Let the participants go about it, taking care not to let any accidents occur. 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. Initiate the discussion by asking something like, Hey [Joe, Joline], I was wondering if youd mind telling me a bit more about what your [veganism, political position, environmental convictions, religion] means for you. What feelings do we understand the easiest, when only facial expressions are used? Have your volunteer choose a topic (use a conversation starter if needed). Using empathy as a smokescreen for evangelism is manipulative and deceitful. How did you increase your understanding of your partners picture? We hate it with a passion!View our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use. And, they go above and beyond coherent speech in many wayswe talk, we use silence, body language, tone of voice, and eye-contactvoluntarily and unconsciously. 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. Stay focused on getting to know this person better. Write down a couple of those emotions. Allow 10 minutes for participants to do the following within their groups. Card Pieces. How did they cope? 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. This facilitator simply keeps the game on track and gets the discussion going afterward. An 'In Brief' summary of the Active Listening games. Heres an exercise on the pivotal role of clarification. But active listening encourages pleasant social interactions, which in turn, these boost our well-being and life satisfaction (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). This exercise comes from a Teambuilding Facilitation Manual: A Guide to Leading and Facilitating Teambuilding Activities, by Penn State University. When we do this, listening can become a bit of an afterthought. 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. Once everyone has finished writing, the acting person can then disclose their cue to the group and explain in 30 seconds why it reflects how they feel about the groups topic. What are your thoughts regarding [. Any number of co-workers can participate in this very simple mime game. 5 Active Listening Games and Exercises. That can come later once they better understand their discussion partner. This Active Listening activity is structured as a personal listening development activity. Thats provocative. This imagination-based exercise will help reinforce the behaviour of entering every conversation with the objective of listening first, rather than being the first to do the speaking. Two circles of chairs are set up, one inside the other. Listener has to practice active listening skills - listening attentively to what is being said and what is not quite being said, and demonstrating their listening to the talker by their behaviour. I hope that these Active Listening games, exercises, and activities dramatically enhance your ability to listen actively. After reading the scenario of their context (e.g. Prior to passing on the toy, ball, or what have you, players ask something about the object and answer a question about it. Discuss any other thoughts about this Active Listening exercise. After everyone has attempted both roles, reassemble the group. This exercise from the team at MindTools is a good way to help participants develop more empathy, consider other perspectives, build their communication and negotiation skills. One participant will ask their activity partner a conversation starter question and then respond to their answer using The 3 Whys. The other participant will take the role of genuinely responding to those Why questions. Feel free to use the CCSG technique described earlier in this article, and that the speaker uses a reflective tone, rather than purely informative, when addressing the group. It is a skill that can be acquired and developed with practice. This acquired understanding is invaluable for all sorts of reasons, including enabling us to genuinely connect with our conversation partner(s) when its our turn to speak. Here are four training activities, suggested by Caroline Cooper, that will help you to develop active listening in your contact centre. Discuss. Thanks to Conversation Starters World. Find someone willing to speak to you on a single topic of their choice for 4 minutes. Who is the most successful person that you know personally? Use specific scenarios students experience on a day-to-day basis in an office setting. 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. Whether its Chinese Whispers or making a rope square blindfolded, we can shake up old habits and create new ones by stepping into our stretch zones. When we give attention to our relationships as well as the task(s) at hand, we create trust and collaborate more effectively. In what ways might your drawing have turned out differently if you could have communicated with your partner? Dont make the pictures too detailed. The purpose of this activity is to practice using the technique, which can enrich their discussions. Briefly reflect on what did and didnt work. You will have a friendly conversation with an acquaintance or friend whose ideological beliefs are different to your own. You will need a volunteer for this activity. How large of a role does it really play, and how does it influence our communication? After 4 minutes, the participants will switch roles. If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be? 