Geschreven door Thomas Verdoes | May 24, 2017
Video role-playing makes training soft skills a lot more efficient and flexible. However, as with live role plays, it is essential to make them both realistic and effective. This starts with writing a high quality script. Based on our experiences, we are giving you 5 tips for the perfect script!
1. Provide a focused and reviewable assignment
Before a trainee participates in a role play, it is essential that the assignment is clear to them. The training situation must be recognizable to the participant so that they are able to apply the newly learned skill in practice effortlessly. Let’s look at these three examples:
A) You are a Sales Manager engaged in a conversation with customer Bob, who changes his mind about his previous buying intention. Find out the reason.
B) Your prospect, Emma, gives a buy signal. Respond with the OPS method.
C)The company you work for is facing economic difficulties, which has been accompanied with layoffs and a negative atmosphere. It’s even more important that you contribute to the revenue from a commercial responsibility. In this case, you are discussing a possible sales opportunity with one of your relationships. Good luck!
The advantage of online video role plays is that you can focus on one specific task ("Find out" in A and "OPS method" in B) and it enables literal prompting through an autocue. Such a clear frame of reference also provides more room for self-reflection and feedback from colleagues or the manager. With a broad assignment as in example C, the participant may show his natural behavior (which can be interesting in a test or intake), but there is no frame for an objective review.
2. Immerse people in the situation
A situation description should not cause any doubts about the context and the role of the trainee. Being brief and factual is key. A wall of text and a lot of context variables (as in example C above) are distracting and invite the participant to start fantasizing. It usually works better to give a specific description of the conversation (as in A).
3. Base situations on practical experience
A training agency trains the sales staff of a pension fund. They must link an unpopular message ("the premium will be increased") to signing new contracts with customers. The trainer collects difficult reactions from employees, so the trainees are involved. Then, the reactions are recorded and offered online as training material. This results in a high level of recognition and motivation.
4. Work with follow-up assignments
In order to make your role plays more engaging, you could dedicate multiple role plays to the same case. An advantage of this is that the participants get a better feeling of the situation and the character, because they have encountered these before. As a result, the role play feels more real. For example, think of a sales call with a prospect, followed by a relationship management conversation with the same person who has become a customer later on.
5. Think outside the box
Training has to be educational, but the fun-factor also has a big impact. Try to be creative and surprise the participant! You can do this by making situations less static. After multiple pitches to a manager, make the participant pitch to some friends or family member at an informal party. And what about a client who isn’t facing you from across his desk, but is skyping from a white beach in Thailand?
More tips about video training can be found in our free e-book!