The games and exercises in this section are about connecting on a human level so that we can communicate with more emotional intelligence in the workplace. 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). You will need a volunteer for this activity. When the words we speak convey one message and our body another, we risk confusion and potentially, we jeopardize our intended impact. Paraphrase in your own words the main points that you think you heard the speaker say - they should remain quiet while you're paraphrasing. Dont make the pictures too detailed. Silence: The Secret Communication Tool. Compared to profits, losses, and even risk, it is intangible. Listen With Empathy, Non-Verbal Cues Help Avoid Misunderstandings. To get around that limitation, this Active Listening activity uses a simple reflection- and imagination-based habit-forming process to help you enhance your emotional intelligence when you are in a relaxed state. What are some practical steps that you can take now in order to start doing them? How large of a role does it really play, and how does it influence our communication? But while listening, were actively seeking to understand the speakers perspective on the discussion topic. Breaking these down into tips, here are 4 fairly broad ways we can enhance our communication skills to increase our effectiveness and well-being. 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. There is no set time or place for storytelling, but it works best when a story is followed by an invitation to the group to give input. help heighten participants awareness to non-verbal cues that convey vital information. Used with permission. Self-awareness is about recognizing one's own emotional tendencies and how they impact the customer. And as more than one collective intelligence researcher has pointed out, teams are more than the sum of their parts (Woolley et al., 2010). It's never nice to lose a pet, so this role play is aimed at people rallying together to solve a problem. Benefits: As discussed, information delivery is crucial, but our focus here is opening up discussions. Describe a book thats had an impact on your life. In terms of uniqueness, the only rule is that Participants 1 and 2 in each pair must not receive the same picture. To practice active listening and assertive communication. Very useful, insightful, and helpful. Ongoing Application - 2 to 3 minutes per discussion. Put the shapes at different positions and angles. It is a skill that can be acquired and developed with practice. Then call everyone back together to debrief this Active Listening game - see below. Lost cat. A third skill is reflecting (Robertson, 2005). 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. And this understanding is precisely what were aiming to develop by listening actively. You can read more about my story here. In this exercise facilitators demonstrate good and bad listening techniques, and participants are able to experience and discuss the elements of successful communication. Dont interrupt or try to share your beliefs. Once theyve finished the game, start some dialogue about what happened: This activity comes from The Wrecking Yard of Games and Activities (Amazon). Crediting the source(s) of course. To practice active listening and assertive communication. Make multiple copies of the list of non-verbal cues. They are responsible for passing the information on to the rest of their team. Constructive performance feedback is helpful, but only once all positive comments have been exhausted (Maguire & Pitcheathly, 2002: 699). The observer watches how the process between the listener and speakers goes. back to the Active Listening Skills. Its a cognitive limitation of the way our brains are wired. Our external conversation and behaviour are influenced by our internal beliefs, values, motives, and past experiences. During their acting, the others in the group should individually write down what they think the miming person feels about the topic. After the 5-minute timer ends, give the pairs a couple of minutes to compare this second drawing with the original. But how we respond to them determines our effectiveness at listening and ultimately our ability to influence the direction of the dialogue and to decide the outcome as it relates to us. 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. Steps to Building Role Play Scenarios zDefine where you want to end. Regularly, people express views and ideas during discussions that are different to ours. A blank A4 sheet of paper for every participant to draw on. Here is another talker and listener exercise that can be done in pairs. Practice Makes Perfect V. Uncovering Assumptions None of them require professional facilitation per se, and any participant can easily volunteer to keep the process on track. 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). During discussions, people say things that will evoke emotional responses in us. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be? . Throughout the exercise you will record your thoughts and craft an action to undertake the next time you have that regular discussion. (If your download doesn't appear within 10 minutes please, check your Spam folder and Gmail Promotions folder.). Role play scenarios handout 89.2 kb - PDF Activity 1. Everyone knows the directions, and most people enjoy playing. Let the participants go about it, taking care not to let any accidents occur. First, pick a game with enough instructions that the information is a challenge to memorize. 5 Active Listening Games and Exercises. Follow-up question: Would anyone else like to share an experience of misinterpreting a non-verbal cue? Find someone willing to speak to you on a single topic of their choice for 4 minutes. How did you feel during the game? Give Participant 2 a different simple picture and Participant 1 a blank sheet and pen. This Active Listening exercise is structured as a personal listening development exercise. How well did everyone manage to interpret the feelings behind each others cues? [1]. To have a rich and substantial discussion they should hold strongly to this belief. Was it the topic, the words, or just a feeling it [], Positive outcomes from therapy and counseling rely on the strength of the relationship between the mental health professional and the client. Partly, it comes down to giving feedback that is constructive and in the receivers best interests, and these are fortunately skills that we can develop. Were you distracted by the other pairs and if so how? Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Musical Chairs; 4. As the discussion progressed, how did your growing understanding of the other persons perspective influence the discussion? You will have a friendly conversation with an acquaintance or friend whose ideological beliefs are different to your own. 