Summary:
The author of this article on Team Role Playing, Jeffrey Baumgartner, writes that role playing "is when a group of people act out roles for a particular scenario." He goes on to describe a simple role playing scenario about a salesman and a customer. In essence, the two sales trainees play the two roles. Baumgartner mentions that other people may watch the scenario in order to better understand also.
The article continues with Baumgartner's scenario of salesman and customer being put to groups of trainees. There are specific rules that are laid out before each group and eventually each group must make a decision about how to best "play out" the scenario. The author mentions that when a team member is trying to help the "actor" that it should not be discouraged because it could possibly lead to better solutions. He sums up his discussion about his scenario by showing how each scenario can become more and more complex by adding more specifics, forcing the "actors" to think more about how to reach the best outcome for their team.
Strengths:
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Analyzes problems from various perspectives
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Implements brainstorming methodology in simulations of real cases
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Tries various solutions in a case scenario
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dDevelops team-work, co-operation and creative problem solving in groups
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Exercises creative techniques in a risk-free environment
Link:
http://www.jpb.com/creative/roleplay.php
Posts
The author talks about letting other people watch the scenario to gain a better understanding of effective customer-salesman interaction/communication. Perhaps it would be wise to record the role-playing exercise so that the trainee can objectively look at their own performance prior to receiving feedback so they can evaluate what they thought worked, didn't work, etc...
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