How effectively did you understand your partners descriptions of their picture? Then, let them share the story behind the object. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Players stand in a circle and pass two of the objects along to each other. Peer feedback is also a useful job resource when it comes to work engagement; as a form of social support, it can help stimulate our learning and developmentthat includes communication skills (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Bakker et al., 2008). Listen to Remember and Listen for Underlying Meanings III. Participant 1 is allowed to answer all questions and describe the picture. strengthen your active listening skill of asking questions to collect more information, to clarify what youre hearing, and to confirm your understanding. [1]. What thoughts do you have about interpreting non-verbal cues? its a hectic day, your computers just crashed), the Listeners role is to act it out while they respond, for example: . 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. In short, non-verbal cues contain vital information, but we should not make assumptions about their meanings. 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. Where did you meet them? For example, You sound [. Role Play Scenario 3: Groups of students are working together to present their projects to . Dont forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free. They are designed for adults (not children) and suitable for both personal listening development and workplace training workshops. But active listening encourages pleasant social interactions, which in turn, these boost our well-being and life satisfaction (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). They determined their perspectives before decision-making; in other settings, this is inviting participation and engagement. [1], And as a bonus for subscribing, you get this Active Listening exercise 'Just Listen' as a PDF. Active Listening Role-Play. Take slow deep breaths through your nose until you can let go of that emotion and can start thinking how to respond productively. But active listening encourages pleasant social interactions, which in turn, these boost our well-being and life satisfaction (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). It might unearth an awareness of implicit assumptions, bringing our conscious attention to the role these play in our judgments. & Demerouti, E. (2007). So, plush toys, tennis balls, or similarbut the more imaginative they are, the better. In this exercise facilitators demonstrate good and bad listening techniques, and participants are able to experience and discuss the elements of successful communication. How effective was this technique? The best way to diffuse a tense situation is to use active listening - let the customer know you hear what they are saying. Youll need more than 9 participants for this activity, as well as paper, drawing, and coloring materials for each colleague. This exercise comes from a Teambuilding Facilitation Manual: A Guide to Leading and Facilitating Teambuilding Activities, by Penn State University. Here is another talker and listener exercise that can be done in pairs. Examples include Omit the Obvious, Train of Words, and Blindfold Walk. This activity is a slight twist on Chinese Whispers in that it uses a complex set of instructions rather than just a sentence. Im Listening can be played with an even number of participants, as they will need to find a partner for this one-on-one game. How about a chance to blow off some steam and get that empathetic listening ear at the same time? Youll need a list of topics for people to act out, then invite players to break off into groups of two. Sometimes it gives us a chance to reflect, in others it creates a space for others to take the floor. 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. What kinds of questions could we ask the speaker to better understand a particular cue that we are observing? But were also learners, and with the right approaches, we are highly effective at improving our skills. Recognising and Interpreting Non-Verbal Cues. 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]? Unlike critical listening, active listening seeks to understand rather than reply. Theyre not simply warm-up activities! Discuss anything else that impacted you both. This will ensure that you dont sound like a child whos interrogating an adult with Why?! 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. Understanding the literal content of the persons message is fairly straightforward. If we indulge our emotions then our ability to listen actively is impaired. Two circles of chairs are set up, one inside the other. Maguire, P., & Pitceathly, C. (2002). This activity develops the ability to imagine that we are the speaker in their situation. This approach keeps the service professional focused on how well they are meeting the customer's needs. 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. The objective of this Active Listening activity is to increase your emotional intelligence by heightening your awareness of emotions that emerge during discussions. To practice active listening and assertive communication. 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. Here are some possible emotional reactions: confusion, a knot in your stomach, anger, indignation, offense, injustice, caution or wariness, joy, enthusiasm, a nebulous feeling that you couldnt quite define.. The group then needs to play the game with only the instructions from the speaker. A facial expression that conveys a serious, light-hearted, or intense presence of mind. Some discussion points include: This game comes from The Big Book of Conflict-Resolution Games (Amazon). Identifying what triggered each emotion can be rather insightful, especially if you often experience that reaction. To try out personal storytelling, set aside a team-building afternoon, meeting, or workshop. A third skill is reflecting (Robertson, 2005). What might have contributed to this confusion? Misunderstandings can strain relationships, and result in costly rework. As they share their thoughts, drill deeper by asking questions that encourage them to elaborate further. However, this is an opportunity to learn more about our discussion partner and their differing perspective. Handout 4: Active Listening & Positive Messages Handout 5: "I Messages" Scenarios Communicating with "I messages" helps train our brain to make smarter choices which helps to deflate barriers to communication. Try out activities that are best suited to your organizational goals so they have the most relevance. 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). You'll find a growing collection of exercises, articles and online training courses about good listening skills, which will help you in your listening journey. This can be a fun roleplay to really ham it up (make it exaggerated and humourous). Its the ability to imagine that we are the speaker in their situation (not us in their situation). How did you increase your understanding of your partners picture? Dont make the pictures too detailed. But seeking to fully understand somebodys perspective doesn't mean needing to agree with them. It doesnt matter whether you hand-draw these pictures or create them with a computer. In this study, giving a diagnosis and treatment options was only one part of the job. zDevelop the environment. Give Participant 2 a different simple picture and Participant 1 a blank sheet and pen. 5 Active Listening Games and Exercises. Tell them their shared aim is to collaborate: first to find the rope, then to lay it out into a perfect square together on the floor. It is not a method for creating opportunities to talk about themselves. When someone repeats or interrupts another group member, they start again from one. Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Musical Chairs; 4. 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. Special thanks to C. B. Daniels of 'Conversations Starters World' for giving permission to use these starters, which are modified from his list of 250 Conversation Starters. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This is the perfect opportunity to congratulate them or start a discussion about what they might do differently the next time around. Youll be using your imagination to rehearse the act of listening. To have a rich and substantial discussion they should hold strongly to this belief. Step-by-step instructions are provided. When the words we speak convey one message and our body another, we risk confusion and potentially, we jeopardize our intended impact. Give Participant 1 a simple picture. In a non-active listening situation, there may be quick back and forth, many rapid questions, or people may talk over one another. 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. S: Struggle They are to also collaborate, discussing what was easy to understand, what was confusing, and decide how to better describe the picture in the next round. Then they will swap roles for another 5 minutes with a new picture. Listen With Empathy,. Printable step-by-step instructions (including resources). 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. I think this is an excellent resource with a great outcome. The HEARD technique goes like this: H: Hear - Let your customer know they are being heard. This game is fun for all ages. Positive messages go a long way toward solving communication problems. Developing Cognitive Empathy with Your Discussion Partner. Rogers, C. R., & Farson, R. E. (1957). 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). What feelings do we understand the easiest, when only facial expressions are used? Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). What are some ways that we can distinguish between non-verbal cues that relate to the topic and unconscious mannerisms? In this game, one colleague has a full 60 seconds to rant about something which irks them. Role-play. By empathizing, we not only build better relationships, but we show that we are available as key job resources social support for those around us to reduce the negative impacts of our job demands (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). 5 Effective Sales Role-Playing Scenarios 1. Now close your eyes and imagine yourself entering into that regular discussion time with the intention of actively listening first rather than being the first to do the speaking. If you have any great activities that we havent covered, do let us know! 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. 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. This worksheet provides role play exercises to help with practicing active listening advocacy skills. With 2+ co-workers, pick one person (a speaker) to whom youll explain the instructions. This is called Active Listening. Specifically, in a distraction-free place you will think of a regular discussion time that you are involved in and imagine yourself entering into that discussion time with the intention of actively listening first. How did you cope with the distraction? Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/blog/silence-the-secret-communication-tool/. Listen With Empathy, Non-Verbal Cues Help Avoid Misunderstandings. Heres an exercise on the pivotal role of clarification. Can you help? A process guide for training workshops focused on working in groups, communication, conflict resolution, community organising and conversation frameworks. II. (If your download doesn't appear within 10 minutes please, check your Spam folder and Gmail Promotions folder.). Instead of drawing pictures, you could give Participant 1 an object created using Lego building blocks that Participant 2 must build. 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. Between them, they need to decide the plot of the comic, who will be carrying out which tasks, and what the frames will contain. Together, the pairs can come up with more productive, empathetic, and appropriate responses, with the acting experience fresh in mind. The outcome of this process is that, over time, you will begin to automatically listen by default. The goal is for the other person to be heard, validated, and inspired to solve their problems. 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). Role-playing is a classic method for teaching communication skills. What about their dynamics? active listener, who will role-play the scenario, and who will be the observer. Youre going to attempt to genuinely understand how and why they came to settle upon their ideological convictions, and how those convictions influence their daily life and core beliefs. Think of a specific, regular discussion time that youre involved in. For example, an Atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh. Give each person at least 4 minutes to speak and to listen. How? 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. Your sign-up bonus has been sent to your inbox. Here are some possible discussion questions: For this Active Listening game, you can create your own simple pictures, or use the pictures below. Tell them to let you know once theyve agreed that the job is done. To really grasp how big of an impact it has, we can touch on some of the theory. We can brush it all off as too soft and fuzzy, or we can embrace communication as one of the keys to an emotionally intelligent workplace. Because communication is so multi-faceted, weve included a selection of different activity types. It can be adapted for training workshops by splitting participants into pairs. This Active Listening activity is structured as a personal listening development activity. Imagine attending a communication workshop, in purely lecture format. If you could be the CEO of any company, what company would you choose? Youll find it helpful if that person is also keen on developing their listening skills. Encourage people to reflect back what they are hearing and to focus on listening skills. Edmondson, A. C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook, K. S. (2004). In large organizations especially, we may only bring a part of ourselves to the workplace. 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. Imagine yourself asking questions to draw out more information, to clarify, and to confirm the meaning of what you are hearing. Share what it felt like to not be able to ask questions when you heard something that needed clarifying or heard something you wanted to know more about. As Talker, what feedback did your Listener appear to give? Have participants pair up with a partner for a role play. Uncertainty reduction through everyday performative language work: the case of coaching. Click each image to download an A4 PDF version of the picture. Use the discussion points below. 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