Corporate games and activities to improve listening skills

Active Listening hyperisland skills active listening remote-friendly. This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching.

A low trust battery is the core of many personal issues at the workplace. It also works great when promoting virtual leadership and working with online teams!

Trust Battery leadership teamwork team remote-friendly. Regular and constructive feedback is one of the most important ingredients for effective teams. Openness creates trust, and trust creates more openness. This is an activity for teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback.

The objective of Start, Stop, Continue is to examine aspects of a situation or develop next steps by polling people on what to start, what to stop and what to continue doing. Feedback: Start, Stop, Continue hyperisland skills feedback remote-friendly.

Regular, effective feedback is one of the most important ingredients in building constructive relationships and thriving teams. Openness creates trust and trust creates more openness. Feedback exercises aim to support groups to build trust and openness and for individuals to gain self-awareness and insight.

Feedback exercises should always be conducted with thoughtfulness and high awareness of group dynamics. This is an exercise for groups or teams that have worked together for some time and are familiar with giving and receiving feedback.

All leaders know the value of structured and considered reflection. Teams that take the time to reflect and improve are those that can grow and by creating an environment of reflection, team leaders and managers can help their group move forward together. This method is effective for both offline and virtual leadership development.

It helps a group progress from individual reflection through to full group discussion in a way that encourages constructive thought and minimizes potential frustration or antagonistic conversation. Reflection: Team hyperisland team remote-friendly.

The purpose of reflecting as a team is for members to express thoughts, feelings and opinions about a shared experience, to build openness and trust in the team, and to draw out key learnings and insights to take forward into subsequent experiences. Team members generally sit in a circle, reflecting first as individuals, sharing those reflections with the group, then discussing the insights and potential actions to take out of the session.

Use this session one or more times throughout a project or program. Developing the skillset you need to solve issues in your team when they arise and finding ways to ensure these conversations are productive is one of the most important things you can do as a leader.

Use Team of Two whether working online or as part of an in-person session to help your working pairs and interpersonal relationships go from strength to strength. By articulating needs and consequences clearly, this leadership exercise helps people communicate efficiently and see the results they need — a must for anyone in a leadership role! Team of Two communication active listening issue analysis conflict resolution issue resolution remote-friendly team.

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. It will even work between life partners. Leadership development is a common career trajectory for many employees and great leaders know that helping staff develop the necessary skills with activities, games and techniques is part of their role.

One of the most important leadership skills to cultivate is clarity: being clear in what you expect and need from others in your organisation or group is an integral component of high functioning teams. With What I Need From You, each person involved in the exchange is given the chance to articulate their core needs to others and respond in a structured way.

This kind of clear, direct action is great at unblocking conversational roadblocks — a must for virtual workplaces — and is something all leaders should have in their toolkit. People working in different functions and disciplines can quickly improve how they ask each other for what they need to be successful. You can mend misunderstandings or dissolve prejudices developed over time by demystifying what group members need in order to achieve common goals.

Since participants articulate core needs to others and each person involved in the exchange is given the chance to respond, you boost clarity, integrity, and transparency while promoting cohesion and coordination across silos: you can put Humpty Dumpty back together again! Standing in the shoes of others, practicing empathy and ensuring that everyone on a team is able to be heard is a necessity for great leaders and your team in general. In this activity, participants shift between telling stories where they were not heard, seen or respected and then being listeners who do not pass judgment.

Remember that leadership training activities should start with the fundamentals of good leadership. Heard, Seen, Respected HSR issue analysis empathy communication liberating structures remote-friendly.

I hope you have found some useful tips for leadership development workshops above. What are your favorite leadership workshop ideas and training exercises for leadership development? Did you incorporate any of them into your facilitation practice? Thank you for sharing such great activity ideas.

It is greatly appreciated and a perfect example of how the internet can and does serve the greater good! Thank you for the magnanimity of sharing these activities. We will choose and run and I am sure they will be very effective. Each team will take a turn and send out a representative to act out the items in the category of his or her picking.

The actor cannot speak or draw any words, while the others in the group try to guess the item. If the group guesses the name of the item, they get a point for each right answer. The team with the highest score wins. This team building game can help build team camaraderie through lots of acting. If you think video games are just about fun, think again. Create your own small collection of video games focusing on the ones that require coordination between players — like Halo, Rock Band, or Just Dance for an added physical activity bonus.

The next step would be trying to introduce a video gaming break once a week or organizing a video gaming tournament after work hours. Engaging and stimulating, video games are proven to boost business morale and improve productivity even in adults. This fun drawing-based game will make a great addition to the next board gaming night at the office. Googly Eyes is similar to Pictionary and requires you to draw, but comes with a silly twist — you have to wear goggles.

How to play: Players are required to get to the finish first by winning the drawing challenges. Each player wears goggles that blur their vision while guessing what their teammate is drawing. This game is easy to learn, yet it will bring your team lots of laughs. A simple, yet meaningful team building game that will set the tone for the event and build consensus on shared values.

In this activity, teams list what matters to them on a whiteboard. Each participant tells the group what makes this event or seminar meaningful or pleasant. Record the notes on the whiteboard with sticky notes.

The activity builds mutual trust and establishes group values. Perfect for the start of an event, seminar, or a workshop. Going down the memory lane is a great way to get team members to bond with each other. However, not everyone will recall an event in the same light as others. One team member shares a negative experience from that experience, while the other team member shares the same experience, but focuses on the positive aspects of it.

Then they switch, the latter telling a negative memory, while the former tells a positive one to counteract it. This team building activity reframes experiences, improves morale, and shifts perspectives.

This team building activity will let people appreciate their differences, and at the same time find something in common to improve team bonding. How to play: Create a list of odd pairs of objects that go well together — salt and pepper, Sonny and Cher, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, peanut butter and jelly, etc. Write down the objects on separate pieces of paper. The participants then mingle with the group.

