Clara and Darius Case Files: Shift Records, Role-Play Rounds and Assignment

# Section 5 Prepared Practice Files: Feedback Without Assuming Motives, Role-Play, and Written Assignment

**Purpose**: Authored fictional teaching materials for Section 5 (*Prepare for conversations you cannot afford to avoid (AI for People Leadership)*). Use these files to inspect the examples in Lectures `5.1` through `5.5` or test the prompts in `../prompts/section-05-prompts.md`.

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## 1. Shift-Note Feedback & Coaching Case (`5.1`–`5.2` — Clara & Liam)

### Work Records (`clara-shift-records.md`)
- **Tuesday Evening Shift Note (Liam)**: Closed at 5:00 p.m. `Open Customer Issues / Pending Callbacks` field left blank.
- **Wednesday Morning Call Log**: Customer #418 called at 9:15 a.m. asking for the promised billing adjustment update from Tuesday afternoon; morning rep had no record and had to reconstruct the issue from scratch.
- **Thursday Evening Shift Note (Liam)**: Closed at 5:00 p.m. `Open Customer Issues / Pending Callbacks` field left blank.
- **Friday Morning Call Log**: Customer #502 called at 9:30 a.m. regarding an unresolved Tuesday/Thursday billing escalation; morning rep had to repeat the intake questions.
- **Feasible support Clara can offer**: (a) A 3-item end-of-shift handover checklist, or (b) pairing with a senior rep to review how late-day billing escalations are logged.

### From Assumed Motive to Grounded Observation & Question (`5.2`)

| Element | Initial Frustrated Thought (Assumed Motive) | Prepared Coaching Opening (Grounded in Records) |
|---|---|---|
| **Statement** | `"Liam is rushing out the door at shift close and does not care about leaving a mess for the morning shift."` | `"In Tuesday and Thursday's shift notes, the 2 open billing problems were not listed, which meant 2 customers had to repeat their full history to the morning team."` |
| **Question** | *(None — states a verdict on the colleague's character)* | `"What made capturing those open issues difficult at the end of those shifts?"` |

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## 2. Three-Round Role-Play & Listening Checklist (`5.3`)

### Role-Play Rounds (`roleplay-practice-rounds.md`)
- **Listening checklist for each round**: Does Clara state the concern clearly, ask an open question, attend to the colleague's answer, and separate a newly surfaced fact from an assumption?
- **Round 1 (Uncertainty about the standard)**: Simulated colleague says they thought only confirmed refunds belonged in the open-issues field, not pending billing investigations.
- **Round 2 (End-of-shift workload pressure)**: Simulated colleague says: *"I got stuck on an escalated billing call 5 minutes before the end of my shift on both days, and I am required to log off right on the hour."*
  - **Clara's first reply (Stopped listening / repeated rule)**: *"Everyone gets late calls, so you still have to fill out the shift note before logging off."*
  - **Agent's quoted listening critique**: Quoted Clara's reply and noted that she answered with a rule before understanding the conflict between a late escalation and the strict overtime cutoff.
  - **Clara's revised reply**: *"That late escalation is important context, so tell me how you are currently handling the overtime limit and what would let you flag the open customer issue in one line for the morning shift."*
- **Round 3 (Disagreement on impact)**: Simulated colleague says the customer would have called back anyway regardless of the shift note.

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## 3. Written Assignment (People Delegation) (`5.4` — Darius & Tessa)

- **Delegated project**: Create the **new-starter onboarding guide** for the cohort arriving on the first of next month.
- **Initial micromanaged draft (Repaired)**: Claimed `"Tessa, you fully own creating the guide"` while dictating the exact 5 section headings, font layout, and approval after every page.
- **Repaired 4-part written assignment (`darius-onboarding-written-assignment.md`)**:
  1. **Desired result**: A clear guide that lets a new starter complete all first-day essentials independently without chasing a manager for basic setup steps.
  2. **Decision freedom vs. return boundary**: Tessa chooses the guide's layout and proposes the sequence of first-day tasks. Any change to which security permissions new starters receive on day one returns to Darius for a decision.
  3. **Available support**: Existing rough onboarding notes + named IT operations contact for system setup facts (adjusted during the meeting: while the primary IT contact is on leave this week, Darius will confirm a backup IT contact for the virtual-private-network section by tomorrow afternoon so Tessa keeps full ownership of the guide).
  4. **Check-in point**: Review one complete working draft **10 days before the cohort start date**, or earlier if Tessa hits a blocker she cannot clear.