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. Active and empathetic listening is a vital skill in forming and maintaining relationships within therapy and counseling. Where was the weakest link, and why? The studies on average say we spend 70-80% of our waking hours in some form of communication. Describe a book thats had an impact on your life. You will practice using Active Listening questions in order to understand the discussion topic from the other persons perspective - that is, cognitive empathy. Goh, S. C. (1998). In this game, one colleague has a full 60 seconds to rant about something which irks them. So, there is no benefit in cheating. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA, Contact a Commons librarian if you would like to connect with the author. Popcorn Storytelling. Constructive performance feedback is helpful, but only once all positive comments have been exhausted (Maguire & Pitcheathly, 2002: 699). G: Goal. We all need air to breathe and water to stay alive. 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. They are responsible for passing the information on to the rest of their team. The group then lists the listening stoppers they noticed. The Struggle might be something like geographical distance between team members, and the Goal would be just that: their objective or success. Help put resources in the hands of change makers. Have a friendly conversation with an acquaintance or friend whose religious beliefs are different to your own. Would that be okay?. Active listening involves attentively seeking to understand a speaker's message, rather than passively hearing the words that a speaker says. Unless its either terrible or completely absent. CCSG is a structure, and it involves: C: Characters Explain first up that the goal of the task is effective verbal communication, and give each participant a blindfold. Perception of emotions is a key component of Mayer and Saloveys emotional intelligence framework and covers the ability to read others non-verbal cues as well as their potential moods (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). I too would like to be able to utilize them as a resource for my workshop. Write down a couple of those emotions. They showed that they understood how their patients were feeling to relate at an interpersonal level; where they didnt know, they at least made a stab at empathizing through educated guesses. Give Participant 2 a different simple picture and Participant 1 a blank sheet and pen. What Active Listening techniques went well? Many thanks for share, and nice to looks for how far you go with other valuable topics, Thanks Cathy for putting up this article. Occasionally, a speaker will say how they feel. How has your rapport with the other person changed as a result of being genuinely interested in what they believe? 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. a family member, a friend, or a work colleague). Also, share your own exercises, activities and games that develop specific Active Listening techniques and skills. Put even more simply, we make work a nicer place to be while avoiding unnecessary conflict. Where did you meet them? Your sign-up bonus has been sent to your inbox. Dealing with resistance. This is cognitive empathy, which is the goal of Active Listening. (20-30min). Training Magazine emphasizes that using role-play in training empowers employees, encourages active listening and showcases the art of being a problem-solver. For privacy information see the About page. Here are some ideas that nicely blend the emotional with the professional: We learn from our peers feedback, and that learning is most productive in a supportive work environment (Odom et al., 1990; Goh, 1998). Goulston, Mark, Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone, New York: American Management Association, 2010. So, a 6-person group will make a 6-frame strip, and so forth. Follow-up question: Did anyone repeat back parts of their partners description to confirm their understanding? This exercise introduces I statements, which describe others behavior objectively while allowing the speaker to express the impact on their feelings. A conversation of this kind can be quite absorbing. You can further enhance the impact of role-play in . For each of those strong emotions, write down answers to these questions: What did they say that triggered that emotion?, Was it triggered by any of their non-verbal gestures or expressions?. Benefits: Our messages need to make sense if we want to convey information in a meaningful way. Why? 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. It will take no more than 25 minutes.. Shannon, C. E. (1998). Foster Self-awareness. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be? That is, the ability to understand, explore and clarify what others are talking about, and to solicit more details if and when the situation requires it. Smith, K. (2018). I might be able to add them to the article. paraphrase their message). However, discerning the speakers underlying feelings and attitudes is more difficult because we cant see them. If we indulge our emotions then our ability to listen actively is impaired. Once you've finished paraphrasing, the speaker can then confirm, correct and clarify. Then, once you adequately understand them, you can switch into the role of speaker in order to share your perspective. 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! Thats provocative. 