In essence, Real Play is a form of role play but using professional business actors.

Training programmes are littered with failed role plays where delegates have had to pretend to be a manager or an employee and act out a generic scripted scenario. The result is often memorable (for any number of reasons) but rarely useful.

Instead of a generic, fake situation, we use a small number of trusted actors with have a wealth of business experience. They are presented with real scenarios prepared in advance by delegates typically involving a performance or relationship issue and which require a conversation to take place which may be, or appear to be, difficult. You, the delegate, play yourself; and the actor takes the part of the other person.

The format is simple yet the learning is immense. The conversation takes place with facilitation by ourselves at Reality, and you are observed by a small number of other delegates. Time-outs are called every now and again so that observed feedback can be instantly shared as to what you are doing well and what you might do differently. The actor simply takes their cues from how well or how badly the “manager” handles the conversation and situation.

At the close the facilitator will capture key learning points from manager, observers and the actor. The list at the end of a few sessions will run to multiple pages. Delegates are able to use the new learning immediately and more importantly, they do! And they tell us about the fantastic outcomes they got.

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