Origin Housing achieves dramatically better customer satisfaction : Forum theater puts trainees in the spotlight

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to chart a novel approach to customer‐service training at Origin Housing, using forum‐theater techniques in which the trainees can decide where the action goes next. Design/methodology/approach – Explains the background to the program, the form it takes and the results it has achieved. Findings – Reveals that forum theater has two key differences from ordinary theatrical performances. First, the action periodically stops to give the audience the chance to discuss it. And second, a facilitator encourages the audience to speak to the characters in the play during these breaks, enabling them to attempt to influence the characters' behavior and change the outcome of the drama. Practical implications – Explains that, because the audience watches a play in which characters struggle with the dilemmas of the trainees' everyday working life, they are able to think about and comment on those dilemmas in a free and unthreatening way. They relate closely to the experience of the drama, but without any feelings of exposure and nervousness which participating in a role‐play can bring. Social implications – Highlights how such training is helping to ensure that Origin Housing serves its customers better. Originality/value – Discusses an unusual form of theater training, in which the drama highlights many of the problems that employees encounter in their everyday work.