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Instead of a traditional icebreaker, many trainers like to start their session with a stimulating question to break the ice, foster introductions, help participants get to know each other, and reduce tension. Favorite questions include: Questions about you Tell us something your colleagues do not know about you. Who has been your best coach in their past and why? What would you do if you won the lottery? (I often offer my answer first to engender trust. I learn what motivates each person as well. Where they know each other, and I do not know them "What was a dream you had as a child?" (great for a visioning/goal setting workshop). Share a memorable moment of your life. What was your favorite hobby or pastime as a child? Introduce yourself simply with your name and an adjective that describes you. The adjective must start with the same letter as your first name! When you introduce yourself, tell us the best part of their job, the most difficult part of their job (if there is one), and what topic they are interested in learning more about after reviewing the table of contents. What does family mean to you? What are you most proud of in your life? What's your claim to fame? Questions about workshop goals Tell me why you are here (even if it’s because your boss told you to) and what your objectives are. I write it down on an easel pad and post it for the day, and review with the group as we go. Have small groups work on one of these questions: What are your biggest challenges related to________ in 2011? What are the key things you wish to do better related to__________? What drives you crazy related to________________? Using Peter Block's “Four Powerful Questions” (Flawless Consulting Skills, 2nd Edition, pages 283-286) ask: "On a scale of 1-7, with 7 as high answer, 1. How valuable do you plan this workshop to be? 2. How participative do you plan to be? 3. How much risk do you plan to take? 4. To what extent do you plan to be invested in the learning and well being of the whole group? NOTE: ask about their plans (action word) and NOT their expectations (a prediction), to shift accountability and ownership to everyone present. Ask this TRIO of questions: 1. What specifically do you want to take away from this workshop? 2. How will you achieve this? 3. How will you know when you have achieved this? Finally, imagine yourself applying the new behaviors in the workplace. Sharing and debriefing participant objectives After you've asked the questions and given your group time to consider them, have participants go through the objectives they have identified as a group and pick their top 2 or 3. Then ask for a show of hands on how many choose each objective. Explain to the group that you will use this as a tool to tailor the content to the class, focusing more time and energy on the objectives people really want.

In her new book Designing and Facilitating Workshops with Intentionality, author Dr. Tolu Noah offers ten principles to help focus workshop design efforts. It’s all wrapped up into a tool she refers to as the Workshop Wheel. In her recent Show & Share session with Trainers Warehouse, Tolu focused on two of the ten — ACTIVE and INCLUSIVE, and boy, did she practice what she preached. Following are some of the tools she used to build activity and inclusivity into the session. TRY MENTIMETER – TO BUILD INTERACTIVITY Ask participants to share their input through Mentimeter.com. In Tolu’s example, she began our session by asking participants to share their “training hopes and dreams.” Rather than relying simply on a Chat board, she used Mentimeter. She posted a single QR code that could be scanned by phone, as well as a URL link and code, for computer access. Quickly, participants could weigh in and share their input. Although accessing a code like that may take a tad more time than a simple chat, it also felt more interactive for a few reasons: It was much more interesting to view visually Responses were easier to read Use of the phone invited a more tactile experience than just interfacing with the computer and keyboard. Most importantly, Mentimeter’s AI can synthesize the group’s results just by clicking the space bar. After that, if you want to dig deeper into a specific response, just click that box and see all the associated responses.   EMBED SOME FUN INTO YOUR SLIDES Dr. Noah used a handful of extremely accessible tools to manage the time and ambiance during breakout or reflection moments. For instance, she embedded these resources: Bensound – Music clips for presentation audio. Embedding the sound clips made them easy to access with the click of a button. Great for thinking time during work exercises. 30-second timer – Search for “acoustic guitar timers, find the amount of time you need, and embed it into your slide. Two recommended YouTube channels are Adam Eschborn and Gentle Acoustic Guitar. EXPLORE SLIDE DECKS BEYOND POWERPOINT Google Slides: Tolu shared that she prefers to use Google Slides for presentations. She explained that if you like to navigate to multiple other websites and flip from presentation to links, it’s very convenient. You can also “pin” tabs so they’re easy to find and navigate. Aha Slides: at a prior Show & Share, Cornelius “Nelius” Dowdell, expert facilitator and founder of The Best Workplace, used AhaSlide as an alternative to PowerPoint. Also web-based, Aha Slides allowed him to seamlessly embed word clouds, live polls, spinners, and more. TRY PADLET FOR COLLABORATION ACTIVITIES While asking chat-based questions and polling participants is better than not checking in with the group at all, a better approach is to draw on a wonderful suite of interactive tools from an online platform like Padlet. Facilitators can easily customize visually pleasing templates that allow participants to consider questions and share responses to thought-provoking questions in a myriad of ways that are more fun and accessible than standard whiteboards. They have two basic tools that allow you to make: Boards: blank slates to which you can add text, music, videos, and more. They have dozens of templates ready-to-go for discussion boards, polls, Q&A, surveys, brainstorming, feedback, breakout groups, etc. Sandboxes: collaborative digital canvases with tools for drawing, writing, and adding media. Sandbox templates are available for lessons, brainstorming, Jeopardy, interactive documents, group activities, and more. Don’t be put off by the graphics. At first glance, Padlet appears to be geared toward K-12 instructors, but because each Board and Sandbox starts with a blank slate, you can easily customize the look and feel. When you click into a template, it does not look juvenile, as the website graphics might lead you to assume. It also allows you to welcome participants to add comments by typing, sharing a video, recording audio, or even capturing a screen record. ACRONYMS & MNEMONICS Tolu shared the A.P.A. acronym as a way to engage participants throughout a learning session. For each part, she offered an array of tools. Some used the resources mentioned above; others drew on “old school” approaches. A. Activate prior knowledge, as learning always builds on a scaffolding of prior knowledge. P. Process new information. Give time to synthesize, ask questions, make connections, etc. A. Apply learning, because practice with feedback enables improvement. OLD SCHOOL ACTIVITIES Retrieval and Writing After introducing the 10 principles, Tolu asked us to recall as many as possible by writing them down on paper or opening a writing app on an electronic device, without looking at notes we might have taken. She reminded us that the retrieval process is an important part of long-term memory processes. Although most of us could recall only three to five of the 10 design principles after her very quick overview, the exercise served as an important lesson about the importance of analog approaches and retrieval activities. She introduced a handful of other approaches as well: 1. HANDOUT: Anticipation Guide (Activation) To explore what people already know and begin to activate prior knowledge, Dr. Noah suggests preparing an “Anticipation Guide” containing 5-7 statements about the topic at hand. To facilitate this activity, ask attendees to record if they believe the statement is True or False. Before putting their notes to the side, have them team up with a colleague to discuss their answers. At the very end of the session, revisit the participants’ Anticipation Guides, and ask them to reflect on how their prior understanding grew or evolved. CREDIT: This strategy comes from several sources, including Frederick A. Duffelmeyer and Facing History & Ourselves. 2. HANDOUT: Knowledge (or Skills) Rating (Activation) Another great worksheet to help learners consider prior knowledge is one that asks them to self-assess their knowledge before a session starts. It’s like a “Before Report-card.” With each concept on the learning agenda, they can check a box that says, “I don’t know what this means,” “I have seen or heard of this, but don’t know the meaning,” “I can explain the meaning of this,” or ” I could teach someone else about this topic.” CREDIT: Jonathan Bifield, Eberly Center at Carnegie Melon University, and others. 3. T.Q.E. PAUSES: Elicit Thoughts, Questions, and Epiphanies Pause and ask attendees to share their thoughts, questions, and epiphanies about the training topic! You can use sticky notes, chat, or really any tool, digital whiteboarding tool, verbally (sticky notes, chat, a digital whiteboard tool, or have attendees share verbally). Be sure to process these replies before you move on! CREDIT: Adapted from an approach used by Marisa Thompson. 4. PARTNERING CARDS Rather than finding partners on the fly, take a few minutes at the start for folks to fill out their Discussion Partners Card, finding a different person to partner with for each of the upcoming discussion chunks. When those junctures arrive, have them find that partner. 5. WOW-HOW-NOW REFLECTION ACTIVITY Using a Padlet Sandbox with three pages for input, Tolu led us in an inclusive activity that drew out important learning points and action items. If you’re looking for another reflection tool to add to your repertoire, this is a great one! Wow – key takeaway How – remaining question Now – action item CREDIT: Letitica Citizen and Kia Turner CONCLUSION At its core, effective training isn’t about adding more tools—it’s about being intentional with the ones we choose. As Dr. Tolu Noah’s session demonstrated so clearly, when we design with purpose—prioritizing activity and inclusivity—we create experiences that learners don’t just attend, but truly engage with. Whether it’s leveraging digital tools like Mentimeter and Padlet, or incorporating “old school” strategies like retrieval, writing, and structured reflection, the goal remains the same: help learners think, connect, and apply. Because, as we know from brain science, people remember what they take time to process. The real takeaway? Small shifts in design can lead to big shifts in learning. RESOURCES Tolu’s Session Resources Watch Tolu's Trainers Warehouse Show & Share

This collection of ommunication exercises and listening activities is culled from a variety of LinkedIN discussions. 

Teach, energize, and engage learners with 5 terrific games and learning events using the Trainers Warehouse Me First! Buzzer System.