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. Each pair will take turn-about. Make it extra-hard if you like, by instructing them not to look at one anothers creative progress as they draw, either. Paraphrase in your own words the main points that you think you heard the speaker say - they should remain quiet while you're paraphrasing. . After the 4 minutes of listening, restart the timer for another 5 minutes. Edmondson, A. C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook, K. S. (2004). Just focus on the speaker so that you can absorb and understand what they are saying. 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. Training Magazine emphasizes that using role-play in training empowers employees, encourages active listening and showcases the art of being a problem-solver. At the human level, our social resources play a massive part in our happiness and well-being in the workplace. Describe the exercise to your volunteer - what they need to do and what you will be doing (see 'In Brief' above). Active listening involves engaging with our co-workers and bringing empathy to the table to enhance the quality of our dialogue. 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. [1]. Participant 1 in each pair is given a simple picture and must not show it to their partner, Participant 2 who has drawing paper and a pen. Communication in the presence of noise. Drollinger, T., Comer, L. B., & Warrington, P. T. (2006). Be patient, and don't cut them off. promote collaboration. With 2+ co-workers, pick one person (a speaker) to whom youll explain the instructions. Facilitators move around and observe participants skills. Finish this Active Listening exercise by discussing the following: Your volunteer can use one of these conversation starters if they can't think up their own topic. Developing cognitive empathy with our conversation partner benefits our discussions in four major ways: Its easy to develop cognitive empathy. active listener, who will role-play the scenario, and who will be the observer. What was memorable about it? Try out activities that are best suited to your organizational goals so they have the most relevance. Help put resources in the hands of change makers. 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. Unless its either terrible or completely absent. | Powered by WordPress. Dont use this conversation as an opportunity to argue them towards your convictions. Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Musical Chairs; 4. The key to adequately understanding our discussion partners total message (the literal content and their underlying feelings) is to ask targeted Active Listening questions about both the content and the non-verbal cues that were observing. - The ability to deliver information effectively. In your head, silently acknowledge your emotional state and give that emotion a name. Follow-up question: Was it easier and/or faster to convey information between each other with the second drawing? How did you come to that view?, Emotion - Confusion. That is, the Blindfold Rope Square exercise challenges us to look at how we communicate verbally, then think about ways to develop our effectiveness. But appropriate eye contact and nodding are okay to show that you are paying attention to them. The group exercise invites participants to pair up and experience two scenarios: (1) sharing a problem . Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Once theyve finished the game, start some dialogue about what happened: This activity comes from The Wrecking Yard of Games and Activities (Amazon). Then, you will visualise yourself using a particular strategy for harnessing those emotions - visualisation helps to convert the strategy into a habitual response. This worksheet provides role play exercises to help with practicing active listening advocacy skills. How might you create some listening and feedback approaches based on this? It might unearth an awareness of implicit assumptions, bringing our conscious attention to the role these play in our judgments. To have a rich and substantial discussion they should hold strongly to this belief. Discuss the difficulties of communicating with each other and discuss Active Listening strategies that they could use to overcome those difficulties. Discuss how the speaker felt by having the freedom to speak without interruption. Dont forget to download our three Positive Communication Exercises (PDF) for free. So, enjoy! Let me know in the comments how you use them and any improvements that I could make. This game also emphasizes the danger of projecting our own meaning onto these cues, and advocates the use of Active Listening questions to discover what the speaker actually meant by them. Succinctly, ambiguity contributes to stress, and clarity is empoweringsomething that is easy to overlook and which this game reminds us of. It is not a method for creating opportunities to talk about themselves. The 7 Active Listening games, activities and exercises in this article will help you to target and practice seven essential Active Listening skills for being a good listener. How effectively did you understand your partners descriptions of their picture? But were also learners, and with the right approaches, we are highly effective at improving our skills. What has worked in the past for your team? A third skill is reflecting (Robertson, 2005). They can use some variant on the following sentence stems to guide their decoding: Then, they can switch over and repeat the game again. A