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Difficult feedback role-play scenarios

Two difficult feedback scenarios you can run in your next session. Each has a situation, a private brief for the employee and a short scoring guide. Judge the answers by your own method.

A manager giving feedback to a team member across a meeting table

What is a difficult feedback role-play?

A difficult feedback role-play is a practice conversation between a manager and an employee. One person plays an employee with a hidden brief. The manager has to raise a hard point so the employee hears it and agrees to act.

Where it fits in a programme

Run these after you have taught your feedback model and before managers have the real conversation. Most managers put hard feedback off or soften it until the point is lost, and they rarely get to rehearse it.

What good looks like

  • Says what the problem is within the first minute or two.
  • Gives one real example, not a general view.
  • Leaves with one change the employee has agreed to.

Scenario 1

Feedback for a strong performer who gets defensive

  • 10 minutes
  • Intermediate

The situation

The learner manages a sales team. In two client meetings, the top account manager talked over her junior colleagues. One of them has asked to move off her accounts. The learner has called her in to raise it.

The learner’s goal

Priya accepts the effect of one specific behaviour and agrees one change.

Private brief for the employee

Priya, senior account manager with the best results on the team.

  • You are proud of your results and a little on edge. A big client renewal is coming and you feel you carry it alone.
  • You think you saved those two meetings because the juniors were not prepared. You have not said so to anyone.
  • Open up if the manager gives one clear example and asks for your side before judging. If you hear something general like "people find you difficult", ask who said it and point to your results.

The employee’s opening line

"Is this about the Harlow meeting? Because we kept that client."

What to look for

  1. 1 Gives one specific example instead of a general label.
  2. 2 Asks for Priya’s side before giving a view.
  3. 3 Ends with one change that Priya says out loud.

Debrief questions

  • What did Priya say that showed you what was behind her reaction?
  • Which moment would you change if you ran it again?

Make it harder

Have Priya hold firm for longer and tell the manager the junior is too sensitive. The learner has to stay on the one behaviour.

Scenario 2

Feedback for someone who agrees with everything

  • 10 minutes
  • Starter

The situation

The learner leads a small analyst team. One analyst has missed the deadline for the weekly report three times. Each time he said sorry and promised to fix it. Nothing has changed.

The learner’s goal

Leave with the real cause and one next step with a date, not another promise.

Private brief for the employee

Tom, an analyst who is friendly and well liked.

  • You like your manager and you want this to end quickly and kindly. You are sorry, and you mean it.
  • You do not understand the new reporting tool. You are too embarrassed to say so after weeks of nodding in the training.
  • Open up if you are asked what gets in the way, or asked to walk through how you build the report. If you are asked "is everything clear?", say yes. Agree warmly with any criticism.

The employee’s opening line

"Yes, I know, the report. Sorry about that, it won’t happen again."

What to look for

  1. 1 Does not take the apology as the end of the conversation.
  2. 2 Asks Tom to show how he builds the report.
  3. 3 Names one next step with a date.

Debrief questions

  • How did you know whether Tom’s yes was real?
  • What did you learn that the apology hid?

Make it harder

Have Tom blame the deadline on a busy week and stay cheerful. The learner has to find the cause without an accusation.

Common questions

How do you run a difficult feedback role-play?
Give the manager the facts of what happened and one message they must get across. Give the employee the private brief and ask them not to share it. Run the conversation for ten minutes, then ask the employee to repeat the message they heard. Compare it with what the manager meant to say.
Who should play the employee in a feedback role-play?
A peer or the trainer works well. The player must stay in the brief and react to what the manager says, not to what they expect. Swap roles in the second round so each person feels both sides.
What should you score in a feedback role-play?
Pick one or two skills and say which before you start. Good ones are how clearly the manager names the problem and whether the employee leaves with a next step they agreed to.

Build these scenarios on your method

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