Using Roleplay To Achieve Business Goals

Communication is what keeps the world turning. These are the skills necessary for anyone to succeed in any field. Humans are social creatures and no matter the degree of introvert tendencies one might possess, there is always a certain inclination towards cooperation with other people. And no one is immune to it, whether it be a supervisor, trainer or a mentor, learning these skills provides everyone with a strong foundation to achieve future career and personal goals. As with anything that is worth our while, learning and internalizing these skills takes time and effort. Improved communication skills give the confidence and knowledge to excel in any workplace, seek out and perform well in job interviews and social occasions. In this article, we will go over the key points in using roleplay to bolster various aspects of communication within a working environment.

The roleplay method

Role-playing is a great method to implement an effective hands-on training system for newcomers and long-term staff as well. The basic role, if you will, of roleplaying is that it reinforces good over bad practices and helps employees anticipate different situations by being so proficient in their craft that they can be confidently proactive. They say that you have a firm grasp of a matter only when you are able to clearly explain it to someone else in a couple of sentences. If you need to go into elaborate essays in order to prove a point, you do not understand the subject intimately. Roleplaying is an excellent way to solidify knowledge and belief about your product, service, business processes and safety regulations. It allows everyone involved to examine and tear apart all of the above and gain thorough knowledge and understanding why it is the way it is. In the end, the goal is for all teams to be prepared for anything.

The benefits

We have mentioned that there are a lot of benefits of roleplaying methods, so let’s list a few. Roleplaying builds confidence. There is no better way to build confidence in what you are doing than by actually doing it. Any number of different situations and scenarios can be thrown at your teams. Each time they rehearse or come up with new, more efficient ways of doing things, the better, more productive and self-satisfied they become. Developing listening skills is another benefit. Roleplaying relies on communication, both verbal and non-verbal. Body language and non-verbal cues are an essential component in any interpersonal communication, much more than we initially realize. It is for the best for your teams to learn these skills in their roleplaying scenarios and exercises than when it actually matters out there in the field. Finally, roleplaying encourages creative, out of the box thinking and problem-solving skills. The beauty of it is that for all situations and scenarios imaginable, you can create a controlled environment in which everyone can practice and learn how to deal with a set of problems. Difficult situations can be rehearsed over and over again until a satisfying degree of competency is met, without the dangers associated with uncontrolled environments. Roleplay service providers like Roleplay Australia, for example, know all there is about making safe environments where knowledge and experience can be built upon.

The how-to

Some organizations like to do it themselves while others hire professional facilitators for optimal effectiveness. No matter your choice, there are several commonalities that can always be observed for achieving the most out of your roleplaying projects. First of all, is to use actual locations to make roleplaying as realistic as possible. As long as it is in a controlled environment, that is. Putting participants in the actual, physical location would allow them to experience the scenarios you are trying to replicate more realistically. It can be a warehouse, a workshop, boardroom or an office environment. All environments have their own purposes, so try and keep it relevant. Making video recordings of your roleplaying projects is also a great idea for future reference. It allows people, both participating and those that are not, to view the project from a different point of view and gain further insight. Any oversights can easily be spotted and corrected in the future. It also allows everyone to record improvement and progress. You can imitate real-world challenges. One of the main points of the entire subject is to give employees the knowledge and the opportunity to come up with an answer to a problem on their own. Make the goal of all your roleplaying projects for the employees to determine the best solution themselves. Finally, you can always hire professional consultants and actors. Professionals can bring the entire project to new heights by providing specialized training that your teams need and deserve.

Keep in mind these best practices and you will get the most out of your roleplaying projects. The rules are pretty simple: make it a focused effort where objectives must be clear and understood by all. The main component is to allow everyone to come up with their own solutions which can often be very insightful and creative.