Right now, most leadership teams I work with are running on fumes. The pressure to “do more with less – and faster” is back on repeat. And yes, the world is moving at breakneck speed. But here’s the trap – expecting your people to adapt at the same rate doesn’t fuel performance, it erodes it.
The answer isn’t more effort. It’s different effort. Intentional interventions that interrupt the cycle.
And one of the simplest, most underestimated interventions?
Role play. Simulation. Scenario.
Why Role Play Creates Material Shift
I ran one with an ELT last week. Within 20 minutes the energy shifted:
From silence to animated debate.
From entrenched assumptions to fresh insight.
From passive compliance to alignment on action.
No slides. No drawn-out strategy decks. Just a scenario and the permission to test, challenge and say: “I see it differently.”
That shift matters. Because when you surface assumptions early, you prevent million-dollar missteps later. When leaders practise disagreeing safely, they learn to align decisively when the stakes are real.
“If your team can’t pressure-test their thinking in low-risk practice, what confidence do you have they can hold the line when the stakes are 100x higher?”
The Science of Why It Sticks
The research backs this up:
The forgetting curve shows that unless learning is revisited, most of it disappears within weeks. Which explains why brilliant offsites fade before the team even gets back to their desks.
The learning curve reminds us that growth comes from deliberate stretch – not doing the same thing faster, but doing the harder thing until it becomes easier.
Angela Duckworth’s research on grit highlights that it’s deliberate practice – repeated, intentional effort with feedback – that separates high performers from everyone else.
Role plays combine all three. They don’t just spark insight – they embed it. They let leaders rehearse decisions and responses before the real world demands them.
The Power of Playing the Trade-Offs
And here’s where it gets even more powerful.
Every big decision your executive team makes is really a trade-off in disguise. Efficiency vs relationships. Global expansion vs market deepening. Innovation vs cost discipline. Premium clients vs mass-market volume.
These are not academic debates. They are choices with opportunity costs attached – paths that will shape your market position, your margins, your reputation. On paper they look clean. In practice, they are loaded with assumptions, blind spots and bias.
Role play allows leaders to test the trade-offs before the market does. It brings the unspoken costs and hidden risks into the open, where they can be explored and resolved without collateral damage.
ever thought about The Cost of Untested Assumptions?
I work with clients of all sizes, across industries. And without fail, role play uncovers where senior leaders are working from completely different assumptions – whether it’s who their customers are, how those customers might respond to a pricing shift, what quality or service standards are acceptable, or where investment priorities should sit.
In one recent session with an ELT, we ran a scenario on what decisions they might make when margins tighten and the market contracts. The options on the table? Invest in innovation, or double down on cost management.
It was a hypothetical – but the insight was very real. The role play surfaced hidden preferences, unspoken assumptions, and gave leaders the space to challenge – and be challenged – safely. What emerged were gaps that, left unchecked, could derail projects. And opportunities that, if never voiced, could leave significant value on the table.
And this isn’t just my experience:
Harvard Business Review profiled a tech company that used wargaming to stress-test competitors and uncovered blind spots that, once corrected, delivered a 25% lift in client lifetime value.
McKinsey & Company reported a manufacturer that role-played change-management comms, uncovered misalignment, and reduced rollout delays by 30%.
The lesson? Trade-offs and assumptions always exist. The question is whether you surface them in practice – or pay for them in the market.
Your Leadership Challenge
So here’s my provocation.
At your next executive meeting, carve out 20 minutes. Put a scenario on the table. Let your team wrestle with the assumptions, test the trade-offs, and practise alignment.
Because if your team can’t pressure-test their thinking in low-risk practice, what confidence do you have they can hold the line when the stakes are 100x higher?
The future doesn’t belong to leaders who just run harder. It belongs to those who know when to pause, play, and practise deliberately.
So, when was the last time your leadership team played?
Curious to try it out? I’ve put together a set of four executive scenarios designed to spark debate and surface hidden assumptions. They’re short, sharp and can be run in 15–20 minutes inside your next leadership meeting. Message me and I’ll share them with you.