The name of this blog comes from our mission at INFLUENCE: “To empower people with clarity and confidence.”
Our objective is to provide brief but meaningful topics (under 500 words) that inspire, educate and empower leaders through resources both inside and outside of INFLUENCE. This week’s edition is provided by David Salmons.
Here’s a quick leadership development tip.
As you train and mentor new leaders on your team, remember that one of the sometimes overlooked options for building poise and capacity in new leaders is role-playing. While some view this as overly simplistic, role-playing can build a healthy confidence in leaders who, new to their roles, may be facing complex leadership situations for the first time.
If you think your team can benefit from role-playing, here are some keys to role-playing effectiveness:
- Frame role-playing scenarios around real-life situations as much as possible. That’s because un-real situations leave role-players without sufficient context to create the necessary tension that needs resolved.
- Prior to role-playing, as a mentor or coach, clearly identify the problem being role-played, and a real solution from your perspective. Realize however that role-playing individuals may approach the situation differently than you, and depending on the situation, that may be OK as long as they come up with effective solutions.
- Be detailed in establishing the scenario. Make sure your details are genuine examples that would realistically occur in the scenario being roleplayed.
- Assign roles with clear objectives. While two individuals are often sufficient for role-playing, consider having at least one more individual as an observer. Observers often provide important feedback that inward-focused role-players miss, like, “Did you know you were squinting the entire time?”
- Act out the scenario. Provide a timeframe – for example, twenty minutes – and make sure the role-playing stays on track and keeps moving forward. Don’t be afraid to redirect as necessary should scenarios go off the rails or role-players appear confused.
- Debrief. Ask open-ended questions like, “What was your experience?” “What did you learn?” and “What could you have done better?” Then share your perspective, offering practical feedback that benefits each role-player.
In summary, role-playing can build situational awareness, poise, and capacity. For leaders new to an organization or new to a set of responsibilities, it can be extremely helpful. Rarely is confidence built better than with experienced coaching around challenging scenarios that produce practiced success.