Our Client was conducting a seminar for people within a particular industry. The makeup of the participants was such that they were, to some extent, competitors with each other. Therefore, it was anticipated that they might be less than forthcoming in openly discussing issues affecting the effective operation of their organisations. However, it was critical to the success of the seminar that participants would engage honestly, candidly and sincerely with the subject matter.

We were asked to design and deliver a creative solution which would provide a catalyst for candid disclosure and ideation within the room.

We worked closely with the client to author carefully scripted scenes which illustrated typical situations which arise within the industry. Our actors played out those scenes and invited the seminar participants to comment on the degree to which the situations were being handled skilfully. Using this device allowed programme participants to discuss the situations (and possible methods of dealing with them) in a ‘real but safe’ way. This resulted not only in valuable discussion about the subject matter but it also engendered a sense of safety within the room which, ultimately, resulted in participants sharing real-life experiences with each other and, therefore, enhancing the seminar’s value.

Our client was running a ‘courageous conversations’ workshop for (relatively inexperienced) employees. It was felt that participants would find it too stressful to themselves engage with actors in role-play.

The solution was to use a derivative of ‘Forum Theatre’. Rather than critiquing the skills demonstrated by each other in role-play with an actor, we got actors to play out an interaction (neither perfectly nor terribly!) and invited the participants to critique the effectiveness of the conversation and (more importantly) to identify improvements which the parties in the interactions could implement so as to produce better outcomes.

The actors then re-played the interaction – but, this time, including the participants’ improvement recommendations. Again, the participants were asked to critique the effectiveness of the ‘amended’ version and to suggest further improvements (which were, again, played out by the actors).

This process was repeated across a number of different scenarios within the workshop.

Aside from providing quasi-experiential learning for the participants and allowing them to experiment with alternative approaches, it also demonstrated them that role-play is not a ‘catch them doing something wrong’ exercise but, rather, is a safe process within which alternatives can be tested. This resulted in an increase in the confidence of those participants so that, in a subsequent workshop, they willingly engaged 1-1 with actors in role-play.

Feedback from participants in this programme included: “This workshop gave me a much better understanding of people and how to better deal with situations.”; “It helped me to think about different ways to handle situations.”; “I learned that small things make a big impact.”; “I found this workshop useful because it helped me understand better and healthier ways to deal with conflict. It also gave me more options to deal with problems.”; “Gave us an insight to different difficult situations in a fun way by using actors – hence, making the workshop more memorable.”.

Our Client included “corrective feedback” in the curriculum for one of its professional diplomas. As part of the overall grading system, the client wished to assess the degree to which students were able to apply ‘best practice’ and demonstrate empathy in relevant situations.

In collaboration with the client, we authored relevant, realistic scenarios. Each student engaged 1- to-1 with an actor to role-play three scenarios, the interactions were recorded and subsequently graded by the programme director.

The client’s satisfaction with the process was such that this method of assessment became an integral part of the diploma’s method for 8 years. Despite the anticipated/normal nervousness associated with ‘live’ assessment, student feedback was extremely positive and included: “It brought a real-life edge to it. It has given me increased confidence in my abilities.”; “The fact that I did not know the actor made the experience & the value of the experience authentic.”; “They made it a very effective learning experience.”; “Having actors made the role-plays very real and more similar to real life experiences.”; “The feedback from them about how my approach made them feel was very beneficial.”.

Our Client was hiring for the position of General Manager. A key responsibility for the new GM was to install greater levels of rigour in people management within the organisation. It was desirable that the new GM would do this through the demonstration of strong leadership and coaching skills.

The interview panel wanted to gain maximum insights into the short-listed candidates’ competence (to an extent greater than simply asking the short-listed candidates to talk about how they would approach the situation).
Working closely with the interview panel, we authored a typical coaching conversation which the new GM would likely have with one of their new direct reports. Candidates were required to roleplay this coaching conversation in real time with an actor while observed by the interview panel.

The outcome was valued by the client because it gave them greater confidence in their hiring decision (by both confirming and challenging impressions gained during earlier stages of the hiring process).

Our client wished to maximise its students’ success rate when interviewing with external organisations for work placements.

The client’s objective was that students’ competence and confidence both be enhanced – and their view was that increased confidence would be best achieved through increasing the students’ preparedness.

In tandem with the client, we designed a ‘taught’ module which provided the students with relevant knowledge and frameworks for preparation prior to interview and conducting themselves during interviews (to portray the best version of themselves).

We researched the format and content of typical placement interviews and devised role-play scenarios which were a close match to the real-life interviews in which the students would engage.

The learning session was delivered in two stages: a) delivering the ‘taught’ element and b) a ‘rehearsal’ element (approximately one week later) during which each student engaged in 1-to-1 role-play with an actor (playing the role of the ‘interviewer’) and received development feedback.

Feedback from students included: “Allowed us to see real examples and adapt our own process based on feedback.”; “[The actor] really made it feel like a real interview and his feedback was great.”; “Taught me to be more confident and the skills I need to do an interview. Made me think of an interview in a different way.”; “It offered a practical learning experience – not just theory – it showed real examples.”; “I learned that I know more than I think and I learned that I need to change a few things.”; “Helped me see what areas I could improve on to help me do a better interview.”; “It made me understand how to conduct myself in an interview and it reminded me to prepare well before the real interview.”; “It was the best preparation possible. Will really help with my nerves. Thank you.”.

A significant portion of each student’s grade attained on this post-graduate degree derives from credits gained from group projects.

Historically, students were observed to be under-equipped to deal with the inevitable challenges and tensions which arise within teams. This had a detrimental effect on the grades students received from their group work.

We designed a half-day workshop which: a) informed the students about ‘best practice’ processes and skills which are evident within high-performing teams; and b) provided them with an opportunity to apply those skills by practising the ‘difficult’ conversations which occur within effective teams (via role-play with actors).

Feedback from students included: “Applied the theory to a real life situation which facilitated a fuller understanding of the theory for me.”; “It is something I will never forget. How simple the workshop was and yet how impactful this was.”; “It showed me a real life situation where everything I learned today could be implemented.”; “It allowed me to view situations in a real setting and to understand how various approaches to conversations can lead to such different outcomes.”; “This is one of the best workshops I’ve ever attended in the Masters or my Undergraduate degree. I’ve never felt so comfortable engaging and talking in front of my peers.”; “The use of actors definitely helped as it felt more informal than a lecture but was full of learning opportunities.”.