Why Trainers Warehouse Is the Trusted Source for Professional, Real-World Activities If you’ve ever led a team-building session and felt the collective eye-roll when someone utters “icebreaker” or suggests Two Truths and a Lie, you’re not alone. Many professionals dislike these typical starters because they feel forced, overdone, juvenile, or just plain cheesy. And yet, we know from brain science and decades of L&D research that interactive, emotionally engaging activities dramatically improve learning, retention, communication, and psychological safety. Excellent activities help participants practice new approaches in non-work-related simulations, draw out ah-ha moments, and connect new ideas to prior learning. With so many benefits, the challenge becomes finding team-building tools and experiences that are energizing and illuminating, without crossing into cringe? For over 30 years, Trainers Warehouse has been the trusted leader in providing just that — non-cheesy team-building tools and activities that are purposeful, adult-friendly, work-appropriate, and grounded in real learning outcomes. WHAT MAKES A TEAM-BUILDING EXPERIENCE “NON-CHEESY”? Before we talk specifics, let’s clarify the criteria that trainers, facilitators, managers, team leaders and professionals care about. Ideal activities must… 1. FEEL AUTHENTIC, NOT FORCED Non-cheesy activities respect adults’ intelligence and comfort levels. They spark genuine conversation rather than scripted awkwardness. They give adults agency to participate and contribute as much or as little as they’d like. 2. TEACH SOMETHING MEANINGFUL Worthwhile team building exercises will require communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. They’ll pose challenges whereby groups must work together. In doing so, participants will grow aware of their feelings, tendencies, and approaches to working in groups. They’re not just entertainment for its own sake. 3. BE INCLUSIVE They work for introverts and extroverts, new hires or executives, in-person or hybrid groups. 4. PROJECT PROFESSIONALISM Executive and workplace-appropriate team building activities should project professionalism consistent with workplace expectations. Quality materials, clear instructions, thoughtful prompts, and dependable outcomes allow trainers to facilitate stress-free. 5. SUPPORT A MEANINGFUL DEBRIEF Offices are busy places and people’s time is valuable. If facilitators don’t have a clear purpose behind their activity, they shouldn’t bother! Still, just experiencing the activity isn’t enough. The true value comes from discussion and reflection. Great tools make that easy by providing natural teachable moments. TRAINERS WAREHOUSE: The best source for non-cheesy team-bulding Tools For decades, Trainers Warehouse has been the go-to supplier for facilitators, educators, corporate trainers, OD consultants, HR teams, and leadership coaches who want activities that work. And unlike some vendors in the market, Trainers Warehouse is known for being: Ethical and original — developing many proprietary tools Reliable — consistent quality, thoughtful packaging, and real customer support Trainer-tested — every tool is shaped by L&D professionals Brain-science-informed — movement, emotion, novelty, reflection, and storytelling are baked into the design Consultant-grade, Internationally-sourced — the company curates team experiences from subject matter experts and leading consultants from around the globe. It’s why so many teams—from small nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies—return again and again to Trainers Warehouse. TTop Non-Cheesy Team Building Tools Below are standout examples that consistently earn praise for being engaging without embarrassment, fun without fluff, and practical without feeling corporate and dry. 1. Thumballs® — Conversation That Feels Natural, Not Awkward Thumballs are soft, tossable conversation balls covered with thoughtful prompts tailored to real workplace needs: communication trust emotional intelligence leadership resilience conflict resolution shared values Why they’re non-cheesy: The format is playful, but the prompts are deep, reflective, and adult-appropriate, making conversations flow effortlessly. Great for: retreats, onboarding, leadership programs, hybrid teams. 2. Pipeline Challenge — Collaboration Under Pressure (Without the Cringe) The Pipeline Challenge is a hands-on activity that requires teams to construct a pathway and move a marble or ball across a specified distance… without dropping the ball! It can be as easy or as difficult as the facilitator chooses. What makes it non-cheesy: It instantly exposes team dynamics—communication gaps, assumptions, process breakdowns—in a fun but meaningful way. Interpersonal dynamics that typically arise include tendencies to blame others, group coordination, and identifying small successes that can be replicated across departments Why it makes the list: Facilitators love how easy it is to connect to workplace themes like: Coordination Handoffs Problem solving Passing blame Leadership Creativity 3. Team-Writing, Shape Up, and Other Small-Group Problem-Solvers These deceptively simple tools create powerful lessons in communication, leadership, active listening, and shared understanding. Why they work: Participants quickly realize how they contribute to or hinder collaboration, which makes the debrief incredibly rich. 4. Reward & Recognition Tools That Build Psychological Safety Even recognition tools can be “non-cheesy” when they’re authentic and thoughtful. Trainers Warehouse offers tools that make it easy to: Send Kudos Notes Share Tokens of Appreciation Invite Conversation and Contribution Beyond sending a kudos note or recognizing positive contributions with some sort of token, that third bullet of inviting conversation is critical! Managers and team leaders can build trust and make employees feel valued by listening to, responding to, and acting upon the thoughts and suggestions that employees share at meetings. By making colleagues feel heard and respected, organizations can reinforce their positive culture without gimmicks or expense. BETTER THAN THE USUAL SILLY GAMES Traditional activities like “Two Truths and a Lie” fail because they: create unnecessary vulnerability don’t connect to learning feel juvenile aren’t inclusive generate anxiety for some participants In contrast, Trainers Warehouse tools: honor adult professionalism engage the brain and body create psychological safety lead to real insights are grounded in learning science make the facilitator look polished and prepared This is why trainers trust these tools again and again. Final Thoughts to Elevate your Sessions with Tools Designed for Adults Team-building doesn’t have to be awkward, scripted, or childish. When you choose professionally-designed and consultant-created non-cheesy team-building tools, which respect people’s intelligence and genuinely enhance communication, you create experiences that teams remember for the right reasons. And that’s exactly what Trainers Warehouse has been delivering for over three decades. If you want activities that are engaging, meaningful, and easy to facilitate—without the cringe factor—Trainers Warehouse is the source you can count on.

I’ve been drawing from a variety of discussions on LinkedIN to build this collection of team-building activities. I’ll continue to add to it, as I read more!  LAST UPDATED on 11/25/2025 1. Team Directions Challenge Break the class up into teams of 3 each (4 max), making sure to mix up people from different divisions, if they don’t know each other at all, even better. Place a garbage can some where by the back of the room. Place a piece of tape or paper at the front of the room as a starting marker. Crumple up a piece of paper into a ball. If you have natural obstacles in your training environment such as tables make sure to place the can and starting points at locations that will make it so there is not a direct straight line between the two. If not, try arranging chairs as obstacles. The object is have the group write down directions to have a “human robot” walk from the starting point and drop the paper ball into the garbage call. It sounds simple but there are some rules. Teams may only use the following directions: Take 1 step forward / Take 2 steps forward / Turn right 45 / Turn left 45 / Raise arm / Drop paper Teams are also not allowed to leave their area to try to pace or measure outdistances; they must remain in their work area, they are however, allowed to stand up to help them estimate. Give the class about 5 minutes to complete their program, have each team pick a team name and write it their direction sheet then collect all the sheets. Ask for a volunteer one at a time from each team to participate as the human robot and start reading the directions off that team’s sheet, having the volunteer actually follow the directions as you read them. See how close to dropping the paper ball into the trash can each team can get, possibly having a small reward for the team whose directions were closest. I would normally hold this activity fairly early in the training as it helps to promote teamwork, collaboration and have people who may not normally work together or even know each other a chance to break the ice. Posted online by Noel Corriveau 2. 4th Little Pig’s House This one is simple, fast, and ALWAYS gets people thinking creatively (and laughing while they do it!). To run it: Divide your group into teams of 4. Tell them they’ve been hired as architects for the 4th Little Pig – the one forgotten in the original story, the three little pigs! Their mission is to build a house strong enough to survive the Big Bad Wolf’s wind (aka your hair dryer). Each team gets the same limited materials – think straws, tape, paper, sticks, etc. (Make sure it’s fair!) Give teams 20 minutes to design and build a free-standing house that has 4 WALLS, a ROOF, a DOOR, a FLOOR. RULES: ❌ No taping it to the table! TESTING (The fun part!): As the facilitator, you’re the Wolf. Use the hair dryer to “blow” each house and see if it stands. If it stays on the table, they win! DEBRIEF: discuss team dynamics, communication, leadership, etc. Posted online by Rebecca CourtneyRebecca Courtney 3. Mission Impossible The exercise presents itself as a team challenge, so participants go into it ready to prove that their team will be the best. They quickly see that the key to success is working cooperatively with other teams. 4. Discuss Team Dynamics Using the Silver Series Team Dynamics Thumball is a playful and constructive way to have important conversations about how the team works together, supports each other, resolves conflicts, and more. It can be used to discuss current dynamics or identify ways to improve team performance. 5. Tower Building Exercise This exercise examines a managerial style in action and the climate the ‘manager’ creates for the team. The exercise involves dividing participants into teams (1 manager, 3 team members) – they have to then build a tower using different-sized wooden blocks. Sounds easy – until you tell them that team members are blindfolded and have to use their non-dominant hand! The exercise can be done with in 2 hours. The exercise is described in more detail on the HayGroup website. Posted online by Michelle Curran 6. Puzzle Challenge Each table is given a puzzle and told that the team who puts it together the fastest will win a prize. What participants don’t know, but soon figure out, is that each puzzle contains one piece from another table’s puzzle. In order to win, they find they must collaborate with competing teams. It makes for a great debrief! Posted online by Lawrence Polsky 7. The Stuck Truck Exercise This is a problem-solving exercise based on experiential learning theory. Participants are given an exercise where a truck is stuck under a bridge – they need to figure out what to do. Based on each person’s learning style they approach the problem in very different ways. This can lead to some powerful discussions and ‘a-ha’ moments. The exercise is described in more detail on the HayGroup website. Posted online by Michelle Curran 8. Scavenger Hunt For Orientation or On-boarding: Combine both online (Intranet) and on-foot scavenger hunts that require the newbies to mine a lot of the orientation information for themselves. Not only do they “get” information better than when they need to find it themselves, but they are also having fun, getting to know one another, and learning how to work collaboratively. A win-win. Posted online by Veronica Adams 9. Early Bird Discussion Start the class off with the following quote. “The early bird catches the worm, but the second mouse takes the cheese.” Have the group discuss the relevance of the quote as it pertains to sales, customer service, technology (insert another primary topic of interest here). While it may not be a physical activity, it can jump-start a relatively docile group into a decent discussion. Posted online by Cale Helmer 10. 2-minute Commercial If you had a small group of 5 to 6 people develop a 2-minute commercial to promote a business or product, that would require some time. If you had more than one group make a commercial that they would act out, it would take a large block of time for each group to present their commercial and receive feedback. Posted online by Tom Lord 11. Create a frosty beginning I decided at the start of the day not to introduce myself, and not let my delegates introduce each other either. About 2 hours in, I found the answers to my group questions were getting shorter and shorter. All going to plan! Why? I wanted a frosty group, non-trusting, and not willing to respond because they knew nothing about me, or each other! I then allowed them (16) to ask me a question each about any aspect of my life. Believe me, it got personal, but the mood of the room instantly changed. Laughter, positivity, all round behaviors changed once we all had had a laugh and knew more about each other’s lives. It was a painful couple of hours, but the message about needing to know and understand each other’s background, beliefs, thoughts, and motivations was certainly driven home. Posted online by Adrian Lowe 12. 6 Thinking Hats This team activity focuses on problem-solving. I divide the group into teams and provide each team with a dice that has a colored hat on each side (representing De Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats). Team members roll the dice and have to approach the problem I give them from whatever color turns up on the dice. The next person then has to address the previous person’s comment as well as make their own comment based on the color that they roll. Info about 6 Thinking Hats can be found at Mind Tools. 13. Link & Lead On 4 small sheets of paper, write each of the following tasks: 1) Lead others to the nearest window; 2) Lead the others to the nearest door; 3) Lead the others to sit down; 4) Lead the others of stand still. Roll each of these papers. Group participants into four explaining this is a purely non-verbal exercise. Have each group select a leader/representative to pick up their roll of paper. When everyone is back to their groups, explain that each group’s mission should be clear to everyone in that group but remind them, non-verbal exercise. When the groups are ready, explain the “clincher” – the groups must link hands or arms with each other and then link up with the other groups to form a big circle. Tell them, they must not let go no matter what. On your signal, they are to “execute/implement their mission.” Remember, no verbal communication is allowed among players. Give them only 3 minutes. Ask if they want a second chance. 