Focus Magazine - Summer 2017 - 5

FROM THE PRESIDENT
Mary Myers

Who's Ready to Role-Play?
People see the
value of immersive
learning in theory.

here's a good chance you've heard this: "I
hate to role-play." For every wannabe
Julia Roberts or Denzel Washington out
there who embraces the creative side of
training, there are scores more who prefer to sit
quietly as the training room audience, learning
by viewing.
It's clearly a common scenario. Whenever I
meet a class, sales leaders or new trainers, the
first thing they announce is, "I HATE ROLEPLAY." It's a normal reaction, part stage fright
and part natural reluctance to risk failure.
But when we begin to explore the statement,
it shows a deeper problem that trainers must
address. What would it be like if your doctor
had never learned about the body through the
use of cadavers or simulators? Can you
imagine having a firefighter show up at a
burning house and then tell you they never
used the equipment or actually put out a fire?
Would you give the keys to your car to your
young son or daughter without first giving
them some experience behind the wheel,
perhaps in the local grocery store parking lot or
on a local street with no traﬃc?
People today spend a lot of time in
simulation environments, such as Second Life
or World of Warcra. It only makes sense for
trainers to capture this fascination with the
digital world of "what could be" to make our
learners better in what they do. It is not
always appropriate to use virtual
environments to build skill and capability;
however, it is always appropriate to simulate a
live experience in a safe environment just as
astronauts and pilots do.
People need to experience the environments
they are going to operate in to test their
reactions, skills and knowledge. We need to be
creative in finding ways to fill training gaps
through collaborative eﬀorts that reduce time

out of the field while putting people in realworld environments. e future demands that
we develop new training capabilities using
things such as virtual reality, augmented reality
and simulators to prepare for the ever-changing
business environments.
As a director of training, I know that
establishing the credibility of role-playing as a
valuable exercise is only the first step. at's the
easier sell: People see the value of immersive
learning in theory. But like a proverbial pie in
the face, it's more enjoyable when it's happening
to someone else.
More challenging is that I oen find myself
fighting a perceived reticence or even trying to
overcome poor experiences from a learner's
past that have created such a visceral
response. ere are ways to "force" someone to
participate in training exercises, but without the
proper mindset, it becomes something they get
through instead of learning from. We all know
that a person's engagement with the need to
learn is at the core of successful training.
At Bayer, we changed how we deliver what I
refer to as engagement training, message
validation or simulation training. We use
actors instead of doctors to create a live
learning environment. We built an operating
room and have simulators for the sales
consultants to use to teach healthcare providers
to place a surgical device. By rehearsing in the
"Virtual," we create confidence and skill and
follow the Hippocratic Oath: First do no harm.
e purpose of doing this is to prepare people
for success through immersive learning
experiences.
Of course there will always be issues of
personal introversion to overcome when
employing role-play as a training tool. But if
you can sell the value and deliver the results,
you'll help your learners become stars. ■

Mary Myers is president of LTEN and director of training for Bayer HealthCare. Email Mary at
mary.myers@bayer.com.

FOCUS | Summer 2017 | www.L-TEN.org

http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Summer 2017