Train the trainer training: Learning from actors

Righttrack have always been keen to explore new and more effective ways of developing people, this has applied to all subject areas and especially with train the trainer training programmes.

A colleague and I were invited some years ago to attend a rehearsal workshop with the Royal Shakespeare Company to explore with them the processes they use to rehearse. We saw this as the theatre’s equivalent of the training world’s role-play session. My colleague, Kathryn and I were very interested in how the actors used a very simple technique to prepare for their forthcoming productions.

The actors were at a very early stage of their rehearsal and the process they used was as follows:

• The 6-8 actors arranged themselves in a group and identified at which part of the play they would start
•  The first actor read their lines out loud, with all the intonations and voicing characteristics one would expect. When the actor got to a point where he/she needed to break out of the ‘part’ – they clapped their hands and asked for feedback or made general comments before they picked up with the lines and carried on 
• The interesting part for us was that in addition to the actor who was speaking breaking from the script and asking for comments, the other actors were also able to stop the process by clicking their fingers softly to indicate they wanted the actor to stop speaking. Feedback was then provided and a discussion took place about how the words, voice, timing, intonation etc were coming across. The speaker would then acknowledge what was said, agreeing or disagreeing and incorporate the feedback accordingly as they went along

Although a very simple process, we were intrigued as to the impact of using this technique during role-play and in particular in train the trainer training. We tried it and the result was amazing.

In most train the trainer training programmes, role-players are left to conduct a 10-20 role-play, usually around presenting something to the group and when finished, they usually receive feedback. By then delegates have almost dropped off to sleep with boredom, particularly if the role-player hasn’t quite got the necessary skills to inspire and the trainer is panicking about where to start with the list of issues that need to be fed back.

When we used the actors’ technique, the group were involved, participating as part of the development process. The role-player was being supported all the way and we could see that the technique drew the group closer together. It also seems a better approach than leaving a role-player struggling on their own until the end of their allocated slot only to receive negative feedback and often no time to correct the negatives.

The technique was also adopted to use in other programmes and worked equally as well in sales and customer service related role-play sessions.

By Kasmin Cooney | Righttrack’s Managing Director