2 minutes. DEBRIEF: They will find that it hurts when other groups are stopping them from accomplishing their mission. Ask why? Identify types of participants (gung-ho group members; planners who sit down first; status quo players who just stand still; option hunters). Discuss . . . If your group did the tasks one by one, group one first then 2 and 3 and 4, would it have been possible to satisfy all missions/tasks? What’s the role of communications? Whose responsibility is it to make the whole org/group understand the mission and why the order of priority? Posted online by Joel Wayne Ganibe, MBA 14. Raising, or Lowering, the Bar (Helium Stick) Give thin bars or poles (like a dowel or telescoping wand/pointer) about 3 feet long to each team of 4-6 people. Have teams stand in a circle and explain the “rule.” Team members can ONLY use their index finger (like pointing) Their finger must stay in constant contact with the UNDERSIDE of the bar They can’t use any other implement or body part. Only their index finger under the bar Start with everyone’s finger under the bar keeping it about chest high The goal is to lower the bar to floor without anyone losing contact with it until it is at the floor. If the bar drops or falls, they have to start over The team will not be able to lower it until they discover the “secret.” Posted online by Peter Demarest 15. Building Runners This exercise requires a set of building blocks (e.g. Lego) or construction rods, for each of 2 to 6 teams of 3 to 6 people on each team. Begin by building yourself a model that needs to be replicated by each team (do this prior to starting the activity of course). Then, provide each team with all the necessary materials to replicate the model, exactly as you have constructed it. To facilitate the game: Place your model in a corner of the room so that can’t be viewed by the groups (i.e. erect a shield of some sort). Explain that upon your start signal, each team can only send one ‘runner’ at a time to view and memorize some of the construction features to relay back to their team, who start putting the pieces into place. A different ‘runner’ is sent each time, allowing for different roles. Watch the competitive juices start flowing, as each team gets closer to completion of the model. Feel free to play around with the parameters of this activity. Posted online by Greig Ward 16. Blindfolded Egg in Spoon Obstacle Carry This out-of-the-box and fun activity is a throwback to when we were kids. Because most people can recognize the game it, puts them at ease relatively quickly, especially if folks don’t know each other well. It does require a little room but can be adjusted to suit the facilities. I would normally set up 3 – 4 lanes side by side over a reasonable expanse, insert obstacles and challenges in each course (these could be chairs, whiteboards, poles, trip hazards, etc.; the number and types of obstacles depending on the site). Then we break into groups of 2. One person is blindfolded and holds an egg on a spoon and the other guides them down the course from a distance. Added complexities included getting the blindfolded person to wear thick gloves. We then swap the participant roles and during this process change the course. I generally run this with ‘operational’ groups and have received great feedback. This exercise highlights the importance of communication with so many distractions in workplaces. We also use it to highlight the importance of ensuring each other’s safety – risk awareness and injury prevention. Every time we have run this exercise, it’s a hoot and the feedback is overwhelming good. Posted online by Ann Russell 17. The Marshmallow Challenge is a great activity that uses nothing more than spaghetti and marshmallows. It was the subject of a recent TED talk. Read more here. On LinkedIn, Mindy Franz offered a variation on this activity. She said, “Break the group into small teams of 4-5 people. Deliver a sealed packet to each group. Envelope contents are: 20 pieces of spaghetti, a yard of twine, a yard of masking tape and one marshmallow. The objective is to build a free-standing structure as high as possible. This is a timed event – give your group 18 minutes and post the instructions on the overhead. The only instruction is: ‘The marshmallow had to be on the top of the structure at the end.’ When the time is up, send out the judges to determine which was the tallest structure. 18. Pipelines (from Trainers Warehouse) Teams are each handed a series of half-pipe sections and challenged to deliver a ball from a designated start point to a finish line without interruption. Success in the Pipeline Challenge depends on smooth handoffs, coordinated timing, and awareness of how each person’s segment links to the next.Ideal for: Relaunching energy, highlighting “flow,” and reinforcing how each team member’s work impacts the next person. 19. Team Writer (from Trainers Warehouse) Groups assemble a TeamWriter device (with ropes attached) and then together steer a single marker to write a word, phrase or draw a shape. It forces them to synchronise their pulls, communicate clearly, and reflect on how coordination influences clarity. Ideal for: Communication workshops, illustrating interdependence, and tuning up listening + role clarity among team members. 20. Puzzle Blind During PuzzleBlind, some team members are blindfolded (“builders”) while others serve as coaches giving only verbal instructions. The builders must assemble a puzzle relying entirely on what the coaches say. The exercise surfaces assumptions, role confusion, trust issues and the impact of unclear instructions. Ideal for: Leadership/management development, conflict-resolution sessions, or anytime you want to spotlight clarity of communication and effective support roles. 21. DaBridge In DaBridge, teams receive wooden notches and dowels (no fasteners) and are tasked to build a self-supporting bridge structure based on the famous Da Vinci bridge concept. Because each piece depends on others, success depends on careful planning, role distribution, and collaboration. Ideal for: Building trust across functions, emphasising how design and execution must align, illustrating how a sound foundation supports the “heaviest” load. 22. Team 10 Team 10 calls for individual players to flip cards two at a time, trying to reveal 10 of the same symbol (either all X’s or all O’s). Along the way they encounter “Word” cards (like Kaboom, Move It, Swap 2, Scramble) that interrupt the progress and force them to rethink strategy. Ideal for: Exercises in communication, adaptability, handling interruptions and change, planning under pressure. 23. Shape-Up When playing Shape-Up, Blindfolded players each hold a wooden shape and must, without looking, determine who has matching shapes in the group. Success depends on clear communication, active listening, and minimizing assumptions. Use this game in workshops focusing on communication clarity, collaboration under constraints, listening vs. assuming, spotlighting how small signals matter in teamwork. More Game Ideas… A number of great team-building games are available for purchase. Prices vary considerably from tens to hundreds of dollars, as activity producers try to put a price tag on their creativity, intellectual property, and make back their costs. Many focus on a group challenge — building something together; getting out of a fix together (think Survivor simulations); finding the answer to a mystery; etc. You can find a range of such products on the Trainers Warehouse website here. You’ll find activities such as: Community Puzzle $ Building the Tower Silently (uses Legos) $$ Colorblind $$$ Jungle Escape $$$ Tall Ships Simulation $$$ Search for the Lost Dutchman $$$$ TEAM EXPERIENCES In addition to the team-building games and activities shared in this post, I recently came across a wonderful article by the folks at FitSmallBusiness. In their article, 26 Team Building Activities & Ideas From The Pros, they profile business leaders who share their favorite ways to improve workplace dynamics and boost employee morale. For instance: Volunteer together (Holly Harper) Learn something new together (Lisa Donoughe) Attend an escape room (Eric Boudreau) Arrange team yoga classes (Claudia Matles) Friday night drinks (Harley Hammond) Attend an improv class (Danica Kombol) Books Big Book of Team Building Games, by John W. Newstrom, Edward E. Scannell Big Book of Team Motivating Games, by Mary Scannell and Edward Scannell Raptor and other Team Building Games, by Sam Sikes Duct Tape Team Building Games, by Tom Heck SEE ALSO COMMUNICATION EXERCISES

Tools and  Activities for Assessment Learning Events The ATD Community delivered when I asked about their favorite activities to complement personality assessments. I’ve since seen additional inquiries, asking for activities to follow a personality styles assessment. I find that exercises typically fall into two main categories: 1) using the assessment reports to draw understanding about the different styles; and 2) interactive exercises formulated around the personality types. For instance: Reviewing the Assessment Report Many facilitators structure activities around the assessment reports delivered following a test. Typically, the reports explain the test results and offer tips on how to work effectively with others. Activities based on these reports might include: Discuss what you learned about your own style Share whether you feel the results accurately reflect your preferences Create a 5 x 7 reference card for each style Identify qualities you wish were stronger (or less strong) Exercises & Activities for DISC and Other Assessments To make the experience more robust and memorable, facilitators draw on additional activities that either help participants identify different styles or practice different ways of communicating: Identifying and Understanding Different Types BOAT EXERCISE: Select eight participants to discuss how to decide who to throw out of the lifeboat that is about to sink. Have the others watch the interaction and consider the impact of the approaches of different personality types. Ask those “not on the boat” for their feedback and what they saw happening. ~ Michelle Qualls FIND YOUR TWIN: Find a “Personality Twin.” Discuss how you can work with or communicate more effectively with others. Or, Role-play – share usual response to a question, then edit your response to appeal to a different style. FAMOUS PEOPLE: Identify a pop-culture icon, movie or TV character, or individual with that trait VIDEO & YOU TUBES: Share video clips exemplifying various preferences STRENGTHS. CHALLENGES. UNDERSTANDING. Divide participants into style groups based on their primary style. Ask each group to come to a consensus on 3 strengths they have because of their style, 3 challenges associated with their style, and 3 things they’d like the other styles to understand about theirs. Then, have each group present its findings to the class and invite Q&A. Why it works: participants see that even people with the same style have different characteristics. The conversations are always excellent. Allow 90 minutes for this the whole activity. DISCOVERING STYLES THUMBALL: Using the Discovering Styles Thumball, choose one question for players to answer when they catch the ball and look at the quality under their thumb. For instance, you might have them answer: How could you use this quality in a positive way? How can you support or encourage this quality? How can you best work with someone with this quality? Why is this quality important to our organization? Which of our personality type(s)/styles encompasses this quality? In what situations might this quality/characteristic be most effective? What happens if this quality is exaggerated… How might someone with this quality manage conflict? Try-on Different Styles VACATION PLANNING: Have participants join the group associated with their lowest-performing style. Have them plan a vacation for that personality type and represent it on a poster. Finally, ask those who are strong in that personality-type to give feedback on the vacation and poster, focusing on how well it fits them. ~ Michelle Qualls TV PURCHASE: Working in groups, based on the primary style-type ask, “If you were going to buy a big television, how would you go about it?” Ask teams to collaborate and share their approaches. It’s lighthearted, fun, and demonstrates the striking differences in how each style processes decisions, while positively reinforcing mutual understanding. SCENARIO WORKSHOP: Select a scenario (like Work-Plays), or create your own. Then, 1) Have participants briefly share their scenario with a partner or small group; 2) Ask the group to identify the personality style of the individual they’re in conflict with; 3) Practice using conflict conversation tools tailored to that style-role-playing how they might approach the conversation differently. ~ Sheena Lance-Nold Create an Advertisement: Divide into 4 groups based on the four primary personality types. Have each group create an ad to sell a product to their own personality type. They almost always do the same product, which is always interesting as a facilitator to watch. ~ Michelle Qualls GROUP REFLECTION: Divide participants into style groups based on their primary style. Ask each group to agree on: 3 strengths they share because of their style; 3 challenges they might face; and 3 things they’d like the other styles to understand about them. Have each group present their findings to the class. Finally, invite groups to ask other group questions about their style that the group members answer together. They’ll quickly see that even people with the same style have different characteristics of that style. ~ 90 minutes. ~ Pamela Moore EMAIL DRAFT: For communication practice, ask participants to draft an email asking another person to join them in working on a project. Next, ask them for a different draft in a style voice other than their own. ~ Yolanda Caldwell READ MORE Discovering Styles through Personality Assessment Tools & Activities

