The Technical Leadership Program is the result of a unique partnership between the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER) and the IEDC-Bled School of Management. This intensive program is aimed at graduates in STEM fields with relevant professional experience who want to advance their careers as business leaders in areas such as IT, manufacturing, technology or R&D.

As part of the program, participants attend a two-day Project Management course that provides in-depth training in the knowledge and skills required for successful project management. Participants — primarily managers from a range of industries, including manufacturing, IT, gaming and start—ups – took part in a session exploring the practical and theoretical dimensions of communicating with project teams and stakeholders.

The session involved the use of Taito Communication, a simulation tool developed by LessonLab that supported the exploration of team communication strategies and the concept of resilience and its defining characteristics. Participants started the simulation on their laptops, and what began as a moment of focused silence quickly evolved into laughter, engagement and discussion.

Participants compared their communication efficiency with three different approaches: writing emails manually, using generative AI tools and a hybrid method where initial drafts were refined with AI support. The feedback was very positive — participants appreciated the objective metrics that the simulation provided, particularly to understand how their communication style fits with different personality types in a team environment.

Overall, the session was rated as insightful and useful. Participants took away how to improve their communication strategies and an awareness of how digital tools such as generative AI can support, but not replace, the human element of communication.

As a lecturer, I was particularly interested in how actively the experienced managers engaged with this simulation tool and that some of them unsuccessfully tried to trick it, which added to the interaction and fun of the session. The combination of simulated business communication, AI-powered writing and live feedback created a supportive environment for reflection and learning.

Professor Željka Car

University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing