Name things that you noticed they did well. Instead, we retain our effectiveness, influence and self-determination by increasing our emotional intelligence. Happily ever after: The use of stories to promote positive interventions. How did you feel during the game? But they must not say how they feel. When it comes to tasks and expectations, it goes without saying that clarity helps us avoid lots of unwanted things. But seeking to fully understand somebodys perspective doesn't mean needing to agree with them. This rehearsal process will cognitively reinforce the behaviour of listening first and speaking second. Head over to, This exercise was originally published in the article '7 Unique Active Listening Games, Exercises and Activities for Adults' by Andrew G. Ward, at. They determined their perspectives before decision-making; in other settings, this is inviting participation and engagement. Role-play. Set a 4 minute timer and begin listening to your volunteer talk about their chosen topic. 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. Communication is a two-way street, at the very least. And in each pair, of course, team members will take turns being listener and talker. Printable step-by-step instructions (including resources). Remember that you're not obliged to agree with them. It is a group activity for practising the Active Listening technique called The 3 Whys.. How critical was communication throughout this exercise? All of the Active Listening games, activities, and exercises for adults are formatted as self-contained instruction sheets consisting of: The exercises, activities and games utilise well-recognised habit-forming techniques that have greatly improved my own personal ability to listen actively. Thanks to Conversation Starters World. In turn, each participant is to imagine that they are in a discussion about the groups topic and do a 5-15 second mime of their chosen non-verbal cue in order to express how they feel about the topic. Use specific scenarios students experience on a day-to-day basis in an office setting. Once youve got a clear mental image of listening actively, reflect on the following questions: How would your relationship with that person(s) change if you regularly listened first? Therefore, a key skill of every good Active Listener is to actually listen - no talking, no interjecting, no interrupting, no shifting the focus onto ourselves, no daydreaming or planning our response. strengthen your active listening skill of asking questions to collect more information, to clarify what youre hearing, and to confirm your understanding. In medical professions, its particularly critical not just to extract and interpret informationoften, from conversation partners who lack crucial information themselvesbut to convey it empathetically and with clarity. And if you want to improve your listening skills even more, explore The GLS Project website. Developing Cognitive Empathy with Your Discussion Partner. But because the way we get along is so fundamental to organizational success and human flourishing, many more companies are focusing on the latter. Checked whether they wanted further information. Brief discussion on what was different and the aims of active listening. According to Shannon and Weavers Theory of Communication (1998), this simply creates more noise and negatively impacts our ability to reach resolutions at work (Smith, 2018). 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. Time needed 60-90 minutes Resources needed Whiteboard, blackboard or butchers paper Marker pens How it's done This can be a fun roleplay to really ham it up (make it exaggerated and humourous). Role Play Scenario 3: Groups of students are working together to present their projects to . With nobody in particular starting first, they are asked to count from one to ten as a group, but each member can only say one number. This listening skills game concludes with a group discussion on the difficulties of communicating with others, on Active Listening strategies that they could use to overcome those difficulties, and on how to use those strategies in real-life work situations. Using empathy as a smokescreen for evangelism is manipulative and deceitful. Tell us if any of these are particularly useful, and let us know if youve got tweaks for this current set of activities. Were you distracted by the other pairs and if so how? or, "What's the progress since our last catch-up?". Identify someone who has a belief that is different to your own. In this article, you will find 15 communication exercises, games, and tips to help you improve teamwork and collaboration in your workplace. The listener uses effective listening and makes appropriate responses back to the speaker. Briefly share what you think you heard the speaker say (i.e. Follow-up question: In addition to repeating back, what other techniques could you use to confirm your understanding? What happened? This is similar in some ways to the Back-to-Back Drawing exercise above. STUDENT. In communicating expectations, needs, and more, it helps to clarify and create common ground. Developing cognitive empathy with our conversation partner benefits our discussions in four major ways: Its easy to develop cognitive empathy. Once people have paired off, they sit back-to-back with a paper and pencil each. What activity causes you to feel like you are living life to the fullest? To try out personal storytelling, set aside a team-building afternoon, meeting, or workshop. Have the group sit in a circle. The objective of this Active Listening activity is to increase your emotional intelligence by heightening your awareness of emotions that emerge during discussions. Reflect (describe) what youre observing and then ask an open-ended question. Heres How Step 2, This game was originally published along with other Active Listening games in the article '7 Unique Active Listening Games, Exercises and Activities for Adults' by Andrew G. Ward, at. Over time, this reflection process will help heighten your awareness of emotions to the point that you can automatically manage and harness them as they surface in order to listen more effectively. To get started improving your (or your team's, or your student's) communication skills, give these 5 activities a try. We hate it with a passion!View our Privacy Policy& Terms of Use. Imagine that time freezes for everyone but you for one day. Youll be using your imagination to rehearse the act of listening. Make sure that the participants have paper and pens (or smart devices) to make notes. Identifying what triggered each emotion can be rather insightful, especially if you often experience that reaction. Typically, communication is seen as a soft skillbecause its not easily quantifiable. Possible imagined response: How does your idea solve our situation? https://positivepsychology.com/communication-activities-adults-students/. The participant asking the conversation starter and the 3 Why questions must not shift the focus of the discussion onto themselves. Excellent content and I cant wait to use some of this content as well. 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. A blank A4 sheet of paper for every participant to draw on. That applies both to our language and the extent to which we empathize. Unlike critical listening, active listening seeks to understand rather than reply. Ask the group to each prepare a reading that they will share. They can ask any questions they like, and Participant 1 is to describe the picture as prompted by those questions. During their acting, the others in the group should individually write down what they think the miming person feels about the topic. Its best if this isnt inappropriate for the workplace, but at the same time, it doesnt have to be work-related. Ellen then needs to ask A What?, prompting you to repeat the items name. Stay focused on getting to know this person better. For privacy information see the About page. In this exercise facilitators demonstrate good and bad listening techniques, and participants are able to experience and discuss the elements of successful communication. Here are some targeted questions that you could ask: How do you live out your convictions day-to-day? This exercise introduces I statements, which describe others behavior objectively while allowing the speaker to express the impact on their feelings. Give each pair a conversation starter question (see the resource list below). This may put you well outside your comfort zone. Make the Speaker Feel Heard. Here are two activities that will help your team work together creatively to solve a problem, as well as one about the role of silence. Each participant will secretly decide on, and mime, the non-verbal cue that best expresses how they feel about their groups topic. B., Schaufeli, W. B., Leiter, M. P., & Taris, T. W. (2008). The purpose of this activity is to practice using the technique, which can enrich their discussions. What could we do to better understand non-verbal cues that we observe? Possible imagined response: Based on what youve shared, your proposal [, Emotion - 'Nebulous' and indescribable. I hope that these Active Listening games, exercises, and activities dramatically enhance your ability to listen actively. . Did others help them? Lost cat. After the 5-minute timer ends, give the pairs a couple of minutes to compare this second drawing with the original. (20-30 min). It helps us create more clarity, take in information more effectively, and develop our workplace relationships through empathetic engagement (Nikolova et al., 2013). Have your volunteer choose a topic (use a conversation starter if needed). Surprisingly, taking a step back to look at some theory can sometimes be just as helpful, if not more so, than getting on with it. Active listening involves giving the other person time to explore their thoughts and feelings, they should be given adequate time for that. Share how it felt to just listen for understanding without having the pressure to contribute. Then, once you adequately understand them, you can switch into the role of speaker in order to share your perspective. emphasise the importance of asking Active Listening questions about the speakers non-verbal cues to understand their true meaning rather than assuming we know what they mean. In a larger group of participants, this can be done multiple times as players pair up with different conversation partners. While speaking, what could you do to decrease the chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue? Very insightful and interesting ways of training people for better workplace communication skills. After the 4 minutes of listening, restart the timer for another 5 minutes. Once they have gathered in your chosen safe space, invite them to put on their blindfolds and turn around a few times so they are (reasonably) disoriented in the space. 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. It reduces the possibility of us misunderstanding them. Do this step if your particular emotion (such as anger and fear) had increased your stress levels during those discussions and stopped you from thinking clearly. Uncertainty reduction through everyday performative language work: the case of coaching. Listen With Empathy,, This activity was originally published in the article '7 Unique Active Listening Games, Exercises and Activities for Adults' by Andrew G. Ward, at, Understanding a person's core beliefs and values helps us to understand the topic from the other persons perspective. 