I realize that the phrase “soft-skills” is not a favorite term for many trainers who teach these “essential skills.” For now, however, rather than focusing on semantics, I want to pass along some icebreakers that folks in our community have shared with me. {Originally published in 2011; Last updated 10/26/2025} 1. One Good Empowering Question Put a good question on a slide ahead of time so people have time to consider it. Be sure it is neither a frivolous waste of time nor too personal! It could be session topical or, “This session will be worthwhile if…” 2. Sticky Note Aspirations Your pre-work: identify four questions and write them on 8 easels, where 2 easels have the same question and are side by side (given the group size). 5 min: Have people write answers down on post-its 5 min: break people into groups based on where they’ve sat or have them count if you want to shuffle (i.e. anyone that’s a “1” go to easel 1). 10 min: Have the people do a thematic analysis and identify top 5 trends on their board 25 min: Report out to broader group and discuss as valuable. 15 min: Have them go back to their tables, write down one or two practices they can use moving forward, and chat with a neighbor about it. Given the change, your questions could be both aspirational and a place to share “fears” – for example, what are you most excited about for the upcoming year? What are you most concerned about, moving forward (that might be too raw, depending on the situation). Perhaps, what do you love most about being a part of team/ company? Or, What one thing are you hoping to learn today? etc. ~ Julie Foster 3. Getting to Know You Picture Book A few days before the training event, participants and presenters fill out a short, creative document with fun questions (think: “What was your dream job as a kid?” or “What’s your favorite concert you’ve attended?”). They also upload a picture that represents their answers and add comments if they’d like. I turn these into a colorful booklet and hand it out on day one of the class. It sparks great conversations and helps people connect beyond just job titles. It’s also a great tool to refresh your memory about who people are when you meet or interact with them in the future. You can download a free copy of the template on my website at www.doingthechores.com (under Study Guides and Templates). ~ David Elser 4. Connections & Metaphors with Pictures or Quotes Climer Cards or other deck that participants can select as a reflection of… current challenge; how they’re thinking about the topic; personal strength; organization opportunity; etc. Alternatively, set a bunch of (topic-relevant — leadership, negotiation, teamwork, etc.) quotes around the room and have people identify one that resonates with them. 5. Strengths Cards I really love using activities where people can show themselves at their best. Perhaps after a values exercise (or strengths finder – something that helps them reflect on their personal and professional values), I distribute decks of cards that contain many different images (or a group of 10 or so images for each small group; I like “At My Best” or “OuiSi” cards) and allow participants to browse the pile, looking for anything that sparks a recollection of themselves at their best. The “At My Best” cards even have strengths or trait words on them that can be used if they are more language-oriented than image-inspired. Have participants look through the images and select one that reminds them of a story that represents them demonstrating their value, strength, or trait. Without stating the trait, each person shares their story in the small group while others listen. The story doesn’t necessarily have to be work related. After each story, the listeners reflect back on the story (what they heard, asking any clarifying questions), then share the strengths or values they heard in the teller’s story. It focuses on building positive connections and recognition. Sometimes the strengths and values seen by others are not the ones we see in ourselves, which can expand our awareness. ~ Robin Lilly 6. Strengths Bingo Bingo cards are always fun (with or without StrengthsFinder), using work clues to get to know someone. Who has been here 5 years or more? Who knows the most about XX? ~ Judy Coates 7. 7-Point Reflection & Share Since you’re bringing the group together with the intent of helping them overcome a change and work together, here’s the approach I’d use if I were in your shoes. Ask everyone to number a sheet of paper or 3×5 card 1-7 One at a time, show 7 questions/sentence completions What’s your name/What do you want to be called? What do you do? Description, not the role If you could be anywhere, where would you be? What’s the last thing you did at work you are proud of? How would your best friend describe you? What’s challenging for you right now? If you could ask the group one question, what would it be? Ask them to complete each sentence. Then, form small groups (3-4 each). Ask groups to discuss their answers in conversation style, not just read down their list. Rotate groups (a few times if time allows). Finally, bring the group together and debrief: What did you notice as you shared your responses? Where was easy about your discussions? Where was difficult about your discussions? What did you learn during your conversations? What can you take away from your conversations? Adjust the questions to make them work for your group and situation. I use this and variations of this in most of my work. People find the quiet time to respond helpful before they move into group discussion. I have a variation of it here with a link to more questions. ~ Katrina Kennedy 8. Profile Gallery Walk Either before the session or at the very start, each person would complete a simple profile, including things like: Name & Role What I Bring to the Team What Helps Me Do My Best Work How I Like to Collaborate/Communicate Something I am Looking Forward To (or am Curious About) in this New Team What Brings Me Joy Outside of Work Take the profiles and post them around the room. Ask participants to walk around, read, and respond in real time. I’ve had success with having participants add “comment” with sticky notes to show appreciation, agreement, questions, or connections. I’ve found it to be a great way to humanize coworkers, identify common ground, and celebrate diverse strengths all while encouraging organic conversation. In one instance, I found that this activity helped to shift the tone surrounding a new team from “us vs. them” to “look at these untapped resources.” While this may be considered fun, it also works well for more serious groups because it keeps things grounded in work and strengths, while still creating space for informal connection. ~ Cody Krumrie 9. Imagining Success To get people in the mindset to share ownership over making the learning event successful, I often do an ‘appreciative’ exercise. Divide participants into groups of three or four and ask them to think about a peak experience of whatever the topic is (e.g. the best meeting you ever attended – or if that’s too hard, how about a reasonably successful meeting in the last month? / the most interesting presentation you remember / the most successful piece of writing you’ve done etc.). Ask them to think about what made this so successful. Get them to share the experience with the other members of the group and the group to come up with some of the elements of success. Collect these “Elements of Success” on the flip chart. This exercise engages everyone and encourages positive attitudes. Posted by Melissa Biro 10. Speed Intros I do a meet and greet version of speed dating. Have people pair up with someone they don’t know, then find a non-work or non-workshop connection with the person. 30 seconds per individual, 1 minute per pair. 3-5 minutes overall (meet 3-4 people). If people in the room know each other well, then they should find out something about that person they didn’t know before. 11. Where would you rather be? Start by asking: “If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be and who would you be with?” To this day, no one has ever answered, “At work” or “In training with me.” (I can’t take it personally-LOL.) But that simple question sets the stage for why we’re there: If we spend over 2,000 hours a year in a place and with people we wouldn’t naturally choose, why not make it better? This small exercise also helps participants connect, sparking conversations and common interests that create a more open, engaging learning environment. ~ Shared by Christie Hennessey 12. Find your Match What has worked for me is to give each participant a slip of paper with information on it that is relevant to the topic or participants in general. They have to find the corresponding participant with the same information, introduce themselves, and talk briefly about what the information means to them. 13. Thiagi’s HELLO exercise “Hello” is an opener that directly relates to the workshop process and content. It uses a deck of playing cards and a few other items. The basic idea is that you prepare four questions related to individuals’ expectations, experience, questions and changes regarding the training. Teams of players are charged with the task of collecting responses from everyone in the room in just a few minutes time. The exercise is high energy and lets participants meet one another, while remaining focused on the day’s agenda. The exercise is described in full on Thiagi’s website: thiagi@thiagi.com. 14. A Picture and a Few Words Lay out a great collection of picture postcards (or a deck of images like Climer Cards) on a table at the back of the room and having opened the workshop, introduced the topic and myself, and given participants a road-map for how the session will run, I invite them to go back and choose a card that represents “Where you struggle most when presenting your ideas to others/getting ideas from your team/engaging with hotel guests”… whatever the overriding subject of the workshop is. Go around the room and ask each person share their name and a brief description of their role (for my benefit, if they all work together) and tell us, in a couple of sentences, why they chose the card they did. I will take the card and move it round the group (almost always seated in a large U shape for my workshops) so that everyone can look at it while the speaker is sharing. I might echo their reasons or get clarification if I need it as I stick it up on the wall. Once I have them all up there, I sometimes will facilitate a grouping of the cards, so that we can identify 4 or 5 common issues around the workshop subject. The process has many benefits: 1. Needs assessment 2. Sharing of common challenges 3. Ability to share ‘through’ the picture choice, which allows for less personal exposure — not saying ‘I’m not good at xxx’ but rather ‘I chose this card because it represents times when I xxx” 4. Good storytelling tool… curiosity level of group is high when they see what cards others have chosen. 5. Allows me to observe how comfortable they are with public speaking and what sort of audience members they are when others are sharing 6. Facilitating the grouping of challenges helps the group to identify commonalities and helps us all identify what we need to work on during the session. Posted by Teresa Norton 15. Name Tents We provide a name tent that is a full 8 1/2 x 11 paper. We ask attendees to introduce themselves in pictures. I might say “if you were going to tell us about yourself, draw what you would like us to know (family, hobbies, sports teams, favorite stores/brands, school, etc…).” When they finish their pictures they explain what everything means to the participant next to them. The pairs then introduce the rest of the class to their new “friend.” Really helps to open them up on a first day in training with strangers. Posted by Krishna Clay 16. Frosty beginnings pay off for a great debrief In a workshop about teaming, I decided at the start of the day not to introduce myself, and not let my delegates introduce each other either. About 2 hours in, I found the answers to my group questions were getting shorter and shorter. All going to plan! Why? I wanted a frosty group, non trusting and not willing to respond, because they knew nothing about me, or each other! I then allowed them (16) to ask me a questions each about any aspect of my life. Believe me, it got personal, but the mood of the room instantly changed. Laughter, positivity, all round behaviors changed once we all had had a laugh and knew more about each others lives. It was a painful couple of hours, but the message about needing to know and understand each others background, beliefs, thoughts and motivations was certainly driven home. Posted online by Adrian Lowe 17. The 12-month project interview I recently organised an icebreaker for a group of about 60 or 70 HR people and the feedback was really positive. We split into tables of 8 and it went like this: “Imagine that we are commencing a 12-month, organisation-wide project. Success of the project depends on a diverse group of skills. You need to know how the skills of your colleagues will complement or support your own skill set.You have two minutes per person to do three tasks: Introduce yourself and your role to your table Share a couple of your best strengths with your colleagues Talk about the biggest focus of your role at the moment and how you are using your strengths in that work” We decided to leave the conversation there as there was a related exercise later in the meeting to build in the learning of their colleague’s skills. Alternatively, you could ask them to follow on with identifying one person from their table that they would like to work with, based on their strengths and experience being different to their own. Of course, you could also then have two or three volunteers share who and why they’d work with to the wider group. Posted online by Maria Harrison 18. Origami Cup In this icebreaking / team building activity everyone makes a very simple origami cup (all you need is a piece of paper for each person, card stock. You make 3 or 4 simple folds to create the cup). Everyone put their cups on a tray. You fill each cup up with water and talk about how we are all like these paper cups. If all the cups are strong then the group is strong. If a cup loses some of the water then in spills on to the other cups. Each person on the team is like these cups. The better they “hold” their part of the work the less work that spills onto the team. You can then let the tray sit for about 5 or 10 minutes and then go back and look at the tray to see if the water is holding in each of the cups or if water has spilled into the tray. No matter the outcome people can have a visual representation of what it means to hold their part of the work together. The other part to this activity, if you are trying to talk about the value of healthy, “well” employees would be to show how a stronger paper (card stock) can hold water better than a paper that is worn out or thin.Posted online by Lynette Reed 19. “Improv” Games Matt Warzel likes to incorporate improvisational activities into his career coaching sessions. Here are some favorites: Presentation Skills Game: IMPROV “EXPERT ANALYSIS” Have a person stand up front and talk about whatever topics you shoot at them as if the’re an expert. Give them easy topics like “the new KFC Double Stacker,” “health benefits of carrots,” or anything else you or other audience members come up with. Switch topics every 15 or 20 seconds, forcing the speaker to switch gears right away. To prevent shyness, explain that each participant will speak a total of only 2 minutes on roughly 10 topics. After the presentations, you can identify and discuss effective strategies, individuals’ natural instincts, identify their strengths and discuss opportunities for improvement. Identify behaviors like: Hands in pockets Grabbing one hand and then the other UMM UH OH UMMs Reserved or quiet voice that isn’t delivered with energy, Shuffling feet (explain u need to walk with a purpose) Over-blinking (can be distracting to the audience) Hands on the hips too much (which can exude confidence but can also be too Superman pose like and a little defensive) Etc. 20. Finding Common Ground: “10 FINGERS” Have everyone stand in a circle and hold up 10 fingers. Moving