I said it. No one wants to participate in role play exercises. In fact, I think the only people who actually like role plays are old school instructional designers I try to avoid them when I design and far too many HR pros.
Sure, people suggest role plays all the time. But recommending a role play and raising your hand to actually do the role play are two totally different things.
And, once you get the volunteers, they inevitably mumble and bumble their way through the exercise — always in a hurry to get back to their seat.
Or, they take it totally over-the-top to make it as entertaining as possible. Either way, the point of the role play is almost always lost to the bumbling or over-acting. You spend most of the debrief explaining what should have happened, so really…what have you accomplished? The trainer can walk around, monitor progress and answer questions. Or take a typical role play scenario and write it up as a case study for small groups to discuss.
Participants are happy to discuss problems and case studies in small groups. And they will even select a spokesperson who will report out to the group. Trust me on this one. Your participants will thank you for it. And they will still actually learn something along the way. Managers Should Encourage Employee Development. I find role playing can be very effective, especially if you know your audience. That exception being in sales training.
