Diary of a Business Roleplayer

Roleplay is an excellent tool organisations can exploit to measure and build upon their employees’ communication skills. Whether recruiting for sales reps, managers, coaches, leaders, doctors, lawyers – a well designed and delivered roleplay is an excellent way to pinpoint an individual’s strengths and weaknesses relative to the role.

One of the challenges I face as a roleplayer is the most common of all – the delegate’s Fear of Roleplay! The stakes can be high, particularly in the case of assessment centres. On several occasions, I have been referred to as Mr. “Come in Mr Smith!” they say – no issues about political correctness here – it’s just that, well, they have been told that I’m female before the meeting, and despite the occasional pair of trousers, quite clearly, I am. No prizes for guessing that another common sign of nerves is excessive talking – or the opposite – not knowing what to say. Aggression can be a sign of stress too. The thing is, there are many ways that stress manifests itself- we all react differently to different situations.

The job of a roleplayer is to facilitate the roleplay effectively. The delegate must have a proper and fair opportunity to demonstrate their skills, and the organisation needs enough evidence to accurately assess the delegate’s ability. This is achieved by carefully managing the mix of challenge and support, whilst delivering an authentic scenario. While all candidates experience a rush of adrenalin, some will suffer from an unhelpful amount of nerves which if allowed to, will have a negative effect on their performance.

For me as roleplayer, each scenario is a bit like driving a car that I’m not used to. I’m thinking, how hard can I push? Too much anxiety right now. I need to take my foot off the accelerator a bit, let them get comfortable. OK, they’re more relaxed now. Let’s try and take it up a gear. Yes, they are listening well. Can they deal with this new information? Not responding. Back off. I’ll come back to it again later. Are they picking up on my non-verbal clues? Yes! Good. Now they’re really beginning to work well with the content. I can push a little harder now. Let’s try the new information again. Ahah, they’ve got it. They’re using it to build their response. This is working. But what about this point – will they agree with me or challenge me? Can I push harder still? Strong response….

Roleplay over and we have gathered information that assesses the capability of the candidate, and the specific areas that need some work. I feedback to the observer, both subjectively – how the character felt as a result of the exchange, and objectively – what specific strengths were demonstrated and why some elements of the roleplay proved ineffective.

Roleplay, whatever the content, is an intense experience (both for the delegate, and the roleplayer!). It requires total concentration – mind, heart and body. It should be a positive experience for the delegate and for the organisation. Even if the exercise itself proves unsuccessful, a responsible organisation will always ensure that the delegate is supported by being offered constructive feedback about what they achieved well, and where they need to focus their development. At assessment centre, roleplay alongside other exercises, suitable to the role, allows the organisation to pretty accurately assess their level of risk associated with a particular individual and to arrange the right training to support the successful candidate.

Lucy Windsor, Partner, The Performance Business.