around the circle clockwise, ask each person to mention something about themselves (past or present experiences, personal characteristic, a badge of honor, religion, etc…). If others have this in common, they keep a finger up; if not, they put one finger down. Keep going until last one is holding a finger. Posted online by Matt Warzel, CPRW, CIR 21. Personal Shield of Honor Explain to the group that they will be creating a “shield” out of a large sheet of paper. On their shield will be 4 quadrants containing the following images or icons representing the following information: Quadrant 1: What skills and abilities do you bring to the workplace Quadrant 2: What skills and abilities do you need to improve upon in the workplace Quadrant 3: What frustrates you about our workplace Quadrant 4: What is a source of pride at your workplace Remind the group that NO WORDS may be used on any of the shields…only doodles, symbols, icons, etc. After the groaning subsides, provide crayons as writing implements . Put some music on while they take no longer than 10 min to create their shields. Conclude the activity by giving everyone a chance to “present” their shields (1 min). If your group is big, break up presentation groups into sub groups of 6-8 or less. Posted online by Jordan Chouljian 22. Non-Verbal Line-Up Ask everyone to line up in the correct order without verbal communication in order of shoe size. If this goes well and only takes minimal time, ask them to line up by birthdate, month and day only. You can control how much time this takes and if it becomes frustrating it’s a great lead in to the importance of communication and team work. Just by doing this exercise, you can see before you begin what type of team players they are and who stands out as a leader, followers, trouble shooters, etc.. This information is useful in engaging people about missions and goals. Posted online by Maureen Dolson Mukka 23. Discussing the Elephant in the Room Here’s a great way to get people talking about “undiscussable issues,” a.k.a. “The Elephant in the Room.” Distribute blank cards or sticky notes to each participant. Have them write down the top three things the group needs to talk about and isn’t. Have the group post the notes up on the wall and ask them to roughly group them into like clusters Ask the group to put the issues on a continuum from the most discussable to the least discussable. Pick the three “most undiscussable” issues and have the team discuss them one at a time. Let the group pick which they will tackle first. Posted online by Crispin Garden-Webster 24. Your Ideal Life in Three Acts Ask them to write the story of their ideal life as a 3-act play: past dreams achieved, present situation (the good and bad), and their ideal future. I often use that with executives over 40 who are in transition. It really gives them a positive perspective about the possibilities ahead. Posted online by Liz DiMarco Weinmann, MBA 25. Personal Brand Tagline Have them write a personal-brand tagline as a tweet, only 140 characters to promote themselves. I often use this with 20-somethings, esp. students, and the results are as hilarious as they are creative. Posted online by Liz DiMarco Weinmann, MBA 26. Company Poem Divide into groups of 3 to 4 participants. Give the group 15 minutes time for preparation. Have each group write a poem about their organization (six lines minimum). Their organization’s name must come at least once. Then have each group to come on stage to “perform” their poem. By this activities they feel that their stage fright has gone. Secondly, now they see their organization in new way. I found this activity very useful for all kind of participants. Posted online by Suresh Kumar 27. Stand-up Sit-down Here’s a quickie. In under a minute, he gets folks up and out of their seats, generates a few laughs, refocuses their minds. It doesn’t take much! One way to do this (courtesy of Tami Shaw), is to have people answer three questions on a “Unique Me” card that has these 3 questions: Likely ALSO true for Many others in the room Might be true for Some others Unique Me. I’m guessing I’m the only one in this room who this is true about. Do stand-up, sit down activity around these three questions for a handful of cards than have the “unique me” person briefly introduce themselves. Have all stand up… stay standing if #1 is true for you; stay standing if #2 is true; stay standing if #3 is true for you. Pull a few cards at the start. Over a longer session, you can pick different ones throughout the workshop. ~ Tami Shaw 28. Dot-Vote for the Topics of Most Interest Set up a bunch of flip charts around the room that people can “vote” on . Include session topics, as well as possible demographic information, interests, etc. Particpants can add dots to the descriptions that are true for you. 29. On the Continuum Form selves into a line and stand where you’re most comfortable. Topics could include any continuum, for example…. Love icebreakers / hate ’em; Love personality tests/Hate ’em… For more continuum ideas, see the Which are You Thumball. Don’t do it JUST for fun. Make it purposeful. Have options that are pertinent and connect to the content you’re covering. 30. Draw a Duck Katie Muldrew explains, “This is one of my favorite ways to open a workshop or meeting. I’ve used it soooo many times, with teams of 6 to 60. INSTRUCTIONS: Simply, ask every participant to “DRAW A DUCK.” Tell them, “You have one minute. No questions.” RESULTS: You’ll quickly see ducks of every kind. Some realistic. Some cartoonish. Some abstract. Some detailed. Same instructions. Completely different interpretations. DEBRIEF: Have everyone share their images. ASK & DISCUSS: Why does a simple, clear instruction yeild so many different results? feels like a clear task to the person giving the instruction… often lands very differently with the people receiving it. Unless you’re SUPER specific, everyone applies their own assumptions – adding different levels of complexity, detail, or simplicity. LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES: This exercise is not just a fun opener – it’s a mirror of how misalignment can show up at work. If the group wants to “get their ducks in a row,” and improve collaboration skills, they must achieve seek greater clarity. VARIATIONS: Try the same activity with a handful of six matching LEGO pieces for each participant. Ask participants simply to “build a duck.” 300 MORE IDEAS On Linked-IN this month, Aditya Nugraha offered to share a collection of 300 Presentation and Icebreaker tips. Many people requested his notes and commented that they were happy to have them. Thank you to Aditya for allowing me to share them here: Presentations_-300_plus_ideas.

Discover interactive training tips from Cindy Huggett & Katrina Kennedy—quick ideas to boost engagement, reflection, and online learning.

Drive Productivity, Communication & Leadership Team building in the office isn’t just about feel-good moments or shared laughter—it’s a powerful strategy for improving communication, refining processes, and developing leadership and management skills. While some managers may hesitate to set aside time for “just playing games,” it’s important to recognize that, much like in childhood, play is a vital tool for adult learning. It helps people practice time management, collaborative problem-solving, clear communication, and navigating emotionally charged situations. We’ve assembled this list of Top Team-Building Games for the Office so that adults can experience the benefits of play at work. In a game setting, participants often feel more open to experimentation and risk-taking because the experience feels distinct from everyday work. The most effective team-building games don’t try to replicate workplace scenarios exactly—they create engaging challenges that reveal parallel behaviors, allowing players to reflect, learn, and apply insights back on the job. The activities below—sourced from TrainersWarehouse.com and blog.trainerswarehouse.com — are designed to deliver more than fun. They’re experiential learning experiences that lead to lasting improvements in individual and team performance. Whether you’re running a retreat or facilitating internal training, these games offer safe, meaningful practice for real-world challenges. 1. The EQ Game – Building Emotional Intelligence as a Team What it is:Players take turns picking one of the EQ Game’s 50 Situation Cards and reading it aloud. The fun and learning begin when players choose a “Self-Awareness Card” that describes how they’re feeling, then add on a few “EQ Skills Cards” (Self-Management, Social Awareness, or Relationship Skills) that might help them deal with the sticky situation. Why it works:Before teams can collaborate effectively, they need to understand how emotions affect behavior. This game helps people develop the vocabulary and comfort to talk about feelings—something most workplaces overlook. It slows down the instinct to fix and solve, and builds a shared foundation of emotional awareness that strengthens relationships and decision-making under pressure. It won’t transform your workplace into a touchy-feely “kumbaya” office, but can help your team create the sort of trusting, emotionally safe work environment that correlates with increased employee engagement and productivity. Skills developed:Self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, psychological safety, constructive feedback. 2. Time Management Thumball – Align on Priorities & Pitfalls What it is:This soft, tossable ball is printed with 32 time-management questions like “What’s your biggest distraction at work?” or “How do you decide what’s urgent vs. important?” In a group circle, participants catch the ball and answer the prompt under their thumb, creating a dynamic and reflective dialogue. Topics include reflection on typical time thieves, activities in which you lose track of time, structuring breaks, time savers, and favorite time wasters. Why it works:While time management is often a very personal challenge, it can also be a source of team conflict. By discussing personal preferences and challenges, team members surface mismatched expectations, discover new strategies, and build collective accountability. The format encourages openness and laughter while fostering real-time reflection and learning. Skills developed:Time ownership, priority setting, productivity awareness, team alignment. 3. Da Bridge – Process Improvement with Role Awareness & Leadership What it is:Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s bridge design, this challenge tasks teams with building a self-supporting structure using notched wooden sticks—without fasteners or adhesives. The catch? Team members tasked as Builders rotate in and out of meetings with the Architect who has diagrams showing how the pieces fit together. The Architect can explain the diagram but is prohibited by union rules from handing over or showing the plans to the Builders. Meetings are intentionally brief, causing communications and instructions to be fragmented, as is sometimes typical in workplaces. Success depends on effective transfer of information, despite these hurdles. For struggling teams, facilitators can alter the rules and permit the Architect to show the plans to the Builders or begin building with them. Why it works:Da Bridge is a masterclass in leadership handoff, process documentation, and delegation. Teams quickly realize that they must work together, listening well to each other and to team leaders. The exercise mirrors the complexity of cross-team initiatives and exposes the cost of siloed thinking, ambiguous leadership, and incomplete conversations. Skills developed:Process continuity, role clarity, emergent leadership, team strategy, creativity. 4. Shape Up – Communication in Action What it is:In Shape Up, each player receives a blindfold and a wooden shape. The facilitator instructs the group: “Among the shapes you received, two are exactly the same and all the others are different. Without looking at your shapes, determine which players are holding the matched set.” Players must rely on the power of touch and their facility in describing their shape to others. Beyond created a shared vocabulary of descriptive words for the shapes’ bumps, points, and holes, they’ll need sort out a process to hear from every player until they figure out their own shape and identify the match. Why it works:This activity creates a powerful metaphor for workplace ambiguity and incomplete information. It emphasizes how people form assumptions, how language choices matter, and how critical it is to communicate clearly and listen actively—especially when you lack visual cues. The game also introduces the importance of verifying information, rather than guessing based on vague clues or misread signals. Skills developed:Clear communication, active listening, assumption-checking, collaborative problem-solving, patience under uncertainty. 5. Koosh Toss Simulation – The Pressure of Process Under Stress (Common in lean/agile facilitation toolkits; DIY setup) What it is:In this exercise, participants stand in a circle and toss a ball in a fixed pattern. Once the sequence is memorized, additional balls are added—one at a time—creating increasing pressure. Eventually, the system becomes chaotic, and the group must pause to redesign the process for efficiency and sustainability. Why it works:This simple activity surfaces complex truths about workflow design, bottlenecks, and communication lag. As stress rises, teams often try to speed up the wrong parts of the process. But with reflection and redesign, they learn to shift focus from individuals to process optimization—a foundational skill in lean, Six Sigma, and agile environments. Skills developed:Workflow design, bottleneck recognition, rapid iteration, process optimization, shared ownership. Final Thoughts When teambuilding goes beyond bonding and focuses on real skills like time management, leadership, feedback, and process clarity, it becomes a strategic lever for performance. But the learning doesn’t happen through gameplay alone—it’s the reflection afterward that makes it stick. That’s why debriefing is essential. It helps participants extract meaning from the experience, identify parallels to workplace behavior, and commit to better habits moving forward. A well-facilitated debrief turns fun moments into powerful insights and actionable takeaways. Here are a few debriefing formats that make it easy to guide reflection: 2-Question Debrief:What worked well? What would you do differently? 3-Question Debrief:What did you experience? What did you feel? What do you hope to remember?—or—What? So What? Now What? 4-Question Debrief:What would you like to Start? Stop? Continue? Change? Whether you’re closing a 15-minute activity or a full workshop, taking just a few minutes to pause, process, and discuss helps teams carry lessons beyond the learning experience and into their daily work. These tools offer safe, hands-on experiences where your team can try, fail, reflect, and improve—together. They’re especially effective in onboarding, manager development, or cross-functional collaboration sessions. Whether you’re looking to develop a full workshop agenda or lunch-and-learn, these easy-to-facilitate tools from Trainers Warehouse will help you create a meaningful, high-impact experience.  

