• Observing and analyzing group dynamics
• Understanding good practices and bad habits we may have or find in our groups
• Taking a step back from our reality to highlight some team work problems.

Duration: 2-3 hours, including warming-up activities before the role play.

Divide the group into 2 groups of 14 persons, which will be divided again in 2 groups of 7. Each group will perform for the other, so everyone gets to be a player/insider and a spectator/observer. Switching points of view will allow the participants to better understand the difficulties we encounter when working as a team with our different characters and personalities.

When the groups are formed, give to each player a role that he/she will embody during a 10 minutes performance. Ideally, distribute them a different role from the ones they usually take on. This way they will work on their empathy as they will have to act and think in the same way that a completely different person would.

After a few minutes, allowing them to get prepared and “get into” their role, start the performance by explaining the situation (cf roles and situations below). Invite the audience to pay attention to people’s behaviours, to the players’ interactions, to what is said and what is not; to analyze what is expressed, suggested, what is obvious and what is not. They should try as much as possible to figure out what are the characters and the roles that are being played.

At the end of the theatrical improvisation, ask the audience to identify the roles and the person who played it. As they vote, each spectator will explain what led them to this conclusion. Give then the speech to the players so that they can express their feelings, frustrations and potential satisfactions.

As the role-play is about the roles and the attitudes that we usually find in teamwork, it will most probably remind the participants past experiences, surprise them or move them. It is therefore important that you propose a debriefing after the 2 groups have performed:

• Which roles where endorsed?
• What positive and negative characteristics each character had?
• What we can learn from it?
• What are the positive and negative attitudes, toxic behaviours and their antidotes?

To conclude, gather the 4 groups together for a short exercise of meta-cognition: How can we reuse this game and what emerged from it in our organizations, back home?

2 sets of characters for the role play (play cards)

> Group 1 / Situation 1: You are a member of a day-shelter for refugees, homeless people and people in precarious situations. Your team meets today to write the internal rules of the shelter.

1/ The Elephant: You embody stability and prevent the group from losing sight of the objective. You help the group keep focus on the purpose of the meeting. But you’re also stubborn by nature. You systematically refuse to change your point of view, when the group makes a decision you are reluctant to take it into account.

2/ The Lion: You are a dynamic person who takes initiatives and leadership. But you also interfere with everything and argue with others when they do not agree with your plans or dismiss them.

3/ The Ostrich: You are a calm person, with a good sense of observation. This allows you to see the group’s weaknesses, but you escape as soon as you feel conflict or any unpleasant task. For example, you suddenly change the subject when it displeases you or when it is a source of tension.

4/ The Turtle: You have a keen sense of analysis and you remain calm under tense circumstances. You won’t get fooled by other people’s strategies. You’re sensible / reasonable, but you set back from the group, refusing to express your ideas or your opinion(s). As a mediator, you seek consensus, you try to calm down tensions and to find a solution which could satisfy everybody. You’d rather help people express their ideas rather than sharing your own.

5/ The Chameleon: You have strong adaptation skills, which make you feel comfortable in a wide range of situations and with any kind of group. But this also leads you to change color – opinion according to your surroundings: you may say one thing to a group/person and another thing to another group/person.

6/ The Owl: You are a very experienced person who looks very serious and claim to be very wise. You embrace complexity and analyze things deeply but you express yourself in long and complicated sentences that everybody might not understand.

7/ The Monkey: You are a positive and easy-going person, who brings light in dark situations and allows people breathing when things become too serious. But you chat too much and your clown attitude also prevents the group from focusing on serious subjects and addressing serious issues.

—

> Group 2 / Situation 2: You are a member of an educational association. You have a budget of 15000€. You gather today to decide how to invest this money in the next 6 months.

1/ The brawler: You are a very dynamic person, with strong values and ethics. But you also have an aggressive character when it comes to things that matter to you. You will fight for everything and defend your position.

2/ The grumpy/complainer: You are very perfectionist. Your high values push the group forward and help deal with a project and its context. But nothing is good enough for you and you question everything. You’re never satisfied or ready to make compromises.

3/ The talkative: You are thinking really fast and get new ideas constantly, that you always share with the group. On the other hand, this leads you to often be the one talking, with a poor ability to focus on what is said by others. When you eventually get into the conversation, you tend to speak for the sake of speaking. You have good ideas, but you don’t really look for the relevant moment to express them.

4/ The cunning / the foxy: You have a sharp mind. You can see false appearances and uncover hidden strategies within the group or from partners. But you can also be the one working for yourself within the organization to feed your personal interest. You have a tendency to make people act the way you want them to.

5/ The Great tired Lord: You are an old member of the organization. You’ve seen everything, and given your best, so your experience is very valuable. Still, you are tired of all this. You stay and attend the meetings to make sure “your” project is in good hands, that it keeps going towards the right direction, but the truth is that you don’t have the energy to commit any more. You can also be a little suspicious of new ideas and ways. You are there for emergencies and backup and people tend to search for your approval.

6/ The wise: You are rational, responsible, reliable. You are down to earth and like to build solid projects. Yet, you really dislike taking risks and you don’t trust a plan that you have not been tried before, innovation is not your forte.

7/ The know-it-all: Whatever the subject, you know everything; or you think you know. In any case you will share your knowledge and actually help the group grasp a situation better and make informed decisions. On the other hand, you might dismiss other people’s experiences and knowledge, preventing shy people to take part in the conversation by fearing of being ridiculed.