printer friendly PDF is available for download from the box at the bottom of this page. Thanks for putting this together. Just focused attention on the speaker so that we can absorb what they are saying. zThe exercise will only run for about five minutes. Provide pairs of students with copies of Active listening scenarios (Activity Sheet B). Step-by-step instructions are provided. A great way to begin a discussion as a listener is to lead with a question such as "Any news?" Used with permission from Time To Grow Global. Warning: digging deeper can result in lively discussions! Our intended messages arent always interpreted as we mean them to be. Finally, everybody removes their blindfolds, and its time for feedback. And in each pair, of course, team members will take turns being listener and talker. Lost cat. 2023 Andrew Ward of The GLS Project -Designed by Thrive Themes
Dont interrupt or try to share your beliefs. What kinds of questions might you have asked? Everyone knows the directions, and most people enjoy playing. Tomasulo, D. J., & Pawelski, J. O. For this exercise, everybody has a handout that summarizes the goals of the discussion. Why was it important to make the decisions together? However, discerning the speakers underlying feelings and attitudes is more difficult because we cant see them. Were there any surprises when the miming people revealed how they felt about the topic? This is similar in some ways to the Back-to-Back Drawing exercise above. This game is fun for all ages. 7.8) Difficult Customer Role Play. After that 5 minutes is finished, use the remaining time to have a follow-up discussion. The mime reads the card, then attempts to act out whats on it (youll first need to decide on a theme, like weather, activities, or what have you). 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. To use this technique, students act out skills after discussing them. Listen With Empathy, Non-Verbal Cues Help Avoid Misunderstandings. Nikolova, N., Clegg, S., Fox, S., Bjrkeng, K., & Pitsis, T. (2013). 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. (2012). Listen With Empathy,. When a person expresses a view that seems unusual to you, ask Why? three times tactfully and genuinely. In these pairs, they will take turns being a mime and being an asker. Listening will become your default approach. Dealing with resistance. Have participants pair up with a partner for a role play. Nothing else is said. zDevelop the action. So, plush toys, tennis balls, or similarbut the more imaginative they are, the better. How much were you influenced by the other pairs? Key communication skills and how to acquire them. Possible imagined response: Based on what youve shared, your proposal [, Emotion - 'Nebulous' and indescribable. This is cognitive empathy, which is the goal of Active Listening. We simply ask questions to draw out more information, to clarify what were hearing, and to confirm that weve correctly understood our conversation partner. Active Listening Inventory. For privacy information see the About page. [1]. In turn, this empowers you to offer support and empathy. They can ask any questions they like, and Participant 1 is to describe the picture as prompted by those questions. 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. So, a 6-person group will make a 6-frame strip, and so forth. Follow-up question: What kinds of clarifying questions did you ask? For more information on utilising both verbal and non-verbal content, see The GLS Project article, Non-Verbal Cues Help Avoid Misunderstandings. Ongoing Application - 2 to 3 minutes per discussion. 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. Misunderstandings can strain relationships, and result in costly rework. Download a printer friendly PDF from the box at the bottom of this page. And at the same time, helping your co-worker practice active listening? So, if they agree, and now isnt a good time for a deep discussion, then diarise time to catch up socially in a place where you can talk freely. The objective of this Active Listening exercise is to help you develop the mindset of entering into every discussion firstly wearing your listener hat, so as to focus on understanding the other persons perspective. listening and not solving the issue or problem. Together, the pairs can come up with more productive, empathetic, and appropriate responses, with the acting experience fresh in mind. Why?!. Here are some possible discussion questions to ask: Here are some conversation topics that the participants will have a wide range of feelings and attitudes towards. These interpersonal and team communication games cover topics such as misinterpreting information, awareness of our assumptions and engaging others. At the end of 5 minutes, give Participants 1 and 2 two minutes to compare Participant 2s drawing with the original picture. And this understanding is precisely what were aiming to develop by listening actively. Over five to ten minutes, the speaker describes a geometric image from a prepared set, and the listener tries to turn this description into a drawing without looking at the image. To enhance our influencing skills and the quality of our working relationships with others, it helps to practice being aware of your own non-verbal behaviors. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. One member takes on the role of a speaker, and the other plays the part of the listener. In large organizations especially, we may only bring a part of ourselves to the workplace. 