Many management and skill trainers incorporate role plays into their curriculum. The typical response of most training participants is resistance to role playing. They moan and groan, while thinking of all sorts of reasons to skip the session.
There are, however, numerous benefits to be gained from participating in a role play. It is up to the trainer to make sure that happens. Following are guidelines for the trainer to develop the learning situation, and to provide meaningful feedback.
Determine the Skills to be Practiced in the Role Play
Role play situations are usually developed as practice for the theory that has been presented. There are several steps to take to make sure the role playing will flow naturally from a lecture and/or discussion about the topic of the training.
- Identify the skill to be practiced. This is often a communication skill such as instructing, listening to staff, interviewing, or facilitating a meeting.
- Based on the learning points, break down the skill into its key elements. For example, conducting an effective job interview is broken down into these steps: putting the interviewee at ease, giving an overview of the job, reviewing the interviewee’s skills and experience with the job requirements, asking for a response to hypothetical situations, and checking to see if the interviewee has any other questions about the job.
- Identify the success indicators. List what the role player must do in order to demonstrate proficiency.
Develop the Role Play Scenario
The trainer decides whether she will provide a structured role play scenario or allow an unstructured situation.
- Structured role play. The trainer sets the scene and determines the roles to be played. For example, one participant is a manager who is instructing a new employee on dealing with a customer complaint.
- Unstructured role play. The trainer will provide only a framework such as ‘a situation wherein a manager is communicating something to one of his staff ’, often suggesting that they draw on a recent experience. It is then up to the participants to decide on the details of a situation.
Logistics of Role Playing in Training Room
The trainer will decide whether to have one role play scenario at a time in front of the entire group which might be 20-30 participants or to divide into small groups. There are several factors to consider when making this decision.
- Overall size and tone of the group. A noisy group of even 12-15 is best broken into two or three small groups.
- Space available. If there is not space for small groups to separate from each other and not be disrupted, it is better to keep everyone together.
- Skill to be practiced. If the skills are ones that everyone in the room needs to learn, then small groups will allow each participant an opportunity to practice.
- Feedback process. Feedback is usually just given by participants who observe the role play. However, as a more complete learning tool, a video taped role play allows for more specific feedback when it is replayed for everyone to critique.
The trainer has to be very clear with instructions and expectations for role playing as there is often resistance which means the participants are not listening well. It is useful to distribute a handout with the process or write the key steps on a flip chart or white board, whether the participants are staying together or splitting in smaller groups.
These directions include the following points.
- The purpose is for the role players to be able to practice what they have just learned, receive feedback on how well they did, and be offered suggestions for improvement.
- Two participants volunteer to practice the skill through role play.
- Other participants are observers who are to take notes based on the learning points and success indicators that were discussed in the first part of the training session.
- The two role players take just a couple of minutes to organize the scenario and the roles they will play.
- The actual role play will last no longer than 10 minutes.
Give Meaningful Feedback After the Role Play
If the role playing takes place with the one large group, the trainer facilitates the feedback session. If there are several smaller groups, the trainer gives participants guidelines for feedback and floats among the groups to make sure the feedback is pertinent and useful.
- Focus the feedback on the effectiveness of the participant who was practicing the particular skills.
- If using a video tape, play at least part of it first.
- Begin the feedback discussion by asking that participant how he felt he did. That way, if he did not do well, he has the first opportunity to critique himself. He might say something like, ‘I knew I shouldn’t have started out so aggressively’, or whatever the situation was.
- Move to observer feedback on what skills were demonstrated well. This includes what was said, how it was said, tone voice, and body language.
- Next, identify areas for improvement.
- Make specific suggestions on how improvements could be made.
- End on a positive note, reinforcing what went well in the role play.
Involve All Participants in the Role Playing
If it is an important skill for all the participants to have, it is best to find enough time for each person to be able to practice. If time is short, the trainer can make sure that the groups are small enough that everyone can have a turn at practicing the skills.
It is up to the trainer to set the scene and talk about benefits to overcome any resistance to role playing. Even the most reluctant participants will usually take their turn at role playing once they see that it is a safe environment. They will appreciate have an opportunity to practice a new or improved skill when they know they will receive relevant feedback that is presented in a positive, supportive manner.
Constance Woloschuk - 30 years experience in management and organizational development; extensive volunteer work with faith-based organizations.
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