The use of professional actors in learning and development has evolved from the simple provision of role players to designing and delivering sophisticated simulation events. Robbie Swales highlights the changing nature of drama-based training and provides tips on how to choose a drama provider.

Acting in the interests of L&D

Fifteen years ago, when I became involved in drama-based training, few HR and learning and development practitioners had heard of the concept of using ‘live’ actors in learning. Today, many practitioners will have had direct experience of using actors in their learning and development initiatives.

This growth stems from the proven effectiveness of drama and from the increasing importance that is being placed on behaviour in the workplace.

Addressing behaviour

Organisational developers have realised that a crucial aspect of a healthy organisation is how people behave and how they treat each other in the workplace. Only through appropriate behaviour can individuals run a good appraisal, coach and mentor successfully, give constructive feedback and foster a culture of respect.

But you can’t force people to change their behaviour. People will only adapt their behaviour voluntarily. The challenge for organisations is to create development initiatives that will appeal to people and persuade them both intellectually and emotionally that behavioural change is both possible and advantageous for them and for the organisation.

Drama has grown to be a powerful training medium because it has an impact on both the intellect and the emotions. It’s not new. Drama and performance have been part of the human experience from the beginning of civilisation.

Drama plays on the fact that all humans have a built-in ability to ‘suspend disbelief’. I still get a thrill from the fact that I can go into a training room, describe to the participants how the session is going to run and then say: “Right, I’m going to be a manager called Tom and I’m about to have a difficult meeting with Carol, I may need your help”. And then go straight into the scene and everybody believes the fiction.

Changing use of actors

The way that actors are used in learning and development has changed remarkably. Actors were originally used almost exclusively as one-to-one role-players to enhance development and in assessment centres.

Pioneering trainers introduced role plays into their training courses to recreate situations and behaviours found in the workplace. Yet the learning was often lost because many people found it embarrassing to be ‘put on the spot’ in front of colleagues in this way. Hence, professional actors were brought in to run the role plays.

Teams of actors/facilitators then began to perform extraordinarily realistic interactive theatre initiatives to large groups on subjects such as diversity, performance management and leadership.

Freed from the need to role play themselves, the delegates were able to concentrate on the training issues and they learnt by analysing and summarising what they saw.

The essence of interactive theatre is that the participants get the opportunity to challenge and advise the actors-in-role about how to improve their behaviour and the actor-in-role then acts out these suggestions.

If an intervention doesn’t work, it is rejected. The actor can rewind the scene to the point before the inappropriate intervention and try another suggestion. If the advice does work, the actor-in-role continues with the scene, taking more suggestions and building towards a successful outcome. The participants have therefore served as a ‘collective coach’ and they have all observed the behaviours that have been successful.

More recently, innovative drama firms have extended this concept and created entire business simulations to help client organisations meet their learning challenges.

Future

In the future, actors will continue to be used for one-to-one role-plays to help individual participants develop their skills in such areas as customer service, selling, negotiating, giving feedback, appraisals and behavioural assessment. But the growth area over the next few years will be to find ever more innovative ways to use actors to perform interactive theatre and run simulations for large groups.

It is important to stress that these methodologies serve different purposes. One-to-one role-play is a very intense personal experience for an individual, who will hopefully learn to develop his/her skills after receiving constructive feedback from the role-player, the trainer and possibly colleagues if they are present.

Large-scale interactive theatre and simulation events are not such an intense one-to-one experience (for which the participants are usually eternally thankful!) They are better suited to making a powerful impact that will raise awareness and engender further conversations in the workplace after the event. Subjects for which they are suitable include diversity, bullying, harassment, performance management and avoiding employment tribunals.

Costs

At this point it seems wise to mention the bottom line. Actors cost money. The most expensive method is one-to-one role-play, as the ratio between actors and participants is quite high. Interactive theatre and simulations, on the other hand, can be more cost-effective, as you can reach larger numbers of people. For example, a series of interactive scenarios could be performed by three actors to a group of up to 50 participants.

Improved skills

Another reason why there is now a greater and better variety of drama initiatives is that the demand for actors has created a competitive marketplace.

Around 15 years ago, there were less than 10 drama-based training organisations. Today, there are over 120, ranging from bulk providers of one-to-one role players to organisations that will research, write, develop and deliver theatre-based initiatives using skilled actor/facilitators.

The most significant development, in my opinion, is that there are now, after years of continuous improvement, some very skilled actor/facilitators working in this field. What they are good at, is facilitating a group towards a successful learning outcome, while staying in role as a character, and then coming out of role and facilitating as themselves. It sounds slightly schizophrenic but I assure you it works!

Finding good actors

If you decide you want to use a drama provider – and you haven’t got a personal recommendation (always the best place to start, if possible) – you’ll find there is a lot of choice.

A Google search of ‘drama-based training’ or ‘professional role play’ will produce results. Having identified a few providers and viewed their websites, speak to them about your requirements.

Do you feel they understand your needs? Do they appear to understand the world of HR and L&D? How long have they worked in this field? Have they worked for organisations similar to yours? Will they provide references that you can contact? Why do they think using an actor is more effective than other methodologies? How do they select their actors? Do they provide training and development for their actors? Do they differentiate between the various ways that actors can be used? Will they provide a free presentation, in order for you to get a really good grasp of what they do? How much of their business is repeat business? How do they measure the success of their initiatives?

I’m a great believer in the benefits of well researched, creatively developed and powerfully delivered drama initiatives. If you ask the right questions and look for well informed, intelligent answers, you will find the drama-based learning organisation that best suits your requirements. Then, hopefully, you’ll see for yourself the tangible benefits that drama can bring.

Robbie Swales is a director of Steps Drama, which was founded in 1992 and has pioneered the development of drama-based learning. For more information, email: Robbie@stepsdrama.com or visit: www.stepsdrama.com.