Ld Role Play Training

---
name: ld-role-play-training
description: Builds a role-play practice kit using behaviour modelling, producing learning points, role cards, a good and a poor model example, observer notes that go only to the learner, and debrief questions. Use for "run ld-role-play-training", "role-play training", "role play scenarios for training", "sales role-play", "customer conversation practice", "behaviour modelling", "observer notes", "debrief questions for role-play", part of the AI for L&D and Corporate Training Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Role-Play Training

## When To Use
Reps sit through role-play, go out to real customers, and you hope it stuck. Use this when a live conversation (a customer call, a hard message, a first coaching talk) is the skill and people need to practise it with each other. It answers: what exactly do people practise, what does good look like, and how does it carry over to the job?

## When Not To Use
If the skill is a decision people make alone on screen or on paper, Scenario-Based Learning fits better. If the room has no trust yet, start with the model examples and small-group practice before anyone plays in front of peers.

## Inputs
- The conversation to practise, the objective, and the role of the learners.
- Real situations from the job: what customers or colleagues actually say, and the usual mistakes.
If you have none of this, I start from the conversation and the role and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Behaviour modelling training, from the meta-analysis by Taylor, Russ-Eft and Chan (2005, Journal of Applied Psychology): skill grew most when learning points were clear, and transfer was greatest with mixed good and poor models, scenarios the trainees brought themselves, goal setting, and trained managers. Effects shrink from the room to the job, so the kit builds transfer in rather than hoping. The failure it prevents: a scored role-play in front of the team, where people perform for the rubric and learn to avoid the next session.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: which conversation, what goes wrong in it today, and will learners' managers be briefed?
2. Write four to six learning points as short rules a person can hold in their head mid-conversation ("name the problem before the fix").
3. Build mixed models: one good and one poor example of the same conversation, each marked with the learning points it shows or misses.
4. Write role cards for three roles (learner, other party, observer): the situation, what the other party wants, how hard to push. Keep one prepared card per round, then switch to scenarios the learners bring from their own work.
5. Write observer notes against the learning points only: what they saw, what worked, one thing to try. The notes go only to the learner; nothing is scored or passed to a manager.
6. Write debrief questions, then close with each learner setting their own goal for using it on the job, and when.
7. Draft a short manager brief: what the learning points are and how to ask about the goal, with no report on any person.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Role-Play Training Kit
Conversation: [what is practised] | Role: [learners' role] | Objective: [what people will do at work]
## Learning points
1. [short rule] 2. [short rule] 3. [short rule]
## Model examples
| Model | Transcript or outline | Learning points shown or missed |
|---|---|---|
| Good | [example] | [points] |
| Poor | [example] | [points] |
## Role cards
| Card | Learner | Other party (wants, pushes back with) | Observer watches for |
|---|---|---|---|
| [prepared / own scenario] | [situation] | [wants, difficulty] | [learning points] |
## Observer note (handed to the learner only)
Saw: [what happened] | Worked: [point] | Try next: [one thing]
## Debrief and goal
Debrief questions: [question] / [question]
My goal at work (kept by the learner): [what I will try, with whom, by when]
Manager brief: [learning points and one question to ask about the goal; no report on any person]
## Decision
[Trainer] confirms the learning points and model examples with [SME] by [date].
```

## Done When
- Learning points are short enough to recall mid-conversation, and both models show the same conversation.
- At least one round uses scenarios the learners bring from their own work.
- Every learner leaves with their own goal for the job.

## Quality Bar
- Role cards sound like real people, taken from the inputs; no invented customer quotes.
- Observer notes describe behaviour against the learning points, never the person.
- Refuse scoring rubrics for individuals and any report to managers; the learner decides what to share.
- Observer notes go only to the learner; no role-play is scored or used against a person.

## Next
Run ld-train-the-trainer (Train-the-Trainer Kit) so facilitators can run these role-plays well.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).