One of your colleagues just had a very successful half day training and is proposing another for a different group in the organization.  Her question is as follows with my rather lengthy reponse:

My raving fan said I might want to be a little more high-level/intellectual for this new group – for example, not do the celebrity exercise (many of the docs do not even watch TV – I don’t either, so I can relate ) and she said probably good to do less role playing (the scripts in your training material like the office conversation) and more of discussing real life situational challenges they face and how to use the PR to help.

Given the group, your observations make perfect sense.  I too never use the “celeb” exercise. I use the examples in the book more as case studies not role plays.  I think real examples either as cases or role plays (which most participants hate by the way) is excellent if you can get it.  Another option that takes little effort is to use one of the cases that might relate to the group and “personalize” it to the organization.  As you know, I have found that “No Free Lunch” is an amazing case study if you can divide the group up into the four types and see how each type would “resolve” the issue.  Seeing the different assumptions, values and “answers” coming out is amazing.  As usual – it is all in the debrief.  Another variation is from an MBTI exercise I have used.  Divide them up by quadrant and tell them that they have all been selected to go to a conference to present a joint paper.  Unfortunately they have just received word that the budget has been cut and there will only be funding for all less one person.  Have them problem solve and determine their solution – using one of the real people – not abstract.  Debrief the process they used, assumptions, criteria they used to make the final decion.  This really brings out those that are task versus relationship differences. 

If you can get someone to give you a couple of REAL scenarios before the course the better.  That way they can be “confidential” and you don’t end up with a pregnant pause waiting for someone to give an issue that they have.  Having your own “stories” can be very useful.  So if you could draw from past sessions that might also be quite powerful.  I love to tell the story that really made a difference and to this day makes me continue to do what I do.  True story with some of the dialogue changed because it has been about a dozen years or so ago.  I was working with a group of scientists “down east” in a small well knit community doing Platinum Rule (in a social styles format but same model) as part of a two day communication skills training for supervisors with the government.  As you can imagine most of them where Thinkers (no Relaters at all).  The morning of the second day one of the participants came up to me and said:  “You know it really hit me what you said yesterday and I realized that my admin assistant is a Relater and she probably really thinks that I am a jerk most of the time.  I never tell her how much I think she does a great job.  She has been sick this week so I drove over to her house last night and told her that my style is such that I may be abrupt and quiet and critical but I could not manage without her.”  I asked her how she responded.  He said, “She looked at me like I was crazy and said it was no big deal but she had a big smile on her face.”  He smiled at me and added:  “Maybe there is something to this touchy feely stuff after all…. but I am not changing.”  I responded:  “And you don’t have to – just learn to be more flexible, which it sounds like you are doing.”

Some trainers have told me that using an exercise of how each type would set up their office space is a fun way for them to understand the four quadrants.  I  still like to use the what each type wants from meetings.  We talked about this in our training to make sure we cover off all the needs of participants.  At the beginning of a class, I have even taken the agenda in one training and torn it up.  I then asked each person to quickly write down on a post-it note their immediate reaction.  Then I collected them, read some of them out and discuss how we all have different needs.  (I then reassure all types that we will be following a set format but it will be flexible enough for us to cover areas that are of interest to everyone.)