Bring Teams Together—Within and Across DepartmentsLooking to build stronger, more collaborative teams? These easy-to-facilitate group games help teams improve communication, trust, and mutual understanding. Even better, some of them go a step further—promoting collaboration between multiple teams.Each of these five best collaborative games is drawn from TrainersWarehouse.com and blog.trainerswarehouse.com, with low-prep setups and high-impact outcomes. 1. Quote Builders How it works: In the Quote Builders game, small groups use a deck of hexagonal cards each containing just a few words to reconstruct a famous quotation—without showing each other their cards. They must share information aloud and work together to piece assemble the full quote. Why it builds collaboration: Each person holds key information, making active listening essential. Ideal for fostering intra-team communication—and can easily be adapted for inter-team collaboration by having teams trade missing pieces across groups. The deck has 18 quotes of varying difficulty, making the challenge fun and not terribly difficult. Through relatively quick success, teams will feel good and build camaraderie. Then they can discuss what the quote means to them individually and as a group. 2. What's Your Take? A Team Dynamics Game How it works: Each person takes a turn catching the Team Dynamics conversation starter Thumball. Loaded with “WE” discussion prompts, each recipient answers the question, such as: How can we foster greater trust within our team? How do we ensure we don’t duplicate efforts? How do we gain commitment? How should we manage disagreements? Give an example of a goal we are all working towards Do we have clearly defined team goals? As teams share and discuss their answers, they’ll discover shared themes, surprising differences, and ways they can better collaborate. This is one of our favorite collaborative games in the mix! Why it builds collaboration: This open-ended discussion cultivates mutual respect and understanding, as well as tactical ways to improve methods of teaming. 3. Minefield Maze How it works: In the Blindfold Maze Game, one team member guides blindfolded teammate(s) through an obstacle course using only verbal instructions. Then roles rotate. In larger groups, different teams can navigate the same course simultaneously, creating a need to coordinate movement and timing across teams. To increase the difficulty, challenge teams to get as many teammates across the maze as possible. Why it builds collaboration: This experience encourages trust and highlights the need for precise communication, and when multiple teams share the same course, they must collaborate to avoid collision and chaos. Alternatively, if the game is played with multiple “guides,” they must collaborate in order not to confuse the blindfolded players. 4. Pass the Clap How it works: In a large circle, participants “pass” a synchronized clap to their neighbor. Add multiple claps circulating at once, reverse directions, or create patterns that require timing coordination between subgroups. As a variation, have a designated team player leave the room to share the clap pattern with another team/department. See how lapses in time, memory, or clarity can change the “message” forwarded to others. Why it builds collaboration: This one is simple yet fun, energizing, and useful. It can quickly reveal how miscommunication can ripple through a system. It’s also great to highlight how miscommunications can inadvertently happen when communicating across teams. 5. TeamWriter™ How it works: A “TeamWriter” is a gizmo that allows up to 10 players to hold a single Sharpie marker. The challenge is for team players to figure out where to attached the strings, what to write, how to guide the marker, and how to orient the page. Why it builds collaboration: Players must work together to sort out how to write a meaningful message. As participants “play,” typical roles will likely emerge, where some are natural leaders, others are followers; some watch and some to; some talk and some listen; etc. Use the experience just for fun or to reflect on communication styles in a non-threatening, non-work-related application. Facilitation Tips Group size: Most of these games work well for 4–12 players per team. Depending on organizational needs and goals, consider mixing folks from different departments or bringing together different departments that will need each other’s skills or resources to complete the task.Time needed: Plan on 10–20 minutes per activity, including debrief. Remember that debriefing is the primary reason to take time from work to play a game!Debriefing makes the magic: Even if the goal is just to have fun, consider debriefing collaborative games with these three questions:1. “What worked well?”2. “What could we do differently next time?”3. “How can we apply our learning here to our real work?” Final Thoughts If your teams are stuck in silos or struggling to work together, these simple, engaging games are the perfect antidote. This list of five best collaborative games will build connections, expose communication gaps, and reinforce the value of collaborative problem-solving—all while having fun.Whether within a single team or across departments, collaborative play plants the seeds for stronger, smarter teamwork. READ MORE on DEBRIEFING BEST COLLABORATIVE GAMES More on Debriefing! The Perfect Debrief Infographic on Picking the Perfect Team Game

Personality and style assessments help individuals and teams recognize their strengths, understand how they interact with others, and appreciate differences. Taking an assessment test is only the first step in the process, however. Trainers, managers, and leadership coaches often use the assessments to build self-understanding, as well as to create more effective teams, develop leaders, improve communication, strengthen emotional intelligence, coach and mentor colleagues, build strong relationships, and much more. Here, we look at how facilitators utilize the personality assessment tools and activities, such as the Discovering Styles Thumball from Trainers Warehouse, to achieve meaningful results. Why Bother with Personality Style Tools? Below are the four major goals of assessment and personality type activities. Understand different styles – Recognizing the diverse ways people think, communicate, and work. Appreciate differences – Encouraging respect for different strengths and approaches. NOT pigeon-hole or label! – Avoiding rigid classifications and instead embracing flexibility. Build relationships – Helping individuals collaborate more effectively. Every style is equally valuable – Recognizing that all styles contribute uniquely to a team. Different styles need different approaches – Understanding that successful collaboration requires adaptability. Remember which is which – Learning to identify and work with different styles effectively. Practice. Practice. – Applying these insights in real-world situations to improve teamwork. Popular Personality Style Tools Despite the vast number of personality profile tools available, they all share a common goal: categorizing individuals based on their strengths and preferences. Here are a handful used by the trainers in our community: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – A widely used tool that categorizes individuals into 16 personality types based on four key traits. DISC Personality Assessment – Focuses on four behavior styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Hogan Personality Inventory – Used in workplaces to assess leadership potential and workplace compatibility. 16 Personalities – A free, modern adaptation of MBTI with practical applications. HRDQ’s What’s My Style? – A self-assessment tool designed to help individuals understand their preferred communication and behavior styles. Enneagram – A personality system that categorizes individuals into nine core types based on motivations, fears, and behaviors. True Colors – A simple four-color system that identifies personality traits and communication styles for better teamwork and relationships. Clifton Strengths – A strengths-based assessment that identifies an individual’s top talents to maximize personal and professional potential. While each tool uses different names and colors to represent personality styles, they all categorize key traits to make it easier to identify and remember different approaches. Every one of these qualities plays a vital role in a well-rounded, high-functioning team, yet no individual possesses all strengths equally. The key is fostering collaboration and effective communication, as our differences influence both how we perceive interactions and how we respond to them. For example, an assessment tool might align characteristics such as these: Creative, visionary, inventive – Ideal for brainstorming and innovation. Reliable, steady, cooperative – Great at maintaining consistency and fostering teamwork. Charismatic, persuasive, outgoing – Thrive in leadership and social roles. Analytical, data-driven, organized – Excel in structured and logical environments. Decisive, assertive, competitive – Natural problem solvers and leaders. Each framework offers a unique lens for understanding how people think, interact, and make decisions. By recognizing colleagues’ unique preferences, we can approach conversations with greater empathy, tailor our messaging to resonate with others, and create more productive, harmonious environments in both personal and professional settings. Tools and Activities for Assessment Learning Events The ATD Community delivered when I asked about their favorite activities to complement personality assessments. The exercises fell into two main categories: 1) using the assessment reports to draw understanding about the different styles; and 2) interactive exercises formulated around the personality types. For instance: REVIEWING THE ASSESSMENT REPORT Many facilitators structure activities around the assessment reports delivered following a test. Typically, the reports explain the test results and offer tips on how to work effectively with others. Activities based on these reports might include: Discuss what you learned about your own style Share whether you feel the results accurately reflect your preferences Identify qualities you wish were stronger (or less strong) EXERCISES & ACTIVITIES To make the experience more robust and memorable, facilitators draw on additional activities like these: Create a 5 x 7 reference card for each style Identify a pop-culture icon or individual with that trait Share video clips exemplifying various preferences Find a “Personality Twin” Discuss how you can work with or communicate more effectively with others Role-play – share usual response to a question, then edit your response to appeal to a different style The Discovering Styles Thumball to explore Personality Styles While the above activities are all effective, facilitators are excited for the opportunity to use a 3-dimensional tool to make their assessment debrief more physical, full-body activities. Enter the Discovering Styles Thumball from Trainers Warehouse. This activity encourages discussion and self-reflection in a playful and engaging way. Moreover, it can be used to achieve each of the four goals that lead facilitators to conduct assessments in the first place: 1) understand different styles; 2) appreciate the importance of differences; 3) remember which style is which; and 4) practice communicating differently depending on your partner’s preferences. How the Discovering Styles Thumball Works This ball is slightly different from our other Silver Series Thumballs, in that the complete prompt is not written on the panel. Rather, the facilitator comes up with a QUESTION. Below are a few examples that might work well, depending on your goal: Self-understanding: How well do you identify (or not) with this quality? Self-understanding: How, in your role, could you exemplify this quality? Valuing Differences: How does this trait contribute to success in the workplace? Valuing Differences: In what situations is this quality most valuable? Understanding the quality: How can this quality be used to resolve conflicts? Understanding the quality: Who is a famous person that embodies this quality? Putting it to practice: Of those you work with, who do you identify with this quality? Putting it to practice: Given your own style, how would you work with someone who has this quality? Then, the participant who catches the ball reads the personality quality under their thumb and answers the question specifically regarding that quality. In other words, the player might answer, “How does contribute to success in the workplace?” Game Options for the Discovering Styles Thumball Focus on One Question – Players respond to a single question related to their quality. Round Robin – Participants take turns answering different questions in multiple rounds. Team Play – Teams catch the ball and respond to personality-related questions collaboratively. Style Pairs – Players compare two qualities under their thumbs and discuss how they interact. A  Few More Tips For Facilitating Personality Assessments  Consider the Language you use: Not “Type,” but rather… Communication Style Inventory of Preferences Set the stage and set expectations Every style is equally valuable There is no one best style We possess all styles and have a preference for one more than the others Learning about ourselves helps us understand how we interact with others Create a safe space Establish group agreements about how to create a safe space Identify a “parking lot” to store difficult topics for deeper dives at a later time Final Thoughts Personality assessments and interactive tools like the Discovering Styles Thumball make self-discovery an engaging process. By learning about different styles and practicing adaptability, individuals and teams can communicate more effectively, resolve conflicts constructively, and build stronger relationships. 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Looking for Time Management activities for employees, college students, or high school students? Try one of these, that I’ve collected from a variety of LinkedIN discussions. If you want additional time management resources, Trainers Warehouse has curated tools from the US, UK, and beyond! Try the Time Trial activity to practice daily planning, prioritization, and utilization of resources. The Emergency Delivery Game is a two-stage business-based decision-making challenge that requires individuals to process information and develop a workable team strategy in a limited timeframe. 