Role-playing for Adopters Welcome

Becoming Adopters Welcome often means fundamentally changing your team’s interactions with adopters. If your team has been heavily dependent on using paper/online adoption applications to prescreen adopters and identify “red flags,” or if they typically view verbal interactions with adopters as opportunities to interrogate or test them, switching to conversations that are designed to find ways to say “yes” to adoptions may feel very foreign. It’s important to spend time with your team practicing this new approach to communicating with adopters. 

Steps for effective role-playing practice

1. Review "Sample language to model engaging conversations" and share it with your team.
2. Write down scenarios that will help your team practice typical interactions using the new Adopters Welcome approach. Start with scenarios in which it should be fairly easy for the adoption team members to find ways in which an adoption would be processed without a hitch, and then move on to scenarios with circumstances that, in the past, have resulted in denied (missed) adoptions.
3. Assemble your team for practice. If finding time to assemble the entire team proves challenging, or if your team is in different locations, divide the team into smaller practice groups.
4. Select one person in the group to play the role of adopter and another to play the role of adoption counselor. Assign the remainder of the group to serve as observers.
5. Have the “adopter” assume the role of the person coming to your organization to adopt an animal and act out the scene, with the adoption counselor facilitating the adoption using the Adopters Welcome approach.
6. Lead the observers in providing feedback on the adoption counselor’s approach, helping to reinforce the aspects of the conversation that went well and to identify potential missed opportunities for getting to “yes.”   
   
   Questions for the observers to answer could include:  
   • How did the adoption counselor’s demeanor, tone and body language contribute or hinder open, friendly dialogue?
   • What did the adoption counselor do to make the adopter feel at ease? What could have been improved?
   • Was any language used that made the adopter feel judged or interrogated (be sure to get the adopter’s perspective as well)?
   • Did the adoption counselor affirm skills or experiences the adopter has from previous pets or friends’ pets?
   • What alternative approaches could the adoption counselor have taken to facilitate a better interaction with the adopter?
7. Continue holding role-playing practices until you feel that each member of your team is comfortable communicating with adopters and finding more ways to say “yes.” You’ll know you’re ready to launch your Adopters Welcome program when the team is able to handle the majority of conversations naturally. 

Tips to increase effective communication between adopters and adoption counselors

• Use open-ended questions like “how,” “tell me,” “what” and “when” as opposed to yes/no questions. Find other ways to solicit what you want to know without using the word “why.”
• Practice active listening by paraphrasing, restating some of what adopters say and asking clarifying questions.
• Be mindful of how judgment and implicit bias may creep into the process. Do you ask different questions when someone is younger or older, if they’ve never had a pet, if they rent an apartment, or if their experience with pets is vastly different from yours?  
• Make use of the information that adopters offer—most come in with some level of pet experience. Find out what they know and use that to build conversation. Important: Don’t judge the information that adopters “know” and use it to decide they’re unworthy of adoption. They may believe that motor oil treats mange, that declawing cats is acceptable, or that some dogs are “inside dogs” and some are “outside dogs.” These are not signs that they’re unworthy of a pet or that they’re inherently cruel. They’re actually signs that we, as part of the animal welfare field, need to elevate the public’s knowledge and information base. Being kind and sharing what you have learned about animal care is the best way to help them overcome their knowledge gap
• Don’t overwhelm the conversation by trying to cover everything at once. Focus on what’s important to the adopter.
• Avoid accidental demands, such as “you’ll have to” and “you need to.”
• Avoid “trigger” words and phrases such as “responsible pet owner.” Don’t imply that your way is the only way.
• Create an environment that facilitates conversation. Use the 10-4 rule for in-person greetings (smile at anyone within 10 feet of you and verbally acknowledge anyone within 4 feet of you). Offer to use video communications (e.g., Zoom, FaceTime, etc.) to replace phone consultations whenever possible.
• Whenever possible, replace “but” with “and.”
• Convey positivity and friendliness with your voice, using ascending tones.
• Provide plenty of opportunity for a potential adopter to seek understanding and ask questions. Pause regularly and check in. 

LEARN MORE: Check out our free webinar on “How to support staff and volunteers in implementing Adopters Welcome.”