How Role Playing Can aid With Team Building.



Posted: Thursday, February 26, 2009

by
http://www.chillisauce.co.uk

Role-playing scenarios can go wrong and an otherwise helpful scenario can end up becoming an awkward skit. Even worse, a badly executed role-play event could actually be detrimental to the confidence of the groups.

How Role Playing Scenarios Go Wrong

One of the major reasons why role-plays don't work out is because of the spirit or emotional state of the workers. What you should first realize is that many people are very nervous at the prospect of performing in front of other workers. Statistically speaking, more workers are afraid of speaking before a large group than they are of death! Not only should players contend with their doubts, but they also may have had or heard of some bad experiences with these kinds of events. You as the trainer or supervisor should take steps to eliminate the doubts of your workers. The participants should be more motivated on the project purpose itself and not so unduly concerned about how they appear to others.

What might aid is to be very clear in your presentation about what the purpose of the role playing activity represents. The more intricate the scenario the less entertaining it can probably be. If you hold off until one final "show" then naturally everyone will be terrified of performing. However, holding several role-playing scenarios does well to demystify the experience, so that everyone wants to try the event. Feel free to break down intricate scenarios into more than one role-playing event. There's no need to save time, if it's going to cause more confusion. You're not working with thespians here!

Tips on Conducting Role-Playing Activities

Usually role-playing scenarios don't go well when one or more workers don't know what they're supposed to be doing. Just because they may have a general suggestion from the team leader, doesn't mean they have enough to work with. These are not actors who can be given a situation and run with it—most workers will do exactly what you will and wait for more advice. Give each participant as much advice as they will need. Too little will leave a player scratching their head, while too much will be forgotten. Simplicity is the key here.

You might also allow your workers to solicit assistance from other team members or to push a sort of "pause" button whenever they are stumped with a scenario. Remember that role-playing is largely a group event and should not be considered a true performance, as if there was a way to fail this audition. It is for the benefit of all involved. Leaving the scenario open to thoughts lets everyone feel part of the process, and can possibly ease some of the anxiety of participating in more scenarios to come. (If everyone else has tried it...I guess I should too!)

Role-playing is an effective practice that can aid build a team and teach new workers about thecompany. It merely requires that you as the team supervisor, guide new workers through the process.

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