDP to improve on their identified gaps.
This made practice a habit, not a one-time event.
3. Reinforcement Through Structured Feedback and Real-Meeting Insights
To strengthen real-world application, PMI enabled Coachello’s optional live meeting analysis feature. Managers could simply invite the Coachello AI Agent to their meetings to obtain transcripts from actual 1:1s, and the AI then analysed how effectively they applied the learnings in reality. This closed the gap between practice and real conversations, offering highly targeted, ongoing development.
Together, these solutions created a repeatable system for building feedback capability at scale—helping managers progress 10× faster than with traditional training
With Coachello
For Global Talent leaders, the PMI experience highlights what becomes possible when feedback development moves beyond workshops and into everyday practice. By giving managers a realistic, risk-free space to “try, fail, and try again,” PMI shifted from simply teaching a feedback model to enabling thousands of leaders to regularly practise real, tough conversations. The AI avatars mirrored authentic workplace dynamics, helping managers build the confidence to initiate difficult discussions back on the job. Because the solution aligned with PMI’s existing frameworks, required no additional sessions, and scaled 24/7 across countries and languages, it delivered hyper-personalised coaching at a level traditional programs cannot match. It also gave Global Talent new insights into where managers struggle most—by country, population, or topic, shaping future talent strategy. The initiative delivered measurable results, including a 15% improvement in feedback capability, high satisfaction (4.5/5), and strong engagement across global teams. Ultimately, the Feedback for Growth program transformed feedback from a rare, stressful event into a measurable habit that managers practise, refine, and improve at scale.
Enter your email to receive the full case study
Unlock the Power of Coaching
Enhance leadership, boost performance, and drive growth with AI-powered and human-led coaching.
Enter your email and we’ll send you the brochure