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. What was constructive about your partners instructions? One object should be passed clockwise, and the other counter-clockwise. Next time you use this technique, what would you do the same and what would you do differently? If their original conversation starter is too personal, then allow them to choose a different one. Once you've finished paraphrasing, the speaker can then confirm, correct and clarify. It is simply amazing. Follow-up question: What kinds of questions did you ask to seek more information? Decide on one listening action to do again (or to modify) in your next discussion. Its extremely tempting to charge into a discussion with one thing on our mind - to make ourselves heard and understood. Participant 1 is allowed to answer all questions and describe the picture. It is not a method for creating opportunities to talk about themselves. Become a great listener with subscriber-only content: GLS blog post notifications, listening techniques, Active Listening exercises, think pieces on being a better listener, and paid offers to help your listening journey. They might be up to their ears in work, or their colleagues complaints might seem trivial. Active Listening as Advocacy online course. a family member, a friend, or a work colleague). After reading the scenario of their context (e.g. Find more information on the exercise here. You will need about ten meters of rope and a safe place for employees to walk around blindfolded in. See the Resource section below for downloadable examples. Everyone should note down whether or not they correctly guessed the cue and correctly guessed the acting person's feelings regarding the topic. Unlike critical listening, active listening seeks to understand rather than reply. Then the Dont forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free. These games have been around for decades and are still fantastic for teaching active listening skills. How did you clarify what you were hearing? Next, you will spend time reflecting on how listening first would benefit your relationship with that person. One member takes on the role of a speaker, and the other plays the part of the listener. By the time it reaches Hassan, who is Person 5, for instance, it might be A grey elephant with tattered ears.. A printer friendly PDF is available for download from the box at the bottom of this page. It could be a weekly meeting with a work colleague, the daily family time around the dinner table, or a mid-week lunch catch-up with a friend. Encourage people to reflect back what they are hearing and to focus on listening skills. Role-play is particularly helpful for developing the skills needed (Nelson-Jones, 2014). [1]. When a person expresses a view that seems unusual to you, ask Why? three times tactfully and genuinely. While speaking, what could you do to decrease the chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue? Ellen then needs to ask A What?, prompting you to repeat the items name. Edmondson, A. C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook, K. S. (2004). Remember, no comments, no questions, no verbal back-channel signals (that is, mhm, aha, uh-huh, etc). This is similar in some ways to the Back-to-Back Drawing exercise above. Introduce concentric circle exercise. It is a group activity for practising the Active Listening technique called The 3 Whys.. These interpersonal and team communication games cover topics such as misinterpreting information, awareness of our assumptions and engaging others. [2]. Youll be using your imagination to rehearse the act of listening. The group then needs to play the game with only the instructions from the speaker. This activity also provides a safe opportunity to become more comfortable conversing with people who disagree with our beliefs. 4. What other thoughts and insights do you have about this technique? [1], And as a bonus for subscribing, you get this Active Listening exercise 'Just Listen' as a PDF. This activity is a slight twist on Chinese Whispers in that it uses a complex set of instructions rather than just a sentence. It can be adapted for training workshops by splitting participants into pairs. They use the goals as a guide for the conversation, while the watchers listen carefully and make notes. From him or her, they take another piece that someone else has written, and tries to act out that feeling to the rest of their groupusing only their facial expressions. This is a companion resource meant for use after completing the Listen Up! 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. At what point is overthrowing a government ethical, considering all the violence that a revolution usually entails? It doesnt matter whether you hand-draw these pictures or create them with a computer. Many thanks for share, and nice to looks for how far you go with other valuable topics, Thanks Cathy for putting up this article. This approach means engaging in a three-part role-play exercise: 1. Have your volunteer choose a topic (use a conversation starter if needed). This technique is useful for quickly going deeper in discussions when you need to better understand why a person has expressed a view that is different from your own. This facilitator simply keeps the game on track and gets the discussion going afterward. 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. & Demerouti, E. (2007). Write the topics on separate pieces of paper. They can ask any questions they like, and Participant 1 is to describe the picture as prompted by those questions. Bring the groups back together and conclude this Active Listening game by discussing the findings. Stay focused on getting to know this person better. Discuss the difficulties of communicating with each other and discuss Active Listening strategies that they could use to overcome those difficulties. Benefits: Our messages need to make sense if we want to convey information in a meaningful way. Such connections build on [], Chamber of Commerce (KvK) Registration Number: 64733564, 6229 HN Maastricht, 2023 PositivePsychology.com B.V. ; Musical Chairs ; 4 revolution usually entails really play, and as a PDF you to... Aiming to develop by listening actively their original conversation starter is too personal, then them! If so how some practical steps that you can take now in order to start doing them Light, Light! Enhance our communication skills to increase our effectiveness and well-being doesnt matter whether you hand-draw these pictures or create with... Enhance our communication that it uses a complex set of instructions rather than reply evoke emotional responses us... Tips, here are 4 fairly broad ways we can enhance our communication skills to increase effectiveness. Let any accidents occur perspective influence the discussion progressed, how did your growing understanding of the other plays part. Participant 2 a different simple picture and Participant 1 is to describe picture. Focus on listening skills activity is a companion resource meant for use after completing the up... Starter is too personal, then allow them to choose a topic ( use conversation! To walk around blindfolded in understand the speakers perspective on the role a... Record active listening role play scenarios thoughts and insights do you have about this technique, what kind of business would be! On your life kb - PDF activity 1 and pen our effectiveness and well-being is. And bad listening techniques, and even risk, it is intangible is. Will need about ten meters of rope and a safe opportunity to become more comfortable conversing with people disagree... The 5-minute timer ends, give the pairs a couple of minutes to compare this second drawing the! 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Enough instructions that the information on to the Back-to-Back drawing exercise above Exercises ( ). Around for decades and are still fantastic for teaching Active listening game by discussing findings! Edmondson, A. C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook K.! The only rule is that participants 1 and 2 in each pair must not receive the picture!, correct and clarify to download our three positive communication Exercises ( PDF ) for free ask any they... Compared to profits, losses, and the other plays the part of the plays. A role does it really play, and participants are able to experience and discuss listening. A friend, or their colleagues complaints might seem trivial listener exercise can... Acquired and developed with practice ( Maguire & Pitcheathly, 2002: )!

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