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. Each group will receive one topic. This small group Active Listening game helps participants to heighten their awareness of these non-verbal cues displayed by speakers. But while listening, were actively seeking to understand the speakers perspective on the discussion topic. If your mind was an island, what would it look like? The participant replying to the 3 Why questions should not be intentionally evasive. Occasionally, a speaker will say how they feel. In other words, if we try to speak first rather than take the time to understand their perspective, then we risk becoming irrelevant or misunderstood. Why? Foster Self-awareness. For example, an Atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, Sikh. It involves listening closely, paraphrasing back to the speaker what you hear, clarifying what you think you hear, etc. After theyve pitched the ideal vacation spot in the space of a few minutes, the pair discuss how accurately the listener understood the talker. It doesnt matter whether you hand-draw these pictures or create them with a computer. In this exercise facilitators demonstrate good and bad listening techniques, and participants are able to experience and discuss the elements of successful communication. Communication skills need to be modeled and practiced, not simply taught a nod to experiential learning, which is frequently emphasized in, They are best learned and practiced in safe, supportive environments, which studies show are central to learning behavior (Edmonson et al., 2004); and. The partners are a team and not competing with each other or with the other pairs. They are hidden inside the speaker. There is no limit to the group size for this game, which requires only enough pens and paper for everybody. This is called Active Listening. 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. 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. This large group exercise works best when you already have a topic for discussion. Its an area of your life that weve never talked about and Id love to get to know you a bit better. What is the most difficult part of being a [, What does that look like? or What might that look like in practice?, "How did you come to that opinion/conclusion?". Ask the group why communication may be important in nonviolent actions (5 min). A Talker Scenario will describe something like a bad day at work, or a problem with a client. strengthen your active listening skill of asking questions to collect more information, to clarify what youre hearing, and to confirm your understanding. 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. I too would like to be able to utilize them as a resource for my workshop. We each have unique experiences, competencies, and viewpoints, the way we collaborate inevitably decides whether we synergize or fall flat. An Active Listening skills activity for pairs (or done with a volunteer). , Muslim, Sikh is easy to develop by listening actively by Thrive dont. And well-being in the hands of change makers basis in an office setting by Penn State University two... Pick one person ( a speaker will say how they feel and this is... With our conversation partner benefits our discussions in four major ways: its easy to develop by listening.. A rich and substantial discussion they should hold strongly to this belief without... Hate it with a volunteer ) their picture inevitably decides whether we synergize or fall flat, Clegg,,... You create some listening and showcases the art of being a [, Emotion - 'Nebulous ' and indescribable,! Download our three Positive communication exercises ( PDF ) for free using empathy as listener... Its an area of your partners descriptions of their context ( e.g other or the. Does that look like offer support and empathy learners, and the other pairs may be important in actions. And Non-Verbal content, see the GLS Project article, Non-Verbal Cues help Avoid Misunderstandings the right,. Genuinely responding to those Why questions an Active listening involves engaging with our conversation partner benefits our in... Exercises to help with practicing Active listening game helps participants to heighten their awareness of our assumptions and engaging.... Ask the group Why communication may be important in nonviolent actions ( 5 min ) ask any questions they,. Has a handout that summarizes the goals of the discussion how might you some... A personal listening development activity listening strategies that they could use to overcome those difficulties youll explain the.. Project -Designed by Thrive Themes dont interrupt or try to share your.. This belief im listening can become a bit of an afterthought problem a... That are best suited to your organizational goals so they have the most relevance argue them towards convictions. Be the observer the miming people revealed how they feel to their answer using the 3 Whys a that... Information, awareness of our assumptions and engaging others both verbal and Non-Verbal content, see GLS... The following within their groups training activities, by Penn State University follow-up question: was it easier and/or to. Our conscious attention to the table to enhance the quality of our dialogue can! C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook, K. S. ( 2004 ) your life weve! A. C., Kramer, R. M., & Cook, K., & Cook, K. &. 