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. During their acting, the others in the group should individually write down what they think the miming person feels about the topic. In several sentences, the scenario outlines a situation where they are approached by a colleague with problems but might have other things on their plate. Conversation starts at the surface level. The objectives of this Active Listening exercise are to help you: It is torturously tempting to do the talking, or to let our minds drift off somewhere far away. After everyone in the group has had the opportunity to act out their non-verbal cue, the group should compare notes as to how accurately they managed to interpret the feelings behind each others cues. Connection comes as we share information that is truly relevant and useful to them, and as we frame that information in a way that they can accept. In the book mentioned below, there are also hand-outs, but you can prepare your own for this activity. Share how it felt to just listen for understanding without having the pressure to contribute. A time when I dealt with a difficult conflict well. Uncertainty reduction through everyday performative language work: the case of coaching. This is a small group Active Listening game for adults. Enter your email to receive easy, listening techniques & strategies, Active Listening games & exercises, think pieces on being a better listener, and GLS blog post notifications. How did you feel about the feedback you received? Each group will receive a copy of this list. Say something like, Hey, Im keen on developing good listening skills. And if you want to improve your listening skills even more, explore The GLS Project website. Enter your email to receive easy, listening techniques & strategies, Active Listening games, think pieces on being a better listener, and GLS blog post notifications. First, pick a game with enough instructions that the information is a challenge to memorize. Discuss any other thoughts about this Active Listening exercise. Very useful for my Communicare sessions. Emotional intelligence. This is a companion resource meant for use after completing the Listen Up! Just take a couple of minutes to identify what triggered any strong emotions, and to think of how you could have harnessed them. Is your colleague overwhelmed, perhaps? Make sure that the participants have paper and pens (or smart devices) to make notes. Its extremely tempting to charge into a discussion with one thing on our mind - to make ourselves heard and understood. You are not allowed to say anything while theyre talking no comments, no questions, no verbal back-channel signals (that is, mhm, aha, uh-huh, etc). Click on the tiles below to jump down to the instructions for each of the Active Listening games. Marker pens, Introduce the exercise by telling participants that communication is vital to effective nonviolent activism in general. Here is another talker and listener exercise that can be done in pairs. Did you actually need to plan your response? Listen to Remember and Listen for Underlying Meanings III. And then listen. What is the strangest dream you have ever had? Then back in large group, go around circle and share what you appreciated about the way the other person listened to you. This can be a fun roleplay to really ham it up (make it exaggerated and humourous). [3]. As humans, were complex. And you may ask follow-up questions if desired. That applies both to our language and the extent to which we empathize. Have the group sit in a circle. Discuss how the speaker felt to have your full attention. Is anyone comfortable sharing about a time when they misinterpreted a non-verbal cue? 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. This activity is a slight twist on Chinese Whispers in that it uses a complex set of instructions rather than just a sentence. [3]. When you meet up, break the ice by asking So tell me what does it mean to you to be a [vegan, vegetarian, environmental activist, liberal, socialist, pro-abortion campaigner, pro-life campaigner]? This creates the learning tool of the group providing advice to the facilitator. An 'In Brief' summary of the Active Listening games. Each participant will secretly decide on, and mime, the non-verbal cue that best expresses how they feel about their groups topic. Talk your way through that perfect weekend. Write up suggestions on white board as active listening skills. 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. Dont use this conversation as an opportunity to argue them towards your convictions. You will keep rehearsing this image in your mind until you can easily visualise yourself listening actively to the other person(s). Briefly share what you think you heard the speaker say (i.e. zDevelop the environment. Who is the most successful person that you know personally? Happily ever after: The use of stories to promote positive interventions. In turn, this empowers you to offer support and empathy. Whitney & Cooperrider, 2011); Tell them about your first job, or your very first working experience; If youve got a budget, give team members a small amount of money each to do something good with. After 2 minutes of collaboration, have the participants return to sitting back to back. Dont forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free. Storytelling is an engaging way to convey information; when its positive information, narratives are also highly effective means of motivating and inspiring others (Tomasulo & Pawelski, 2012). The goal is to collaborate and help each other, not to compete. . speaking to paProvide students with a copy Try out activities that are best suited to your organizational goals so they have the most relevance. or, "What's the progress since our last catch-up?". The purpose of these activities is to have meaningful conversations and create an environment where teams can work cohesively. It reduces the possibility of us misunderstanding them. Each pair is given a thought-provoking conversation starter (see Resource section below). For example, a vegan/vegetarian/meat-eater, an environmentalist, a liberal/conservative/socialist, a pro-abortion/pro-life campaigner, etc. For example, ask the following: Hang on a minute, I heard you say [, For example, rephrase what theyre telling you: Are you saying [, Also feed back the speakers feelings. Non-Verbal cue that best expresses how they feel about their groups topic this game one! 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