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Writer's pictureMatthew Cossens

The Need For Role Practice


Sporting teams practice running plays day in and day out. They look to perfect each and every component of each play until it becomes a reflex. They drill over and over seeking to make the complex simple, the result automatic.


They consider how the other team/person will react, make changes and run the play over and over again.


They make mistakes, but continue to practice until they are ironed out.


They study film, they watch how they perform, make improvements or construct new plays to perform at a higher level. Then they practice, practice, practice! Rinse and repeat. For elite sporting teams this is a routine, a habit.



But for some reason in business (particularly sales and recruitment) we neglect the art of role practice. Instead, we practice on live customers! Why?! We have the same opportunity to perfect our craft in practice but it’s not something the majority of businesses I’ve been in do on a regular basis. Then we question why our industry can get a bad name, why we make more mistakes than we should, why some people don't perform!

But what stops people from doing this? Time? That's an excuse. Fear of not getting it perfect in front of others? Surely that's better than doing it badly with a live client! Lack of training? For leaders and consultants? Possibly. Often I see businesses with great trainee programs that incorporate this for new hires, but then once they move into a consultant/senior consultant role this type of training is forgotten or worse…..not valued. Is it that most businesses try and outsource the problem? They bring in an external trainer for a day who role plays with the team and they assume it’s all sorted. I can tell you from experience that it is not.


I've been working in Recruitment for almost 2 decades and I'm blown away by the number of consultants that 'wing it' or 'have their own style'. Sure, some consultants can get by using this method, but I'm yet to meet an elite performer who works in this way. Elite performers in recruitment are no different to elite sportspeople……they grow, develop, iterate, study their wins and loses and aren’t afraid to practice their craft. They are open to coaching and even if it is a live call will take advice and learn.


Sales/Recruitment organisations need to do better. We not only need to give our team the tools but we need to show them how to use it. Define excellence in each part of the process and reinforce it. Build a playbook for our consultants to be successful. Take away the art of ‘winging it' and build professional recruiters/sales people through clear and repeatable best practice. Evolve this over time with each process and role practice over and over again. Build a new habit, a new routine for the team.

I've had the opportunity through MC Squared to coach multiple businesses and those who have implemented this as a daily routine. Even a simple 30 minute habit at the start of the day on a part of the process with role practice has seen incredible results.

There consultants are more successful, (clear uplift in results) confident, have developed real skills in business development, job qualification, interviewing, client briefs and other parts of the process. They’ve gone from hoping they will have the right answer when put on the spot to knowing. From guessing what a good process looks like, to running a smooth process. (aligned to the 3C’s) They’ve gone from raw salespeople to professional consultants through honouring role practice and ultimately their craft.



In addition, they have improved their tools and templates and began to build a body of knowledge to share with new consultants who join. What’s not to like about this?


This process also reinforces coaching as part of your culture and DNA. A key to successful growth year on year and on an individual, team and organisational level.


When’s the last time you practiced your role?





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