The Importance of Communication in the Workplace, 7 Tips on Improving Communication Skills at Work, 3 Games and Exercises to Improve Workplace Communication Skills, 3 Activities to Improve Communication Between Employees, 3 Active Listening Games and Exercises for the Workplace, 3 Team Building Communication Games and Exercises, 3 Communication Exercises and Activities for Groups. All humans have some things in common. Put the shapes at different positions and angles. Did others help them? None of them require professional facilitation per se, and any participant can easily volunteer to keep the process on track. Thank you so much for creating and sharing these tools. For this activity, youll need an even number of participants so everybody can have a partner. When we get together as humans, we need a chance to communicate just as much as we need our individual smarts, and essentially, it comes down to social sensitivityemotional perception once again. It reduces the possibility of us misunderstanding them. It's how they say it. When someone repeats or interrupts another group member, they start again from one. During the 5 minutes, Participant 2 must draw the picture that Participant 1 is holding. Decide on one listening action to do again (or to modify) in your next discussion. into categories); Checked that patients understood them before moving on; and. (20-30 min). As humans, were complex. Possible imagined response: explore the situation. You will have a friendly conversation with an acquaintance or friend whose ideological beliefs are different to your own. Nonverbal communication. In order to tailor a specific sales approach to a prospective client, active listening not just hearing is key. or, "What's the progress since our last catch-up?". When talking, people convey vital information through non-verbal behaviour and gestures. This group listening skills activity enables participants to practise using The 3 Whys Active Listening technique. After 5 minutes, every pair is to compare the drawing with their original and briefly discuss what did and didnt work. active listener, who will role-play the scenario, and who will be the observer. And that activity is to create a comic together, using their complementary skills and communication to realize a shared vision. A solo Active Listening skills exercise to develop the habit of entering discussions with the mindset of 'listening first to understand the speaker.' Having this mindset as your default position gives much greater conversational influence than when doing most of the talking. While they talk, the listener pays close attention to the explicit and underlying details, using only non-verbal cues to show that they are listening. In a small paragraph, it should outline whats gone wrong (maybe its everything from a cracked smartphone screen to a delay during your commute). Our non-verbal behavior and the way we speak is critical. Everyone knows the directions, and most people enjoy playing. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Communication exercises and games are interactional activities that aim to develop how we relate to one another, including how we share information and get along. Ellen then needs to ask A What?, prompting you to repeat the items name. What do you appreciate about them? At the height of a discussion its very difficult to apply new techniques such as harnessing your emotions while trying to stay calm and avoid reacting impulsively to what were hearing (and observing non-verbally). Here is another talker and listener exercise that can be done in pairs. Very useful, insightful, and helpful. Edmondson, A. C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook, K. S. (2004). When working with other people such as in a project team, the quality of the final product, service, or deliverable is highly dependent on the quality of the teams listening to each other. How well did everyone manage to interpret the feelings behind each others cues? This exercise introduces I statements, which describe others behavior objectively while allowing the speaker to express the impact on their feelings. What are some key things to be aware of when we give or listen to instructions? At the end of the day, active listening games can impact positively on our relationships by encouraging us to practice specific techniques, and these, in turn, find support in the empirical literature (Weger et al., 2014). Each pair is given a thought-provoking conversation starter (see Resource section below). Active listening is not planning your response to what the person is saying. During this debrief, they reflect collectively on the experience itself: This gamestorming communications exercise is based on a team coaching technique by Time To Grow Global. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/blog/silence-the-secret-communication-tool/. Listen With Empathy,. The doctors studied also checked with their patients what their beliefs were about what was wrong. What are your thoughts regarding [. You will gain a greater understanding of any particular core beliefs, likes or dislikes that are motivating this reaction. For this exercise, everybody has a handout that summarizes the goals of the discussion. Its best if this isnt inappropriate for the workplace, but at the same time, it doesnt have to be work-related. Positive messages go a long way toward solving communication problems. You will need a volunteer for this exercise. Before doing the role play, make sure students understand they should use their English to resolve the situation rather than just shouting at each other. Used with permission from Time To Grow Global. While listening, answer in your own mind, questions such as: What aspects of the speaker's message most interest them?, What is the main theme(s) of their message?, What are the key takeaways from the speakers message?. Why did it capture you? Describe a book thats had an impact on your life. The purpose of this Active Listening skills game is to practice the skill of asking questions to seek initial information about the picture, listening to the answers, clarifying their understanding, and seeking further information. With active listening, the speaker is given the time and space to speak as much as they want. Say something like, Hey, Im keen on developing good listening skills. For example, happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, disgust, indifference, boredom, nervousness, confusion, feeling of guilt. Practice Makes Perfect V. Uncovering Assumptions As Talker, what feedback did your Listener appear to give? I too would like to be able to utilize them as a resource for my workshop. zDevelop the character. They are designed for adults (not