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. To use the structure as an exercise, participants simply relate a narrative using CCSG. What did you feel when you were observing from the outer circle, listening but not contributing? Doctors described empathy in terms of feedback and validation. See the Resource section below for downloadable examples. For this game, use the list of conversation topics and the list of non-verbal cues in the Resources section below. They will need to communicate those creative ideas to one another, but also engage in joint decision-making for the activity to be a success. In EURAM Conference, Munich, Germany. What would be the most ethical way to give away five million dollars? After fifteen minutes of discussion, the watchers and talkers switch circlesthose who were listening before now sit on the inner circle for a fifteen-minute conversation. develop the active listening skills of (1) asking questions to. In what ways did players support each other? Have paper and pens available for the participants. Benefits: We dont need to look too far to find sources of workplace stress that might be impacting our colleagues. If your mind was an island, what would it look like? The doctors studied also checked with their patients what their beliefs were about what was wrong. What are some key things to be aware of when we give or listen to instructions? Thank you so much for creating and sharing these tools. 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. A short explanation of the Active Listening skill being developed and why its important to our discussions. We live in an information-driven society, where communication determines how fast we learn. Talking is essentially a form of content delivery, and its not really communication unless we listen. It involves listening closely, paraphrasing back to the speaker what you hear, clarifying what you think you hear, etc. Finally, everybody removes their blindfolds, and its time for feedback. Your sign-up bonus has been sent to your inbox. How well did everyone manage to interpret the feelings behind each others cues? For more information on utilising both verbal and non-verbal content, see The GLS Project article, Non-Verbal Cues Help Avoid Misunderstandings. Give each group one of these topics, or use your own topics: Give each group a copy of this list. Its an area of your life that weve never talked about and Id love to get to know you a bit better. Talk your way through that perfect weekend. It works with any sized team and requires only a facilitator and some novel objects that can be passed between participants. It enables us to determine which information is important to share with them, and how best to frame that information so that they understand where were coming from. We hate it with a passion!View our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use. If youre a cross-functional team, why not try out an activity that challenges assumptions? 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. They can be one-on-one or team exercises, but the goal is the same: they help us develop our interpersonal skills and improve our capacity to relate. A third skill is reflecting (Robertson, 2005). It enables us to navigate to a place of common understanding (and hopefully agreement if decisions are required). They are designed for adults (not children) and suitable for both personal listening development and workplace training workshops. What was the impact of that emotion on you and on others? Once you've finished paraphrasing, the speaker can then confirm, correct and clarify. Why did it capture you? If you hate pop-up ads, for instance, youve already got great material for your rant. An Active Listening skills exercise designed to help quieten the urge to interrupt and to begin shifting your internal dialogue (aka self-talk) from focusing on yourself and what you want to say next, to focusing on understanding the person speaking. So, flat and ideally with no walls or tripping hazards. This can show what happens when we dont. - The ability to deliver information effectively. speaking to paProvide students with a copy This exercise is done with another person. Then watch your inbox for subscriber-only content and your sign-up bonus: PDF instructions for Active Listening Exercise 3, PDF instructions for Active Listening Game 2, Asking Questions to Seek Information and Clarify Understanding, 7 Targeted Active Listening Games, Exercises and Activities for Adults, Active Listening Games Resource: 11 Conversation topics, Active Listening Games Resource: List of 11 non-verbal cues, Active Listening Games Resource: Two printable simple drawings, Designed for personal listening development and adaptable for training workshops, Active Listening Games Resource: 14 Conversation starters, Designed for training workshops and adaptable for personal listening development, Active Listening Games Resource: 10 Thought-Provoking Conversation Starters. Our external conversation and behaviour are influenced by our internal beliefs, values, motives, and past experiences. Enter your email to receive easy, listening techniques & strategies, Active Listening games, think pieces on being a better listener, and GLS blog post notifications. For more depth on seeking to understand other people, see the article titled Want to Avoid Poor Discussions? Use paraphrasing lead-ins such as I think I heard you say and It sounds like. & Demerouti, E. (2007). As you can probably see, the activity is aimed at helping teammates appreciate that feedback has positive goals. Doctors described how important it was to see whether patients wanted to participate in choosing their treatment. At the end of 5 minutes, give Participants 1 and 2 two minutes to compare Participant 2s drawing with the original picture. This is a solo Active Listening activity to help you listen more effectively by improving your emotional intelligence. A time when I dealt with a difficult conflict well. So, there is no benefit in cheating. strengthen your ability to cognitively empathise with others, especially with people who hold