ROLE PLAY

Duke University School of MedicineOffice for Faculty Development

Crucial Conversations Workshop

June 9, 2017

Instructions

  1. Break into groups of three and decide on roles. Each role’s background information is below.
  2. Read the scenario by yourself for 2 minutes
  3. Start role play with 10 minutes for the conversation and 5 minutes for debrief
  4. Rotate roles and repeat twice so all three members of the group play each role

Role A =Dr. Young (Initiator)

Role B = Dr. Smart (Target)

Role C = Observer and Time Keeper

Role A: Dr. Young

You have been working with Dr. Smart on an educational innovation. You have different roles in this collaboration. You originally identified the educational need, developed the theory, and conceived the design. You invited Dr. Smart, a more seasoned educator, to lead the implementation of the program. S/he has done this well. In fact, s/he is often seen as the “face” of the program because of her/his role in leading the educational sessions.

You and Dr. Smart have agreed to submit a proposal for a workshop at a national meeting of medical educators about this innovative program. This presentation is very important for your promotion as it could establish you as a national leader in medical education. There are other educational programs that aim to teach similar concepts, but yours has unique elements. It is important that you be identified as a leading educational innovator and you want to be the first to present on this topic. However, recently you were alarmed to hear that Dr. Smart traveled to Singapore where s/he presented a keynote lecture on this program. S/he did not tell you about this, and, to make matters worse, s/he did not acknowledge your role in the program.

Role B: Dr. Smart

You did in fact give a presentation in Singapore on the program. A colleague at Duke-NUS Singapore invited you to come to attend a meeting about medical education and to talk about education innovation at Duke. You are obviously familiar with every facet of the program as you regularly lead the sessions (and Dr. Young does not). The Singapore relationship is completely separate from the collaboration with Dr. Smart. You did not explicitly acknowledge Dr. Young’s role because you were talking about implementation (not theory). You were hesitant to include Dr. Smart because her/his approach is so theoretical (and her/his presentation style is hard to follow) and you know that the audience is interested in implementation. In addition, you talked about some design modifications of the program that would be important for the medical student experience at Duke-NUS, so the presentation was not precisely about the program designed by Dr. Young. You are aware that being “first” to present is imporant to Dr. Young, but frankly you don’t see it as that important. For the Singapore audience, you need to be seen as the point person for education innovation. You are cultivating an ongoing relationship with these colleagues (you want to be invited back).

Role C: Observer and Time Keeper

Watch for Crucial Conversations skills did you see being used in this conversation? What worked well? What did not work as well?