4 conversations about how to listen, acknowledge, and build
This activity helps participants notice the impact of different listening and response styles, especially how we unconsciously block or build on each other’s ideas. Use this when you want to shift communication habits, build awareness of default patterns, and/or teach communication skills.
At the end of a meeting, participants have to go back to their boss, organization, community or family. There they'll asked a question like "what did you do?". This prepares them to that question, informs them about what others will say - and who maybe the source of this message and it give them as well as you feedback on the session. It also reinforces commitment.
Roses, buds, and thorns is a quick and simple team exercise that can be performed at the start of a group meeting. The idea is to evaluate a project, team task, or even your day by having each team member come up with a Rose (positive highlight), Thorn (struggle or challenge), and Bud (opportunity for improvement). The goal of this activity is to open up discussion among team members and acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of others. This can allow you to put measures in place to do more of what's going well, and fix what needs fixing. As well, this activity inspires creativity and debate within teams. Discussing Buds can encourage new, creative ideas to come to the fore. Finally, the activity allows you to gain insight from all members of the team as communication and honesty are important for every group!
A blend of Open Space and World Cafe that gets large groups of people working on action, in a co-creative, peer coaching environment.
This technique helps to create a historical timeline for your organization with the collective work of your group members.
This activity can be a stand alone workshop or part of a planning workshop.
Even though Three Questions takes just a few minutes, it provokes the participants into reflecting for a long time.
An engaging variation on a feedback activity that focuses on future changes and positive action, rather than dwelling on what went wrong.
You can help a group move from either-or conflicts to both-and strategies and solutions. You can engage everyone in sharper strategic thinking, mutual understanding, and collaborative action by surfacing the advantage of being both more integrated and more autonomous. Attending to paradox will reveal opportunities for profound leaps in performance by addressing questions such as: What mix of integrative control and autonomous freedom will advance our purpose? Where do our needs for global fidelity and consistency meet the needs for local customization and creative adaptability? This makes it possible to avoid bipolar swings in strategy that are frequently experienced by many organizations.
In most meetings, 20% of participants do 80% of the talking. Unfortunately, remote meetings amplify this lousy behavior.
Some people like to talk to think, while others need to think before they talk. Some people are shy and quiet, while others are more vocal and outspoken.
This activity helps assess participation style and adjust behaviors.
A major purpose of an opening activity is to help participants get acquainted with each other. Here's an opener that identifies and rewards participants who would make good politicians.
