This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.
An extract from Rudyard Kipling’s poem in “The Elephant’s Child” literally OPENS up opportunities to practice a key skill as part of a communication skills course as well as allied skills in active listening and observation.
Much of the business of an organisation takes place between pairs of people. These interactions can be positive and developing or frustrating and destructive. You can improve them using simple methods, providing people are willing to listen to each other.
"Team of two" will work between secretaries and managers, managers and directors, consultants and clients or engineers working on a job together. It will even work between life partners.
One person rants for 60 seconds. The second person translates their rant into what they care about and value.
With a partner, find the 3 most unlikely / unusual / unique things you have in common with each other. Each pair chooses one to share with the group.
The Fishbowl game is an effective way to activate attention—to prime our natural listening and observing skills so that a more substantive conversation can take place.
Inviting a paired walk is surprisingly effective in its simplicity. Going for a walk together increases trust and can help prepare the terrain for conflict resolution, while acting as an energizer at the same time. Make it hybrid-friendly by pairing a person in the room to one joining online!
In pairs, one person describes a modern appliance to someone from 500 years ago
4 conversations about how to listen, acknowledge, and build
In pairs, players mirror one another's movements.
One person turns their back to the group and the rest of the group "gossips" about them in a positive way.