[Closed] Role play at work - cringing content

Count me in on your suicide pact if I ever find myself presented with that sort of utter gonads.

the big supermarkets have the same for job interviews.

total and utter crap.

as for royal fail just delkiver the bloody letters not write crap about them.

Last time it was suggested we role-play at work, I arrived wearing a gimp mask with an orange up my arse. Imagine my surprise, etc.

Been on a few course where they expected us to role play. Some of us even got into trouble for laughing at the whole thing and refusing to do it.

Overacting is the way forward, proper scenery-chewing stuff.

OH! EMM! GEE! DAVID, YOU'VE LEFT THE STAPLER UNATTENDED, IT COULD BE A CHILD'S [b]FACE![/b] *gasp of horror, pose from The Scream*

I have also got in trouble for such things. Which is odd as creativity, humour and a desire to think outside the box are usually considered positives...

Today I was on the train back from that London

Good job you weren't trying to escape from Waterloo station. A "jumper" this morning effectively shutdown* all services to/from the station all day.

* artistic license - but the network was shafted

found this,

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=269126

project, that's sickening. have people no self-respect?

I have also got in trouble for such things

Despite the nerd stereotype, pretty much everywhere I've worked throughout my career the IT department has been the resident loony bin. It's the one department in the building that's going to have a handy supply of projectile weaponry, for instance. Geeks will naturally seek the funny side of anything (sometimes very subtly, sometimes less so). Getting them involved in corporate happyclapping is never going to end well.

It is a pedagogy best avoided as you get the reactions shown on here. Many people think it is bollocks but lazy [ or unskilled] teachers/trainers do it as it is easy to arrange.
OK if the group know each other and it is done in a jokey style otherwise avoid.

It is a pedagogy best [s]avoided[/s] [b]encouraged [/b]as you get the reactions shown on here

(-:

Good point sorry ..... if the students are little shits do them constantly till they are over the embarrassment.

One company I worked for sent us all on some BS role play training crap like this. At one point we were all given percussion instruments and organised to play a song.

I started looking for a new job that evening... utter, utter ****! I'm immature, not a child.

Getting them involved in corporate happyclapping is never going to end well

And we are profoundly cynical.

One project I worked on made us all attend some luvvy training day run by Laurence Olivier's son. Said son runs a corporate training company which attempts to increase team efficiencies through exploring/roleplaying aspects of Shakespear's plays.

COMPLETE PONY (and paid for by the taxpayer!)

At one point we were all given percussion instruments and organised to play a song.

I'd have organised a rousing chorus of Kum Bay Ya. Either that or some death metal.

I'd rather do role-play than die. For today at least.

Do they really do this in interviews?

Christ, it makes signing on look attractive

Good point TSY you cant make happy teams by doing stupid exercises together

i once had to do that music thing I drummed a 5/4 rhythm that worked well with a group of non musicians

And we are profoundly cynical.

I consider that to be a positive quality.

Role play and simulations are an excellent way to screen someone for a job especially when you're hiring someone who hasn't done that particular job before.

Done badly I can imagine it would be cringe worthy, but done well and it will make a very big difference to an organisations ability to determine whether someone is right for a given job or not, especially where people/behavioural skills are really important (so not for many of the jobs that your average STW reader would be applying for 😉 )

There are some very serious governmental organisations that use role plays very extensively as part of their 'selection' process. I doubt anyone here would sniff at them.

I thought the Department of Charades was cut to help reduce the deficit.

I have done that one allthepies. He really underplays his luvvy status and does not like to use his fathers name though very unassuming and reserved fella I thought. Did not like mentioning his books either

I thought the Department of Charades was cut to help reduce the deficit.

There are some departments that have had their budgets substantially increased recently.

I worked for a big logistics company a few years ago and to "climb" the ladder this sort of shite was all part and parcel of the interview/promotion process. If you wanted a few extra grand in your hand at the end of the month then jumping through hoops was very much the way to go.

Absolute b*****ks. Imho of coarse.

GT - it really is bollox, isn't it? leaving aside your professional bias....

What if someone is a ****ing amazing candidate but can't 'act' or sing? Or is an independent thinker?

geetee surely if they had never done the job before you would not expect them to be able to do the job and be willing and able to train them. WTF is the point of a role play then? well apart from to make money for recruitment consultants to devise them and tell these depts how good they are at selecting the right candidates [ as the wrong ones never get the training we have no control to measure against] Snake oil I tell the [ partly tongue in cheek partly serious]

Well it really depends on what we're talking about.

If you mean does working with an out of work actor on something theatrical or banging a bunch of drums together in time develop team building skills or give you some insight into a person's suitability for a given role, then yes, that's bollocks. It might be fun though, in the same way that a corporate day out at Brands Hatch is fun.

But structured role plays, not scripted but well structured, i.e. with defined parameters, clear focus on the skills and capabilities being measured, usually with occupational psychologists in the key roles as part of a carefully structured assessed role play are really terribly accurate in predicting suitability for a job, especially where the key skills are focsued on leadership or realtionship management, for example sales.

WTF is the point of a role play then?

Because a lot of jobs need you to demonstrate aptitude, for example a police officer and you can assess this in role plays.

 

geetee1972... you're awesome.

Kick your shoes off, look at your career and chosen profession and just be honest, for once, please?

really terribly accurate in predicting suitability for a job,

The negative reaction to this kind of thing is usually associated with people feeling insecure about their role

do you think an actor or an am dram [ or recruitment consultant- bet you have trained folk on how to do better at these haven't you - play both sides]would do better at these than someone else ..is it not just conceivable that you other factors other than ability to do the job are being measured and observed?

Kick your shoes off, look at your career and chosen profession and just be honest, for once, please?

Doing just fine thanks TSY.

How are the wife and kids?

just be honest, for once, please

Sounds like he's being honest. Why so hostile? Just because you were forced out of your comfort zone? If the role-play involved arsing around in a gym you'd have been right at home.

well structured, i.e. with defined parameters

So unrelated to the real world then?

Not really Darcy... just a complete waste of time! Company time maybe, but I don't need to spend a day banging a drum or watching some low rent actors showing us what bad customer service looks like!

Depends on how you define 'real world'.

No just pushing your buttons TSY 😀

Are we now in a role-play? That doesn't sound like Yeti at all 🙂

just a complete waste of time! Company time maybe, but I don't need to spend a day banging a drum or watching some low rent actors showing us what bad customer service looks like!

TSY I genuinely agree with you on this. This is really not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about role play used in a very different way.

This drum banging nonsense is just that.

Darcy I just get annoyed when people can't admit what their function is within an organisation. HR people seem to have the biggest difficulty in doing this.

As an aside... I did another pyschometric test the other day for my own amusement... an internal one identical to the one I did when I joined the company. The difference in results was unbelievable... the HR manager was almost dumbfounded.

did he fire you on the basis of it TSY?

Haha, no because it only makes up 10% of the decision process etc etc.. geetee can give you a brochure with the sales spiel 😉

It was actually pretty accurate and if they read between the lines would have told them I have plenty of time for internetting.

I was once made to attend a drumming workshop for team building reasons 🙁

chopper666 in his cubicle....

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