children) and suitable for both personal listening development and workplace training workshops. This Active Listening exercise is structured as a personal listening development exercise. What would be your perfect weekend? We can look at Learys Rose for more insights on how and why, but this time, the tip is to understand when to communicate or step back (Leary, 2004). zDevelop the action. How did you increase your understanding of your partners picture? The objective of this Active Listening exercise is to help you develop the mindset of entering into every discussion firstly wearing your listener hat, so as to focus on understanding the other persons perspective. But while listening, were actively seeking to understand the speakers perspective on the discussion topic. The idea is for the partners to communicate clearly in order to help each other accurately redraw the picture, without showing it or cheating in some other way. Developing emotional intelligence in high potential middle managers: The role of experiential learning. Breaking into pairs, group participants take turns asking Active Listening questions about a simple drawing that they cannot see in order to draw it as accurately as possible. To really grasp how big of an impact it has, we can touch on some of the theory. Use paraphrasing lead-ins such as I think I heard you say and It sounds like. 1. Youll find it helpful if that person is also keen on developing their listening skills. The game is an Active Listening twist on the well-known 'Description' communication skills game. I think this is an excellent resource with a great outcome. For more information about how to listen actively, see The GLS Project article, Active Listening How To 5 Easy Steps to Your Best Conversation Yet, For more information on cognitive empathy, including how it differs from emotional empathy, see The GLS Project article Want to Avoid Poor Discussions? So you could either create a unique picture for every person in the group, or create two pictures, one for every Participant 1 and the other for every Participant 2. Four activities are original. 2023 Andrew Ward of The GLS Project -Designed by Thrive Themes
A solo Active Listening skills activity that increases your emotional intelligence by heightening your awareness of emotions that emerge during discussions. This activity also reinforces a key aspect of Active Listening, which is asking targeted questions to help us better understand where our discussion partner is coming from. Asking Questions To Seek Information and Clarify Understanding. This is similar in some ways to the Back-to-Back Drawing exercise above. Ask the group to each prepare a reading that they will share. When we do this, listening can become a bit of an afterthought. Together or solo, they can create I statements about how the imaginary scenario makes them feel. Give each group one of these topics, or use your own topics: Give each group a copy of this list. Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Musical Chairs; 4. And if you want to improve your listening skills even more, explore The GLS Project website. You can further enhance the impact of role-play in . Emotional intelligence. Why not? As the discussion progressed, how did your growing understanding of the other persons perspective influence the discussion? back to the Active Listening Skills. Clarify when you catch yourself jumping to conclusions. strengthen your ability to cognitively empathise with others, especially with people who hold different views to you. How did you come to that view?, Emotion - Confusion. zDevelop the environment. Invite students to role play the scenarios. Armed with their handouts, talkers begin to engage with the topic. Active listening. So, if they agree, and now isnt a good time for a deep discussion, then diarise time to catch up socially in a place where you can talk freely. Use the discussion points below. Steps to Building Role Play Scenarios zDefine where you want to end. How effective was this technique? The participant replying to the 3 Why questions should not be intentionally evasive. Very useful for my Communicare sessions. These games have been around for decades and are still fantastic for teaching active listening skills. From your larger group of co-workers, let them form smaller groups of about 3-6 participants and tell them their task is to produce a unique comic strip, with one frame from each person. What other thoughts and insights do you have about this technique? This may put you well outside your comfort zone. Interpreting these cues is notoriously difficult because they can have several different meanings depending on the speakers current feelings and attitudes towards the discussion topic, their culture, their past experiences, and whether they are having a good or bad day! Repeatedly perform these debrief/reflection steps after your regular discussions to reinforce the mindset of being a listener. Once both Participants 1 and 2 have attempted to draw a picture, the group will reassemble to discuss the difficulties of communicating with each other and to discuss Active Listening strategies that they could use to overcome those difficulties. Crediting the source(s) of course. emphasise that assumptions about the meaning of non-verbal cues will almost always be wrong to some extent. With each asking of the Why? question were inviting the speaker to increasingly open up about their beliefs and values, and to share the reasons for their views. Discuss anything else that impacted you both. Here are some possible discussion questions to ask: Here are some conversation topics that the participants will have a wide range of feelings and attitudes towards. How did you feel about the feedback you received? You will keep rehearsing this image in your mind until you can easily visualise yourself listening actively to the other person(s). What could we do to better understand non-verbal cues that we observe? Through this exercise, we can practice structuring our narrativesessentially well have one information delivery tool to draw on when we feel it might help (like the doctors we looked at earlier). Occasionally, a speaker will say how they feel. Used with permission. A solo Active Listening skills exercise to develop the habit of entering discussions with the mindset of listening first to understand the speaker. Having this mindset as your default position gives much greater conversational influence than when doing most of the talking. Reference: Nonviolent Community Safety and Peacebuilding Trainers' Manual, page 18. What thoughts do you have about interpreting non-verbal cues? Some discussion points include: This game comes from The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games (Amazon). Odom, R. Y., Boxx, W. R., & Dunn, M. G. (1990). The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. What was constructive about your partners instructions? Heres How Step 2, Follow-up Questions Are The Secret To Meaningful Conversations Step 3, Active Listening How To 5 Easy Steps to Your Best Conversation Yet. I intend to use three of your exercises in my upcoming workshop on communication in the 2nd week of June, 2022 . One participant will ask their activity partner a conversation starter question and then respond to their answer using The 3 Whys. The other participant will take the role of genuinely responding to those Why questions. This is a small group Active Listening game for adults. How much does language affect our thinking? Popcorn Storytelling. Each person must secretly decide on the cue that best describes their feeling towards their groups topic. What has worked in the past for your team? Work engagement: An emerging concept in occupational health psychology. Follow-up question: What kinds of questions did you ask to seek more information? Would that be okay?. . For example, one team member might describe a past success of the group or team, where their collective strengths helped them succeed. Weger Jr, H., Castle Bell, G., Minei, E. M., & Robinson, M. C. (2014). It is simply amazing. And you may ask follow-up questions if desired. This exercise comes from a Teambuilding Facilitation Manual: A Guide to Leading and Facilitating Teambuilding Activities, by Penn State University. When done in pairs, they can practice giving each other feedback on meaning what you say without triggering defensiveness in the other. begin shifting your internal dialogue (aka self-talk) from focusing on yourself and what you want to say next, to focusing on the speaker and trying to understand what they are saying. You will utilise a well-recognised habit-formation strategy - the process of imagination and reflection.' [2]. To enhance our influencing skills and the quality of our working relationships with others, it helps to practice being aware of your own non-verbal behaviors. We do this by asking questions to draw out more information, to clarify, and to confirm our understanding of what they are saying. speaking to paProvide students with a copy Once both Participants 1 and 2 have practised using 'The 3 Whys', the group will reassemble to discuss the experience using the follow-up questions provided. In other workplaces, team situations call for claritya shared goal is the ideal, but very often we come at situations with at least a few different beliefs. Find more information on the exercise here. The objective of this Active Listening activity is to help group participants practise using The 3 Whys Active Listening technique. What draws you to that idea? Step-by-step instructions are provided. Defining Goals . In a large group of participants or employees, particularly, we often need to cut through the noise with a clear and coherent messageand this game can be played with even a large group of people. [1]. Time needed 60-90 minutes Resources needed Whiteboard, blackboard or butchers paper Marker pens How it's done Name things that you noticed they did well. Instead of drawing pictures, you could give Participant 1 an object created using Lego building blocks that Participant 2 must build. Let me know in the comments how you use them and any improvements that I could make. Set a 4 minute timer and begin listening to your volunteer talk about their chosen topic. Communication in the presence of noise. Make it extra-hard if you like, by instructing them not to look at one anothers creative progress as they draw, either. Regularly, people express views and ideas during discussions that are different to ours. One object should be passed clockwise, and the other counter-clockwise. Explain first up that the goal of the task is effective verbal communication, and give each participant a blindfold. Its a cognitive limitation of the way our brains are wired. And, they go above and beyond coherent speech in many wayswe talk, we use silence, body language, tone of voice, and eye-contactvoluntarily and unconsciously. This is the skill of repeating what . Start the timer for another 5 minutes and repeat the process of questioning, describing, and drawing. Writing helps with the cognitive reinforcement process. The catch is that they all need to draw at the same time, so they will not be seeing the preceding frame in the strip. This will ensure that you dont sound like a child whos interrogating an adult with Why?! After everyone in the group has acted out their non-verbal cue, the group should compare notes as to how accurately they managed to interpret each others cues. In what ways can facial expressions influence our ability to deal with misunderstandings? 7.8) Difficult Customer Role Play. Development and validation of the active empathetic listening scale. Then they will swap roles for another 5 minutes with a new picture. When the words we speak convey one message and our body another, we risk confusion and potentially, we jeopardize our intended impact. But they must not say how they feel. During their acting, the others in the group should individually write down what they think the miming person feels about the topic. One participant will take the role of asking the conversation starter and then the 3 Whys. The other participant will take the role of genuinely responding to those Why questions. First, we need to create an optimal learning environment if we want to maximize our improvement; in this sense: We can also look at the business literature for some more support of what we identified earlier as key communication skills. So, flat and ideally with no walls or tripping hazards. Youll need a list of topics for people to act out, then invite players to break off into groups of two. Then call everyone back together to debrief this Active Listening game - see below. But active listening encourages pleasant social interactions, which in turn, these boost our well-being and life satisfaction (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Take a list of conversation starters (see the resource below) just in case the speakers mind goes blank. A third skill is reflecting (Robertson, 2005). a family member, a friend, or a work colleague). This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. What activity causes you to feel like you are living life to the fullest? A twist on this team coaching exercise might involve allowing the listener to make notes during the talkers description, revealing them as a point of discussion only after they deliver the sales pitch. 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