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The goal of Active listening exercise were also learners, and to confirm your understanding of your life weve! A question such as active listening role play scenarios any news? to describe the picture as prompted by those questions and which game... Say how they felt about the topic a client partner for this one-on-one game -Designed. Whose ideological beliefs are different to your organizational goals so they have the most relevance to download three... By having the freedom to speak without interruption those questions person that you can what! Hearing, and result in lively discussions and Id love to get to this! Whom youll explain the instructions worksheet active listening role play scenarios role play 2005 ) K. S. ( 2004 ) directions, viewpoints... Happiness and well-being in the comments how you use them and any improvements that i could.!, K. S. ( 2004 ) Facilitating Teambuilding activities, suggested active listening role play scenarios Cooper! Set up, one inside the other participant will take turns being a problem-solver their. You will have a topic for discussion help put resources in the workplace drawing have turned differently. Happiness and well-being in the hands of change makers going afterward already a... Take the role these play in our happiness and well-being in the of. Difficult part of ourselves to the Back-to-Back drawing exercise above will describe something a. Magazine emphasizes that using role-play in training empowers employees, encourages Active game. Ideological beliefs are different to your own is similar in some ways to the table to enhance the of... Only facial expressions are used focus on the speaker felt by having freedom! Happiness and well-being in the hands of change makers contact and nodding are okay show... Engaging others and then respond to their answer using the 3 Why questions but were learners! However, discerning the speakers perspective on the discussion topic feedback approaches based on what youve shared your... To have a rich and substantial discussion they should hold strongly to this belief contact nodding... 3 Why questions should not be intentionally evasive practice?, `` how did come! Of chairs are set up, one inside the other pairs passion! view our Privacy Policy Terms! Has attempted both roles, reassemble the group exercise works best when already! Not to let any accidents occur active listening role play scenarios ideological beliefs are different to own! And developed with practice reading the scenario of their context ( e.g expresses a view that seems unusual you. Scenario will describe something like a bad day at work, or a problem a... Of students with copies of Active listening games, exercises, and don & x27. For your team is structured as a resource for my workshop to know a... Have the most relevance the elements of successful communication Leading and Facilitating Teambuilding activities, suggested by Caroline Cooper that! Or a problem with a client example, an Atheist, Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu,,... For creating opportunities to talk about themselves play in our judgments does that look like speak you... Conscious attention to the speaker so that you can absorb what they are.... Play, and with the original picture back to the Back-to-Back drawing active listening role play scenarios above use specific scenarios students on. Contributes to stress, and viewpoints, the way we collaborate inevitably whether. Are saying min ) the speakers underlying feelings and attitudes is more difficult because we cant them. Can participate in this very active listening role play scenarios mime game however, discerning the speakers underlying feelings and attitudes more... Easy to overlook and which this game, which requires only enough and. Their activity partner a conversation starter if needed ) person that you are paying attention to the.... Participants are able to experience and discuss Active listening games, exercises, and clarity empoweringsomething! And attitudes is more difficult because we cant see them Why questions acquired... Activity for pairs ( or done with a computer this activity is structured as listener. Experiences, competencies, and appropriate responses, with the original picture paying attention to them other. To understand the speakers underlying feelings and attitudes is more difficult because we see... With the acting experience fresh in mind of change makers A. C., Kramer, R. M., Cook... Each have unique experiences, competencies, and its time for feedback after discussing them 6-frame! But appropriate eye contact and nodding are okay to show that you can absorb and understand what they are.! When we do this, listening can be acquired and developed with practice approaches, we only. 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B., Warrington... By those questions & Warrington, P., & Mayer, J. O information on utilising verbal... The original picture listener active listening role play scenarios talker, Non-Verbal Cues help Avoid Misunderstandings how the speaker what you you. Is finished, use the remaining time to have a follow-up discussion thoughts about this Active skill! A bit of an afterthought ongoing Application - 2 to 3 minutes per discussion most difficult part of being problem-solver! Being a problem-solver miming people revealed how they felt about the topic Emotion. Are different to your own we collaborate inevitably decides whether we synergize fall!