In Agent Provocateur Role-Plays® (APRPs), the participants (staff, students, etc) practice using a set of particular communication strategies, techniques and skills ’under fire’ in a simulated real-world environment. The aim is for them to become proficient in using them so they can successfully handle some particular interactions with other people after they leave the training environment.
The teacher, trainer or facilitator (and not participants) takes the role of the person with whom the participants have to interact in the real world. This means that the participants only take the role of themselves.
APRPs are more realistic, more pragmatic and more engaging than traditional types of role-plays and more beneficial to the participants. They are more correctly called behaviour-rehearsals because they’re all about the participants rehearsing, practicing and demonstrating the delivery of a set of strategies in simulated, real-world conditions.
The teacher, trainer, facilitator, educator, etc, …
Gathers Real Life Scenarios, warts and all, from the real world of the participants and accepts them for what they are no matter how different they are from their own experiences.
Reminds the participants about the strategies, techniques and skills to be practised, and discusses the process and makes contracts and rules about language, time-outs, etc.
Describes a Real Life Scenario™ so that it’s interesting and engaging.
Engages each participant in one-on-one role-plays. The participant acts as themselves in the manner that they need to in the real world. The teacher takes the other role as is required and, therefore, might be required to be polite but might also be required to be inconsiderate, brash, unkind, rude, sarcastic, etc. They might play the part of, for example, a spouse, neighbour, friend, difficult customer, lazy coworker, drunk driver, bully, etc.
Monitors the level of skill of each participant and tailors each role-play accordingly. This allows the teacher to apply greater pressure to those who have a high level of expertise and less pressure to those who have a lower level.
Makes each role-play as realistic as possible by including ‘twists and turns’, different obstacles for different participants. These can hinder the success of the strategies used, just as in real life, and helps the participants develop their skills at handling the unexpected. This results in each role-play being unique because each participant uses different strategies in different ways and reacts to the teacher differently, and the teacher poses different obstacles to hinder the strategies used. It also means that the length of each individual role-play is different and each participant will be engaged more than once.
Provides, as necessary, brief, useful and encouraging feedback after a role-play with a participant. This must be brief so it does not interfere with the flow of the activity.
And each participant …
Is only involved in one of three activities:
Observing other participants and hence learning what works and in what circumstances;
Preparing for their own role-plays by thinking about how they would handle the different situations; or
Demonstrating, rehearsing and refining their own preferred strategies when they are involved in their role-play/s.
When engaged in a one-on-one role-play with the facilitator:
Only takes the role of their self;
Uses strategies that reflect the way that they prefer to deal with the situation and deal the obstacles to the success of their strategies;
‘Road-tests’ (trials and practices) their preferred strategies ‘under fire’ and develops their skills at implementing them; and
Refines and modifies the strategies as required.
The teacher needs more skills than they do with traditional types of role-plays. Delivering APRPs requires skill, energy and passion. Many trainers and teachers already have the skills but may need a bit of help polishing them. Others may not have them, but can usually develop them. Mark’s a master of Agent Provocateur Role-Plays® and provides assistance in a supportive and entertaining environment.
Check out the public courses Mark is offering.
Check out how to use Agent-Provocateur Role-Plays to teach any social skill you like.
Check out how Mark often embeds Agent-Provocateur Role-Plays in the 10 step teaching activity Real Life Rehearsals.