1. Time Management Thumball This dynamic tool facilitates conversation and understanding on all topics relating to time management. Its 31 thought-provoking conversation prompts empowers players to explore their individual time management challenges and opportunities. Cover topics such as procrastination, technology, sleep, priorities, urgency, importance, planning, delegation, etc. Prompts cover Topics for Reflection, such as: Identifying time thieves Understanding when and why you lose track of time Identifying feelings about planning, to-do lists, and deadlines Setting priorities Strategies for Better Managing Time, for instance Managing interruptions Delegating tasks you don’t need to do yourself Structuring time and breaks Saving time 2. The Mayo Jar Divide the group into teams and give them each a large glass container. The Mayo Jar is to be filled with as much material as possible. The material can be rocks, stones, gravel, sand, etc. (But you can use anything.) The larger materials should be placed in the container first and then followed by the next to the largest, and so on… In this order, you should be able to fit the most into the container. You can come to your own conclusion for the activity based on your need. The rocks (due to size) would be the most important items to complete. (Can be home activities…work/life balance.) Then stones would be every day has to finish items. Gravel can be the project(s) that need to be completed. Sand could be the extra work that was just assigned to you. I allow the groups to fill their own container without detailed instructions. I tell them to fill their containers with as many materials as they can. And then we talk about the order they selected. If they had an order…and what the materials represent to them…etc. I use this communication to lead into training. Mayo Jar materials can be found here. Posted online by Darlene Bailey For a video that exemplifies these time management activities, click here or here. 3. $86,400 * Time Management Activities Tell participants they have $86,400.00 to spend any way they wish. The only restrictions are that they cannot bank any money and if they do not use any of the money they lose it. We then discuss why and how they spent the money the way they did. I then tell them that 86,400 is the number of seconds we have each day and that as often as possible they should consider spending their time on things that are important to them as they did with their money. NOTE: This is good for all ages, whether you’re looking for time management activities for high school students, college students, or employees. Posted online by Joseph Argenio 4. To Do (on not TO DO) Matrix Introduce the Importance/Urgency matrix with the To Do Matrix Notepad. Remind your group that tasks in the top left quadrant (Urgent AND Important) should be done immediately. Tasks that are important but not urgent should be scheduled for down the road. Urgent-but-less-important tasks might be delegated. Tasks that are neither urgent nor important might be considered busy work be put at the bottom of the to-do list, or taken off entirely. On the other hand, sometimes knocking off (and crossing out) an easier task will give individuals the energy they need to tackle those activities in the top-left. Click here to download Matrix 5. Ribbon of Life Take a colored ribbon length of approximately 1 meter/100 cm. and scissors.Start with the following questions: If the life span of an individual is say, 100 years. Consider that each cm represents one year. The response will be that few live that long. Assuming a life of 75 to 90 years, cut 10 to 25 cm off the ribbon, accordingly. What is the average age of the participants sitting here, the response would be 25 to 30 depending on the group, in that case, cut another 25 cms of the ribbon and say that is gone you cannot do anything. What is left is 50 years? People will say, “Yes,” but the answer is NO. Every year we have 52 weeks, that is 52 Sundays. If we multiply that by 50 years, it comes to 7.14 years. Reduce the ribbon by another 7.14 cm. We also usually have Saturdays off, so reduce another 7. cms. Public/National holidays are 10 multiple with 50 years. That comes to another 1.5 years. Reduce ribbon by another 1.5 cms. Your casual leave, sick leave, and annual holidays approx. 40 days a year, multiplied by 50. Cut off another 5 cms. Now you are left with about 29.5 years. But, the calculation is not over yet. You sleep an average of 8 hours daily; multiply that by 365 days and again by 50 years ( i.e. 122 days X 50 = almost 17 years). Cut off another 17 cm. You spend time eating lunch, breakfast, snacks, and dinner total 2 hours daily (i.e. 30 days a year X 50 years= 4 years or so). Cut off another 4 cm. Last, let’s figure we spend about 1 hour a day traveling from place to place for activities and such. (that’s about 2 more years). We’re down to 6 (SIX ) years of life to make it or break it. ALL THE BEST TO MAKE BEST USE OF THAT (SIX) YEARS. Posted online by Joseph Antony 6. Time Management Icebreaker Activity – Lists & Priorities Explanation Divide participants into teams of five to eight. Unveil the numbered list of tasks. Explain that they have ten minutes to collect as many points as possible. They must be safe, and they only have ten minutes! Activity Give participants ten minutes to perform their tasks, and enjoy the show! After ten minutes, add up their points using your pre-designed matrix and announce the winner. Keep the list of tasks; you may want to tape it to the wall. Debrief After the activity, discuss learning points. Possible discussion topics include: How did teams decide what tasks they wanted to do? Most groups will analyze the time the task will take and/or the difficulty level, compare it with the value (possible number of points), and prioritize as a result. We do this when managing our time, too: we often choose the high-yield, low-effort tasks over the low-yield, high-effort tasks (and rightly so!). Are any decisions based on task dependencies? For the name card task, for example, teams received bonus points if they used team nicknames. Performing these two tasks together would triple the points received. This often happens in life, too – batching tasks increases your results exponentially. What group dynamics came into play? If participants knew each other before, they may feel more comfortable performing a personally risky activity, like singing a song. This comes into play when prioritizing tasks, too; we’re more likely to stay within our comfort zone, especially if we’re working in a team. Preparation Write out the following list on a piece of flip chart paper. Ensure that it stays covered until the end of the activity explanation. Do a lap around the room (5 points) Create something for the instructor to wear, such as a hat or tie (10 points; bonus 5 points if the instructor actually wears it) Find out something unique about each person on the team (5 points) Sing a song together (15 points) Make a paper airplane and throw it from one end of the room to another (10 points) Get everyone in the room to sign a single piece of paper (5 points) Count the number of pets owned by your group (20 points) Assign a nickname to each member of the team (5 points) Create name cards for each team member (5 points; bonus 5 points if you use your team nicknames) Make a tower out of the materials owned by your group (10 points) Convince a member of another team to join you (20 points) Name your team and come up with a slogan (5 points for the name, 5 points for the slogan) Re-create the sounds of the Amazon rainforest with the sounds of your voices (10 points) Make a list of what your team wants out of the workshop (15 points) Form a conga line and conga from one end of the room to another (5 points; bonus 10 points if anyone joins you) You can customize this list as you wish; just make sure there is a point value (which is completely up to you) assigned to each item. This Time Management Activity was Posted online by Rasha Alshafie 7. Blind Polygon Set up: Depending on your group size you may have to divide your group into teams of 9 -15 players. Blindfold each person. (NOTE: If you have more people than blindfolds then require them to close their eyes. Let them know that trust and integrity are key to a successful outcome.) The Challenge: Place a length of rope in the center of the circle. Explain that their task is to form the rope into a shape of your choosing–a square, a “Z,” or a pentagon. Everyone must be in contact with the rope at all times and they must use the entire rope. No tangles or knots are allowed. When the group feels they have made whatever shape you specified they can set it on the ground and take their blindfolds off. Debrief: During the event, you will see all sorts of personality styles, leadership styles, communication styles, and definite pecking order. Regarding Time Management, the group’s process is often very hectic. You can discuss team time management or use the experience as a metaphor for personal time management, asking “what is the most efficient way to accomplish a task?” The group will find that when they are deprived of sight, their normal ways of accomplishing a task are thrown into confusion. As part of your debrief talk about what process they would use if they were to do the exercise again. This is also a great processing tool for management training because I can assure what happens when they are blindfolded will not be what happens at the office. This time management activity for high school students, college students, or employees was posted online by Larry Riggs 8. “Big Picture” Puzzle Challenge The Challenge: Divide your group into teams. Give each team a puzzle with a similar level of difficulty. Don’t give them the “Big Picture” of what it will look like when completed. Push them to complete the puzzle as quickly as possible. Interrupt the process after about 3 minutes and ask, “What’s missing? What’s making this difficult?” Likely they will identify the absence of the completed “Big Picture” to use as a guide. After you give them the big picture, ask them to complete the puzzle. They will do this much faster now. Debrief: Explain that having the perspective and clarity of the Big Pic helps one to plan weekly and day-to-day activities much more effectively. If NO Big Picture is available, then time is spent on urgencies, likes, and what others want one to do. This Time Management Activity was posted online by Ajit Kamath 9. How long is a minute? At the beginning of session, I ask people to close their eyes for 30 seconds and after that to open it. Nobody can watch the clock and I don’t measure the time. All I ask of participants is to open their eyes after what they believe has been 30 seconds. Of course, they all open them at different times. Afterward, we talk about our understanding of time. Even though everyone has an equal (24 hours a day or 30 seconds for exercise), in fact, we experience it and use it in different ways. Some of us experienced it as a short period, others as a long time. This always works as a good opener. Posted by Darko Todorovic Another more physical variation of this time management activity was posted by Prasad Narayan Susarla. He wrote: Cover all the clocks in the room, then ask participants to remove their wristwatches and stand up. Instruct them to sit down when they think 1 minute has elapsed after you shout “Start” to begin the countdown. You will be surprised by the results. Just enjoy the fun that follows this activity. To make it more interesting I run this same activity a second time wherein I change the time to 2 minutes. 10. Time Squared I give the participants 3 pages with 24 squares (representing 24 hours of a day) printed on them at various phases of the program. For the more finicky participants, I have a sheet that further divides the Hour Square into 4 Quarters. Hand the 1st page to them immediately after setting the context. Ask them to fill the squares (based on the time they spend) and label them with routine activities of their regular day like sleeping (6 hours = 6 squares), bathing, eating, travel, TV time, etc. Hand the 2nd page out after you’ve discussed “Time Wasters.” This time, ask them to fill the squares showing non-productive time at their workplace like tea breaks, water cooler chats, personal telephone calls, emails, etc. Late in the day, distribute the 3rd page. Ask them to collate the data from “Page 1” and “Page 2” on the 3rd Page. The empty squares represent their productive time. Using the 3rd page the participants are asked to identify activities from which they can mine time to increase their productive time. Learning outcome: Identify time wasters and time spent on routine activities. Where to mine for time. Time Management Activities posted online by Prasad Narayan Susarla 11. Ace of Spades This exercise requires two volunteers and two decks of playing cards. I give one deck of cards to each volunteer and then have them race to find the Ace of Spades. What they don’t know is that one deck is in order ace to king, in the correct suits, and all facing the same direction. The other deck is all mixed up and some cards are facing forwards and some backward, making it a lot harder to find the Ace of Spades. They have fun racing, but usually, the person with the mixed deck gets frustrated or complains that it’s not fair. It’s fun and a good way to relate good organization skills to time management. “Suited” for all ages; Time management activities for high school students, college students, or employees posted online by Clay Pennington 12. The Money Value of Time If you only have one hour – and especially for a business audience – focus on creating a new conceptual mindset called the “money value of time.” Have participants break down their activities into cost and profit centers, and then focus on investing their time in those activities that yield the highest value for them personally and for the firm. Posted online by Tim Phillips 13. What I did Yesterday . . . Ask the delegates to jot down 10 things they did at work yesterday ( no order, no prompts, no comments). Next, on a separate sheet of paper, ask them to jot down the 5 topics that they expect to discuss at their next appraisal or performance review. Have them look at the two lists together and mark in some way on the first list all the things which have a direct link to the second list. (Delegates may try to make indirect links to justify why they did certain things!) The lightbulb moment is the recognition that we spend time on things that have little or no consequence on our performance. I usually ask them to plot the list of 10 things on an “Importance/Urgency” grid. They need to concentrate on the “important & urgent/non-urgent(therefore, planned) activities. I like this activity as it clearly links performance with activity. Time management activity posted online by Murali Iyer 14. Paper Boat Activity Set-up All you need for this one is some newspaper. Divide your group into teams of 4 to 5 members each. Ask them to select/elect a Team Leader. Then take all the team leaders out of the training hall and teach them to build a paper boat. To make sure they understood, have each person build their own boat with the small square piece of paper you give them. Before you dismiss your leaders, share these instructions: I am giving you 4 sheets of paper (the sheets you give them should be rectangular in shape). Your job is to build 40 boats all of the “Same Size” & “All must stand or should not sink flat when the activity is over.” Quality (shape, finishing, appearance) and Quantity (40 boats) are both important. Time frame: 15 minutes maximum from the moment you go to your team. Now let them complete the task; give them 15 minutes. Paper Boat Debrief Did the Team Leader clarify the goal to the team members? Were the roles clarified so that everyone on the team would know who will do what? Did the team members get overwhelmed by the activity or understood what is important? What was the focus on – Important or completion? What style of leadership did the team leader play? Did the team members ask for clarification about their role or goal? Was there any planning for the use of the newspaper, people, and the time available? How can they relate “boat making” to “doing work” in the organization? Time Management Activity Posted online by Bharat Thanggaraaj 15. Circadian Rhythm Ask each participant to plot their day from waking up to going to sleep in hourly blocks and ask them to identify if they are naturally: ‘on fire’ ‘vibrant’ ‘cruise control’ ‘at 70%’ ‘distracted’ ‘slowing down’ ‘tired’ ‘hungry’ The key is to get them to not think about their workload but their natural energy levels so try and focus them to think about a typical day off. Ask them to link this to workplace time management…when you are ‘on fire’ you should be tackling the big important tasks as you are more likely to get it done, and when you are lethargic you should do the mundane filing, etc. If you have participants post their rhythm on a wall, it can be eye-opening for individuals and for teammates to know more about their colleagues. Time management activities for high school students, college students, or employees – posted online by Richard Armitage 16. Colored Blocks – great for prioritizing Take blocks of different colours, put them on a table, and explain the task: each individual must pick up as many blocks as they can in the allocated time frame, with these ground rules: They must pick up with their non-dominant hand They may only pick up one block at a time. PHASE 1: Give them 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. When time is up, record their name and the number of blocks collected on a flip chart. Celebrate the winner, then spread out the blocks again for Phase 2. PHASE 2: Before starting the second phase, arbitrarily assign values to the block colors (i.e. yellow block 1 point, red 2 points, etc.). Repeat the exercise. Now they must reflect the number of blocks as well as the number of points. Debrief can then focus on the need to prioritize. Time Management Activity posted online by Kevin Smith 17. Hungry Chick Inn In this in-depth exercise, available from the Trainers’ Library (www.glasstap.com), teams are given the challenge to re-open an inn to receive guests in 13-days time, with a huge number of tasks and a limited budget. Success requires planning, organization, time management, teamwork, and project management. Allow 90 minutes, plus debriefing. Posted online by Rod Webb 18. 60-Seconds Game We all know a minute is the same as 60 seconds, but the passing of time may feel quite different to each of us. A minute might also feel different if you’re holding a plank position or luxuriating in the shower. To create greater awareness of individual’s different perceptions of time, try this: Ask your participants to close their eyes. After you say “go,” have them stand when they think 60 seconds have elapsed. Invite them to open their eyes after they stand up. READ MORE on Time Management Activities… Brain Science Procrastination Tips The Mayo Jar More Time Management Tips Time Management Tips Infographic

