BSM-PR - Personal Responsibility Role Plays

Personal Responsibility Role Plays

Scenario 1:
Rojit has been working as a Food & Beverage steward for over a year. He has recently
shifted to the busiest section of the restaurant. Most of his tables are constantly filled with
guests. Today is an especially busy day. The hotel is hosting three separate conferences
and many of the guests are eating at the restaurant for all three meals.

Rojit is relying heavily on his assistant steward to help him ensure that all guest needs are
met. After taking an order from a table of 8 guests, Rojit is summoned by two guests. One
guest asks for a pair of chopsticks. The other asks for his bill. Rojit spots his assistant
steward, Alisha, and asks her to submit the order to the kitchen. Alisha is an experienced
assistant steward and has done this task many times. Handing her the order, Rojit grabs the
chopsticks and moves to the side station to print the second guest’s bill. Because he was so
rushed, Rojit’s handwriting is hard to read. He’s scribbled the last order. Alisha reads
“Caesar Salad” but can’t read the last two words. Not wanting to bother him, Alisha submits
it that way.

Rojit is flagged by another guest who wants a coffee refill so he grabs the pot of coffee. He
noticed that Alisha is still entering the food order.

Over the next 20 minutes, Rojit continues to serve and meet guest needs with Alisha’s
assistance. He checks on the order for the table of 8. It’s ready. But as he prepares to
deliver it, he notices that the Caesar salad has bacon sprinkled across the top. Alarmed, he
quickly returns the tray to the kitchen. Rojit knows that his guests are Muslim—they
specifically told him this and asked him to ensure that their dietary restrictions were honored.
They would be offended to see the bacon on the plate. Rojit checks the kitchen order. Alisha
submitted this particular order incorrectly, failing to note “without bacon.”

Rojit asks the cook to make the missing dish as quickly as possible. The cook agrees. He
then approaches the table of guests and promises that their food will be delivered within the
next five minutes. When the restaurant slows down, he decides to talk to Alisha about it.

Role Play Activity Directions:

● Develop a short role play (90 seconds) of the conversation between Rojit and Alisha
where Rojit does not take personal responsibility and uses a victim mindset to
respond to the situation.
○ Remember, someone with a victim mindset makes excuses and blames other
people when things go wrong. This person is afraid of mistakes and failure.

© 2016 McKinsey Social Initiative, Inc.

BSM-PR - Personal Responsibility Role Plays

● Develop a short role play (90 seconds) of conversation between Rojit and Alisha
where Rojit takes personal responsibility and uses a creator mindset to respond to
the situation.
○ Remember, someone with a creator mindset takes ownership for their actions
and sees mistakes and failure as a chance to learn.

Personal Responsibility Role Plays

Scenario 2:
When a Food & Beverage steward completes her shift, she is expected to clean the dining
room, reset the table for breakfast, prepare the buffet for service, and restock the side
station. This way, the incoming stewards are prepared to serve breakfast with speed and
ease.

Pooja comes into work one morning and her manager pulls her aside and explains, in a
frustrated tone, that when she left work yesterday, she did not restock the side station with
the appropriate supplies for breakfast. The morning shift was very busy and the assistant
steward who replaced her was unable to keep up with beverages and dishes because he
was forced to run back to the kitchen for replacement items until he had a free window to
restock the station himself. This caused tension on the entire team because they were
stressed and pressed to keep up with guests’ demands.

Pooja realizes that she had completely forgotten to restock the side station because she had
been called to help another colleague clean up broken glass after a leg broke off of the table
and sent all of the dishware crashing to the ground. By the time she finished, her shift was
over and she had forgotten about the side station.

Role Play Activity Directions:

● Develop a short role play (90 seconds) of the conversation between Pooja and her
manager where Pooja does not take personal responsibility and uses a victim
mindset to respond to the situation.
○ Remember, someone with a victim mindset makes excuses and blames other
people when things go wrong. This person is afraid of mistakes and failure.

● Develop a short role play (90 seconds) of the conversation between Pooja and her
manager where Pooja takes personal responsibility and uses a creator mindset to
respond to the situation.
○ Remember, someone with a creator mindset takes ownership for their actions
and sees mistakes and failure as a chance to learn.

© 2016 McKinsey Social Initiative, Inc.