Role Play for Cleaning Team Building

Episode 37

 

Ray

Joel, we’re back, and we’re talking about role-playing in the workplace. A lot of my work is in marketing and in sales, and I have yet to meet a new salesperson that likes role-playing. In fact, most people hate it.

 

Joel

I don’t think anybody really loves it But it’s an effective management tool. That’s why sales managers and owners of companies often try to use this as a tool. Because that’s what it is.

 

Ray

When you say effective management tool, we’re not talking about actively managing people, but we’re training them in the management space. Is that correct?

 

Joel

Possibly. Sometimes it’s even the frontline not understanding the supervisor and what their role in the company is. Because most frontline employees think that the supervisor is just a glorified gopher. “I need this chemical. I need these microfibers taken back to the office. Oh, you’re just here as the bearer of bad news. All you’re inspecting. Yeah, you’re here to rat me out.” There’s usually a lot of animosity between the front line and area supervisors or even a supervisor on site. And in my 42 years of working in this industry, and holding many different roles amongst many different companies, I get it. Because I’ve also been that front line employee that used to say, “What’s the boss doing? They don’t ever seem to be working”. Because that’s what goes through their head. Now you’re the boss. Now I’m the boss, and it’s like, well, I am. I’m doing all these other things that you don’t understand, and you’re getting paid at the end of the week, right? Well, that’s part of what I have to do. It’s part of my job. But the role playing I’m talking about is, sometimes when there’s conflict, and there’s a lot of conflict sometimes between the frontline employees and their direct supervisor, whether it’s on site or an area supervisor.

And the area supervisor feels like, well, I should just tell the person one time and they should get it. Well, one thing I do talk about with supervisors is that, “How many times you tell them?” Well, I told them once and they should get it. Really? How many times was it before you learned your ABCs? Well, did you get it the first time you were told what your ABCs were? Probably not. Right.

We now know that it takes somewhere between seven and 13 times of somebody something and having them repeat it back. So, telling your frontline staff one time probably isn’t going to get the point across. How are you telling them? Are you demanding that they do something? You start demanding things, and then they’re going to be, I don’t care what you say. I’m going to defy you because then your boss is going to be yelling at you. And you won’t be yelling at me. So sometimes having those two sides role play with a seasoned supervisor as a mediator because it will get out of control.

 

Ray

I was going to ask if you’ve seen that get hot.

 

Joel

I have seen it get hot. I’ve been part of it being hot on occasion in my career as well. I’m not going to lie either. Having a seasoned manager sit there and they reverse roles. Because sometimes the supervisor doesn’t realize how demeaning they may be talking to the frontline. So, when that front line employee gets to emulate what their boss is like…”Well, Joel, I noticed that you aren’t wearing your uniform. You go home right now and I’m not paying you for the day until you come back.’ If that’s how it comes off, the frontline employee to the supervisor right away, that tells you that there is some real issues here. Because the person is talking to people in a derogatory way. (Sure.) And we all want to be treated with respect. I don’t care about the position.

 

Ray

Not to paint a white hat on every employee who’s gotten a wild here.

 

Joel

Correct. But sometimes it can get, depending on how a manager is. Maybe that employee will work better with another manager. Not every good employee or every good manager can even work together. You have to work with personalities. And not all personalities work well together. This is why so many companies spend a lot of money on assessing the personality traits of the individuals that work directly for a boss and don’t always get down at the entry-level positions because of the high turnover. But you can start to sense what type of personalities that individuals have. Are they a person that just has a lot of fun and doesn’t really get anything done? Or are they very disciplined and direct? And when things happen and problems come up, they’re very directed in getting to the job done and the task done. So are they really task-driven, or are they more, “Hey, I’m a party guy or gal, and I’m going to have fun. If work gets done, that’s great, but I’m here to have fun.” And so, when you have two different mindsets managing each other, you get into problems. So having those role plays can help understand what a person is going through.

 

Because in today’s world, everybody’s under a lot of stress. How many emails a day do you get? How many text messages do you get? How many phone calls you get? They’re work related; They’re home related; They’re health-related, They’re, “Oh, my parents”; “Or we have pets”; and there’s vet calls. And so there’s all these things that interfere with our day. We don’t know what happened to that individual either. (Yeah, good point.) So sometimes they are dealing with some really personal things that particular day. Maybe they just found out their spouse has cancer. Getting to know your employee, role playing, and acting things out, and then coming to a conclusion. Because usually at the end of a role-playing, the supervisor gets a rude awakening because they see that, “Wow, I really am not talking to these people the way I would want to be talked to, and I can see why they would be getting upset”. And then even when the supervisor then plays the frontline employee and it’s like “Well, aren’t you glad I just showed up for work? I don’t care that I’m a half hour late. I’ll do my job. Oh, what? You expect me to be here the whole time?”

I may be playing it up a little bit, but it’s really the truth. And the people that listen to this podcast right now are going to understand this is what we deal with, on a daily basis. “Oh, well, my car had a flat tire. What, are you going to come pick me up? Are you going to pay the Uber to get me to work?” I mean, those might be some of the responses that come back.

 

Ray

And those are realistic situations that can occur.

 

Joel

And sometimes the people don’t realize it until they’re playing the opposite person, and they hear that come off the tongue of the supervisor. And they’re listening to what they would respond as. And it’s an eye-awaking moment both ways. Because you see things that you don’t realize. Mannerisms sometimes are copied. The tone, the inflection, things like that.

 

Ray

A caricature yourself could have a little sting to it.

 

Joel

A little bit. And sometimes, just by doing that alone (it) opens up enough knowledge between both people that they find some common ground to talk to each other. It can be a very effective tool to manage with when done properly. (Interesting)

 

Ray

Well, Joel, happy role-playing. Thanks for this one.

 

Joel

You’re welcome.