When the players have figured out what they are, they have to find the other half of their odd pair. How to play: The group stands in a straight line side by side.

The goal is for the participants to organize themselves in order by their birthday month and day without any talking. If they do start to talk, they need to start from the beginning.

If you want to add an extra challenge to this activity, try blindfolding a couple of participants. Practices problem solving, cooperation and non-verbal communication skills.

Have the team stretch their creativity and communication skills by having them plan, script, direct, and perform their very own cinematic masterpiece. How to play: Disclaimer: you will need specific equipment for this team building activity cameras or smartphones with decent inbuilt cameras, tripods, computers with video editing software, TV. Split the participants into smaller teams — each of them will create their own movie.

Each team picks a mystery envelope containing a film genre or theme. The final cut of each movie will need to reflect the genre. Set a deadline for each final cut for the film premiere normally hours after you begin the exercise. Now, the production starts! Each team member should have a specific role — the director, the producer, video editor, actors, etc. At the end of the activity, all the films are watched, and the best ones receive awards. Popcorn and drinks for the final screening will be a nice touch!

How often do we stop to compliment our coworkers on a daily basis? Probably — not often enough. Improving self-esteem is a team building activity that will boost confidence in your team. How to play: Everyone writes down their name on the top of a piece of paper. They pass the paper to the person on their left. Each person must then write something they admire about the person whose name is on the top of the page. The papers are passed around to the left until each sheet ends up back with the person named on the top.

Number of players: Preferably up to 24 people split into teams of players. How to play: Participants are divided into teams of people. Each team has to come up with an imaginary product and develop a pitch for it. The pitch must include a brand name, slogan, business plan, marketing plan , financial data.

Each team then presents their pitch in front of the sharks. The sharks must ask questions and evaluate the pitches as if they were real businesses. The team that gets the most investment wins.

This team building activity promotes unconventional thinking, collaboration, entrepreneurship, and teamwork. Participants sketch their shared work memories and place them on a memory wall to create a welcoming environment and reaffirm a positive work relationship with other employees. How to play: Each player writes down positive memories of shared experiences and moments on a sheet of paper.

They then draw a few of these memories on fresh sheets of paper. The participants tape their memory drawings to the memory wall, while other participants approach the wall to expand on the memories with additional drawings. How to play: Divide the group of people into pairs and have one person of each pair blindfolded. Make sure to mark the start and finish line. Have the unblindfolded person lead their partner through the obstacle course using verbal guidance only.

The goal is for the blindfolded person to make it out on the other side without having touched any of the objects. The first person to cross the finish line wins. This is one of those fun team building activities for outdoors where players get to practice creative thinking and problem-solving. The purpose of the game is to build a structure that prevents an egg from breaking.

How to play: Assemble groups of three to five people and give each team various materials for building paper straws, a roll of masking tape, one fresh egg, newspapers, etc. In a set amount of time for example, 15 minutes , each team has to complete building a structure, with the egg inside.

When time expires, all structures are collected, and a judge tosses them from at least 10 feet in elevation. The structures are then inspected to see if the eggs survived. The winners are the groups that successfully protected the egg. Boosts teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and time management. Although this team building activity requires a lot of preparation, it is a timeless classic that works in any situation, location, or team size.

You can run it indoors as well, although being outdoors will give your employees a much-appreciated change of scenery and pace. How to play: Create a list of activities and align them with the purpose of the hunt.

If you want new employees to connect with senior employees, design team-focused activities that will force them to collaborate. The team is also not allowed to see what the other members are drawing. When time is up, have the teams gather to look at and discuss their comics.

The most effective teams organize themselves with minimal help from leaders. This is an excellent game for teams to practice vision cohesion across components. This game also works well with teams separated across offices or working remotely. They can work verbally over the phone or Skype to create the comic.

Four at a Time is great for teaching non-verbal communication and teamwork. Have all participants sit in a circle. When the game begins, no more or less than four people must be standing at a time, and the four can only stand for 10 seconds before they must sit down and be immediately replaced by someone else.

All communication about who will stand or sit must be non-verbal. The goal is to keep the game going as long as possible. Non-verbal communication is essential in a group sales environment.

Team members should be able to discreetly help each other while keeping a customer engaged. This game can be played almost everywhere and works best in large groups.

The larger the group, the better the non-verbal communication must be. Get It Together builds focus and encourages teamwork. Divide players into two-person teams and blindfold one member. Use the tape to create a circle in the middle of the room and place various items within it. Based on directions given by their partner, the blindfolded member must retrieve specific items from the circle.

The partner giving instructions may not enter the circle. The game becomes complicated and challenging as more and more two-person teams join the fray. When it becomes virtually impossible for teams to communicate and navigate, or once all the objects have been retrieved, the game ends.

Change the end sound: Say fan , now change the n to a b — fab. Change the middle sound: Say nut , now change the u to an e — net. When children are using their bodies to move, they are concentrating better, learning more and developing better listening skills. A great listening activity for preschoolers is to tell them an action rhyme where they follow the instructions such as the one below.

Here are some more fun action songs with lyrics. At bedtime, make up a nonsense story together by adding on one line each and seeing where the story goes. It goes without saying…If you want your children to be good listeners, you need to model that behaviour. Listen to them when they talk to you. Validate what they are saying. Listen to your family members. Praise your child when they listen well by using specific language. Would you like a year of done-for-you, ten-minute activities to teach your year-old through play?

Get more info here. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Share Pin Email. Click here to cancel reply. Gurprit Thursday 5th of August Wonderful activities, which will help us to provide better platform to our children. Tanja Mcilroy Thursday 5th of August Thank you for sharing the activities are wonderful God bless.

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