Anna Hollmén
Share this post
The Challenge
Valio is one of Finland’s most recognized consumer brands and a cornerstone of Finnish food production. With a large workforce across production and operations, leadership plays a critical role in ensuring both operational excellence and a strong employee experience.
In a modern production environment, supervisors face demanding everyday situations: giving feedback, addressing performance concerns, motivating teams, and handling challenging conversations. Valio wanted to explore new, modern ways to strengthen leadership capabilities and support supervisors in these real-life situations—while ensuring the organization continues to be a great place to work.
Solution
In collaboration with LessonLab, Valio launched a pilot to explore how AI-powered simulations could support leadership development.
Together, we modeled typical leadership scenarios that supervisors encounter in their daily work. Based on these situations, a tailored simulation was developed to fit Valio’s context and needs. In the simulation, AI acts as a sparring partner, allowing supervisors to practice different leadership conversations in a safe and controlled environment.
The tool provides realistic interaction and immediate feedback, enabling participants to reflect on their approach and refine their communication in real time.
The Impact
The pilot experience has been highly positive. Participants described the interaction as realistic and engaging, and they appreciated the quality of the feedback provided by the AI. The simulation format was seen as a practical and effective way to practice demanding conversations without real-world risk.
Supervisors experienced the tool as genuinely useful in supporting their everyday leadership work, and the pilot has provided valuable insights for further development.
More information about the next steps of the collaboration will follow as the initiative progresses.
For more information:
Valio
Hanna Kangas, Learning & Development Manager
Sarita Sahlström, HR Development Manager
Salla Nummela, HR Development Manager
