Assignment:
Role-Play Exercise on Difficult Conversations
Note: You must conduct a role-play exercise with a partner from class before participating in this week's Discussion. By the beginning of this week, find a partner and make arrangements for engaging in this exercise. As soon as you have found a partner, you or your partner need toinform the instructor that you will be working together. If you have problems connecting with a partner, contact the instructor. Review the Role-Play Scenarios document for further instructions. It is recommended that you engage in the role play and follow-up feedback by phone, in person, or using one of the online tools listed in the Group Work area (after Week 12). If necessary, this exercise can be effectively conducted by e-mail or through online chat session(s).
Most likely you know what it is like to feel so frustrated or misunderstood in a work situation that it interferes with your job performance, or else you may have worked with someone like this. Did you or anyone else take steps to identify and resolve the problem in a productive way? How were the conversations handled around this situation?
As a leader in public health, it is important that you can adeptly communicate with staff members or other stakeholders and not shy away from addressing difficult subjects. To give you practice in applying the strategies and insights you have gained this week on managing the difficult conversation, you are asked to engage in a role-play exercise with a partner from class using the two scenarios in the "Role-Play Scenarios" handout, located in the Week 7 Discussion main area.
Each of the scenarios listed in the Role-Play Scenarios document is described from the perspective of the employee ("Role A") as well as from the leader/manager ("Role B"). After determining with your partner which role each of you will take, read the role-play scenarios for your selected roles only.
Following the instructions in the handout, engage in role play with your partner, and provide feedback to each other afterwards about how the conversation went. Then address the questions below.
• Briefly summarize what you learned from this role play.
• What did you do effectively, and in what ways might you and your partner improve as leaders/managers in resolving conflict?
• Would it be easier or more difficult to take on the leader/manager role in person, rather than over the phone or e-mail? Explain your reasons.