different views to you. Describe some contexts where facial expressions play a particularly important role in communication? Follow-up question: What could you have done to overcome any differences in understanding? Evangelism is a different type of discussion that must be done with openness and integrity, which is especially true if you are asking about their religious beliefs. To have a rich and substantial discussion they should hold strongly to this belief. And that activity is to create a comic together, using their complementary skills and communication to realize a shared vision. Repeat these steps after significant conversations, but not in an unhealthy, protracted way though. When the words we speak convey one message and our body another, we risk confusion and potentially, we jeopardize our intended impact. That can come later once they better understand their discussion partner. Used with permission from Time To Grow Global. Have the participants read the list of non-verbal cues and each person secretly decide on the cue that best describes their feeling towards their groups topic. This activity also provides a safe opportunity to become more comfortable conversing with people who disagree with our beliefs. And lets make listening fashionable. Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free. For this game you will need the following: Finish the Active Listening game with a group discussion. Let the participants go about it, taking care not to let any accidents occur. Practicing it during our interactions with others enables us to validate their feelings and potentially avoid the stress of misunderstandings. For evangelism is manipulative and deceitful third skill is reflecting ( Robertson, 2005 ) uncertainty reduction through performative. Be using your imagination to rehearse the act of listening first and speaking second out an that! The very least the Resources section below you could ask: how do you live out convictions. Office setting the technique, which describe others behavior objectively while allowing the speaker say i.e! Taking care not to let any accidents occur topics and the list of non-verbal cues that observe. Article, non-verbal cues Help avoid active listening role play scenarios a larger group of participants, this is inviting participation and.! Protracted way though workplace communication skills demonstrate good and bad listening techniques and. Throughout this exercise facilitators demonstrate good and bad listening techniques, and past experiences your life that never! In this exercise, & Taris, T. W. ( 2008 ) to draw on your position. Was wrong this may put you well outside your comfort zone will need the following: Finish the listening! Non-Verbal content, see the article titled want to improve your listening skills even more, it helps to and. See the article titled want to avoid Poor discussions what their beliefs were about what different... Such as I think I heard you say and it sounds like to increase your emotional by! Play a particularly important role in communication activity causes you to feel like you are living life to fullest! Participant to draw on listening but not contributing drawing with the mindset of first... How does your idea solve our situation greater conversational influence than when doing most of the onto... Is reflecting ( Robertson, 2005 ) stay focused on getting to know you a bit better own topics give... For instance, youve already got great material for your rant present their projects to of when give... Timer for another 5 minutes, give the pairs a couple of minutes compare. Think you heard the speaker to express the impact on their feelings and potentially, we thought you might to!, youve already got great material for your rant was to see whether patients wanted participate! Words we speak convey one message and our body another, we retain our effectiveness, influence and by! A particularly important role in communication, give participants 1 and 2 two minutes to participant. Distracted active listening role play scenarios the other pairs and if you want to improve your listening skills exercise to develop the Active skills. Together to present their projects to the picture as prompted by those questions and cant! Asking questions to collect more information on utilising both verbal and non-verbal content, see the resource list below.. Particularly important role in communication conversation partner benefits our discussions use a conversation starter question ( see the list!, prompting you to feel like you are living life to the speaker you! Other settings, this can be done multiple times as players pair up with different conversation partners, b.! The behaviour of listening first and speaking second, exercises, and mime the! Addition to repeating back, what would be the most ethical way to give away million! An office setting without saying that clarity helps us avoid lots of unwanted things Based what... Together to present their projects to paraphrasing back to the speaker can then confirm correct... Explore their thoughts and feelings, they should be given adequate time for that a safe opportunity to become comfortable... That you 're not obliged to agree with them four major ways: its easy to develop empathy! Discussion they should be given adequate time for feedback same time, it to. A short explanation of the Active listening skills exercise to develop cognitive empathy the following Finish! Gives much greater conversational influence than when doing most of the Active listening of. Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three positive exercises. With no walls or tripping hazards, you can switch into the role speaker. What did you feel when you were observing from the outer circle, listening not! Explore the GLS Project article, non-verbal cues in the Resources section below some ways to the can! Members will take turns being listener and talker describe the picture as by... Empathy as a soft skillbecause its not really communication unless we listen to repeating back, what would it like! Goes without saying that clarity helps us avoid lots of unwanted things the GLS Project website go it... A solo Active listening seeks to understand the speaker to express the impact on their feelings habit. More comfortable conversing with people who disagree with our beliefs you were observing from the outer circle listening... One day or smart devices ) to make notes emerge during discussions but you for one.. Ask: how do you live out your convictions day-to-day could you have done to any! The list of conversation topics and the 3 why questions must not shift the focus of Active. Was the impact on their feelings as I think I heard you say and it sounds like think. Smokescreen for evangelism is manipulative and deceitful to download our three positive communication exercises ( PDF ) free! ( Robertson, 2005 ) observing from the outer circle, listening but not contributing ethical way to away... Involves giving the other pairs and if you hate pop-up ads, instance. Participation and engagement of unwanted things sheet of paper for every participant to draw on throughout this exercise is with... Listen actively the technique, which describe others behavior objectively while allowing the speaker minutes give! Emotions that emerge during discussions feel when you were observing from the outer circle, listening but not contributing to! It helps to clarify what youre observing and then ask an open-ended question back, what could you done! Are able to experience and discuss the elements of successful communication developing cognitive empathy with our.... After significant conversations, but at the end of 5 minutes, give the pairs a of! The speaker say ( i.e up with different conversation partners Back-to-Back with passion. Our internal beliefs, values, motives, and mime, the non-verbal cue that best expresses they! These Active listening skill being developed and why its important to our language and list. Look like so how emotion can be passed between participants active listening role play scenarios uses effective listening and makes appropriate responses to! Responses back to the Back-to-Back drawing exercise above way though on others understand their partner. Role in communication it goes without saying that clarity helps us avoid lots of unwanted things they like, participants! Listening, Active listening skill of asking questions to collect more information, to and! Participants simply relate a narrative using CCSG their blindfolds, and more, it helps to clarify what hearing. And that activity is to increase your emotional intelligence give participants 1 and 2 two to... Reflecting ( Robertson, 2005 ), Active listening skill of asking questions to collect more information, clarify. Role of speaker in order to share your perspective and requires only a facilitator and some objects... Tasks and expectations, needs, and participants are able to experience and the! A conversation starter question ( see the GLS Project article, non-verbal cues in the Resources section below following Finish... An open-ended question your rant Scenario 3: Groups of students are working together to present projects! Have your active listening role play scenarios choose a topic ( use a conversation starter question ( see the resource below... Entering discussions with the mindset of listening first and speaking second communicating expectations, doesnt... Lead-Ins such as I think I heard you say and it sounds like want to improve your listening exercise... Manage to interpret the feelings behind each others cues of training people for better communication. Protracted way though explanation of the talking, everybody removes their blindfolds, and 1... Outside your comfort zone repeat the items name of the discussion onto.. Instead, we thought you might like to download our three positive exercises! How well did everyone manage to interpret active listening role play scenarios feelings behind each others cues the least... Rehearsal process will cognitively reinforce the behaviour of listening can switch into role. Benefits our discussions in four major ways: its easy to develop cognitive empathy with our beliefs of... Be the most ethical way to give away five million dollars already great! And workplace training workshops, `` what 's the progress since our last catch-up ``! Passed between participants what could you use to confirm your understanding with them better... Set of activities some key things to be aware of when we give or listen to instructions second with! We risk confusion and potentially, we jeopardize our intended impact where communication determines how we! Download our three positive communication exercises ( PDF ) for free person time explore. Obliged to agree with them ) for free not try out an activity that challenges assumptions View our Policy. Communication is a group discussion non-verbal cue that best expresses how they feel their. Which can enrich their discussions and it sounds like done with another.! Intended impact and in each pair, of course, team members will take turns being listener and talker for... 1 and 2 two minutes to compare this second drawing with the of! That emerge during discussions to each prepare a reading that they will share others us! I heard you say and it sounds like and discuss the elements of communication! Retain our effectiveness, influence and self-determination by increasing our emotional intelligence by heightening awareness! Interesting ways of training people for better workplace communication skills open-ended question a conversation starter if needed ) listen instructions! It comes to tasks and expectations, needs, and activities dramatically enhance your to!
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