With all the team-building games out there–in books, on blogs, facilitated by consultants, and shared in social media–how is one to know what experience is right for their group? The truth is that too many variables exist for there to be any “right answers.” But, hopefully, we can help you ask the right questions so you’re better able to hone in on a handful of good candidates that will meet your needs. Goals The first question to ask yourself is “What is my goal?” Any game or activity you undertake should have a clear purpose, which should be communicated to participants. Your ability to be completely transparent about the goal will help you get buy-in and participation and will help make the effort a success. To articulate your goal, think about your group in terms of both who they are and how they currently work together–are they just getting to know each other? do they know each other well already? Is there a particular challenge they’re facing? Try breaking down the goals into these three broad strokes: Raise awareness — of issues, personality styles, and roles Bring the team together to build relationships — build trust, address problems, improve performance Build specific collaborative skills — such as communication, listening, process improvement No matter the goal, be aware that with most team games, the most important part of the experience is the reflection, learning, discussion, and forward-thinking that happens at the end. As you choose a game, think about the balance of planning time relative to the time taken to complete the task. Your review should address the planning stages of the process, as well as the experience of completing whatever challenge you set out. Time Once you have an idea of what you want to accomplish, the next questions relate to time and budget. With respect to time, understand that a more involved, lengthier experience will give more substance on which participants can reflect. In addition, longer debriefs and discussions will allow current work issues to surface and give the group time to work through ways to apply the learning to their day-to-day challenges. While shorter experiences can help to build relationships, awareness, and understanding, they may not get to the deeper, underlying issues. You may wonder if the ultimate goal is to uncover real work issues, then why start with a simulated activity? The reason is that it’s easier for people to make observations and raise concerns in fictional situations than in real ones. But once the topic is broached, people can more comfortably address the ways in which the simulation mirrors the real-world challenges — and discuss new techniques or processes that will yield better results. Budget Finally, we get to the question of money. We’ve found many team-building experiences both online and in books that won’t cost a penny but may require you to gather props from around the house. If you’re on a low budget or need to travel light, Jim Cain has a series of books that will come in handy (Rope Games, Find Something to Do – no prop activities, and the Big Book of Low-cost Training Games), as does Tom Heck (Duct Tape Teambuilding Games). Sometimes, however, managers and team leaders opt for an experience that signals greater professionalism, planning, and investment. Beyond these perceptions, many pricier games are built on the intellectual property of team-building experts and come with robust facilitation notes. Cognitive Challenge Consider too the organizational level of your group. For executive teams, you’ll want the challenge of the team-building game to match the complexity of their day-to-day work. If an experience is either too easy or too difficult, you’ll lose the group’s interest. Game Selections Following are brief descriptions of game choices categorized by goal. The infographic pictured above indicates the required time and relative expense. In addition, these brief descriptions should help you make an appropriate choice for your group. Raise Awareness of Issues, Styles, & Roles Helium Stick – Teams try to lower a really lightweight pole without anyone’s finger leaving the pole. Seems easy, but the pole tends to go up, not down. How do teams get in sync?Team Dynamics Thumball –Discuss the dynamics and interactions of your team. Whoever catches the ball responds to the prompt under their thumb: how do you support each other? show appreciation? gain commitment? build trust? treat mistakes? manage disagreements?Marshmallow Challenge – Popularized by Tom Wujec, who presented a TED Talk on the subject, the challenge is to build the tallest possible free-standing structure, which will support one marshmallow on the top, using 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape and one yard of string.Style Play Cards – 12 quick, energizing games that build awareness of 4 distinct personality styles and let players practice interacting with people of other styles.Challenging Assumptions – raise awareness of preconceptions as small groups work to assemble a seemingly simple puzzle. They start by turning all the pieces face up and there the learning begins. Bring Teams Together Talk about our Dynamics Get to Know Each Other — Thumballs are a great way to discover things about other people. A variety of these balls are suitable for work environments. They’re fun, active, and not intimidating at all!Team Dynamics Thumball –Discuss the dynamics and interactions of your team. Whoever catches the ball responds to the prompt under their thumb: how do you support each other? show appreciation? gain commitment? build trust? treat mistakes? manage disagreements?Images of Organizations – The 16 images in this unique pack present a variety of work environments (both positive and frustrating) and will help your group talk openly about difficult topics. Problem-Solve Together Matrix Puzzle – Each card in the deck contains one clue. Without writing anything down or sharing their clues, teams need to sort out the logic puzzle and find the solution. The Teamwork & Teamplay Card Deck has one such activity. Marshmallow Challenge – Popularized by Tom Wujec, who presented a TED Talk on the subject, the challenge is to build the tallest possible free-standing structure, which will support one marshmallow on the top, using 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, and one yard of string. Seeing the Point: This puzzle challenges teams to do more with less. Each is given a set of 7 pieces and asked to create 5 uniform shapes. Creating four of these shapes is easy, but making the fifth takes creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and the alignment of resources. TeamWRITER: Teams must work together to position the ropes on a team writing utensil, then draw a picture or phrase, guiding the pen by their ropes.. Pipelines: Give each participant a short length of halfpipe and challenge the group to deliver a ball through the obstacle course without dropping the ball. DaBridge: Work together to build a DaVinci-style bridge with nothing but a bunch of rods and planks. PuzzleBlind: Teams collaborate to help blindfolded team members assemble an oversized puzzle. Perfect Square: For practicing leadership and consensus building, this challenge requires teams to form their 60-foot rope into a perfect square—blindfolded. Generates great discussions about interdependence, communication, leadership, and more. Construction Kits – construction kits offer oodles of exercises that will let you focus on creative problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills. Build your own exercise or use one of these Construction Kit Games. Build Skills Listening Workstations – a matrix puzzle, whereby each card contains one piece of information. Without trading cards or writing anything down, team members must share information verbally in order to solve a challenging logic puzzle. "Co-opetition" and Negotiation T-trade™ involves three groups, each trying to achieve the best business outcome for themselves but needing to ‘make deals’ with other groups in order to be successful. How do they go about making mutually acceptable agreements and yet maintain their focus on achieving the best individual team results they can? Common Currency — Teams representing fictional countries must cooperate in trading coins and information while competing for the most valuable combination of coins. Interactions involve both task (outcome) and relationship (process) skills. Good for teamwork and strategic planning, leadership, communication, conflict resolution, problem-solving, and decision-making. Communication Within Groups What’s My Communication Style? Uncover preferred styles of verbal and non-verbal communication with a quick personality assessment tool. Discover preferences for one of 4 communication styles and ways to use the styles to enhance communication. Colourblind – blindfolded participants hold a collection of colored plastic shapes. Teams must work together to identify the pieces missing from the set. Success demands effective group management, questioning, and listening. Mars Rover: Participants are immersed in a team construction activity, whereby they are tasked by the World Space Agency to build a prototype rover for traversing Mars’ rocky terrain. Communication Between Groups Seeing the Point — This puzzle challenges teams to do more with less. Each is given a set of 7 pieces and asked to create 5 uniform shapes. Creating four of these shapes is easy, but making the fifth takes creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and alignment of resources.Communication Derailed – tackle three common communication challenges (communication within a team, between teams, and during organizational stress). Includes 3 comprehensive modules, each 2-3 hours long.Minefield – if you don’t want hard-won organizational knowledge to go down the drain this game’s for you. Inter-team communication and cooperation are a must as teams gather costly information to solve this complex logic problem. Uber Challenges for Execs Insight Kit by MTa — MTa Learning’s Insight Kit has 53 different games suitable for team development, problem-solving, communication, leadership, decision-making, and stakeholder alignment. It has a hefty price tag but is worth every penny if you’re looking for highly professional experiences that can be used at any level of the organization. The facilitation and debriefing notes are excellent and will help you select a single game or a sequence of games, depending on your needs. With so many options, choosing the perfect team-building game may be daunting, but hopefully, these tips and descriptions will help you hone in on the ones that will be best for your group.

Trainers always talk about “connections before content.” Icebreaker questions are critical starts to your training because they help learners connect with one another and with the topic they will be exploring. Looking for the perfect prompt for your next session. Let this be your guide! For each category of prompts, we’ll share 5 to 10 examples. If you want more variety, you can purchase a Thumball, UNZIP-it! Pocket or UNZIP-it! PowerPoint Deck. If you want ALL THE PROMPTS for ALL THE TOPICS, explore the Trainers EXCHANGE website. Get Acquainted Icebreaker Questions Some getting-acquainted conversation starters will fill silences but not develop deep relationships. Others, which explore motivations, personality traits, history, goals, and accomplishments, will lead to deeper understanding. Understandably, with any conversation starter, the person answering always has the option to make light of a question rather than sharing deeply. The themes listed below are (roughly) organized from skim-the-surface to dig-deeper discussion starters. FAVORITES Although this content asks respondents to respond with “favorites,” we always recommend asking for “one of your favorites.” Somehow, that seems to make it all a bit easier to answer the question. These prompts, which are among our favorites, include a range of topics, such as: Locations and destinations Ways to spend time Cuisines Art forms Preferences Because every prompt is about YOU, most people can respond to these pretty easily. Here’s a spattering of the contents found on this Thumball: Favorite thing to spend money on Favorite thing about getting older Favorite compliment to receive Favorite bit of advice you’ve ever received Favorite fad or trend you hope comes back Favorite day of the week Favorite way to spend a Sunday morning Favorite way to feel healthy Favorite childhood memory Favorite mode of transportation Find all the Favorites-style icebreaker questions in these great training tools from Trainers Warehouse Favorites Thumball $32.95 Favorites UNZIP-it! Card Deck and UNZIP-IT! Pocket $29.95 Favorites PowerPoint $7.95 WHICH ARE YOU? On this Thumball, you’ll find two words on each panel. They represent opposites. The goal is to understand if you are “this” or “that,” or if your preference lies somewhere in the middle. For instance: Work or Play Ask or Tell Highway or Back roads Self-serve or full-serve Sweet or salty Words or Pictures City or Country Imported or Domestic Letters or Numbers Store-bought or Homemade As you use the ball to learn more about friends and colleagues, you’ll find that the topics are quite broad and can be applied to work, home, communication styles, foods, activities, relationships, purchases, leadership, teams, and more. As you play, you can reframe a prompt to your specific location, situation, or objective. Find the full range of prompts here: Which are You and Why? Thumball $32.95 COMMON GROUND Dig into subjects that explore commonalities and shared experiences, for instance: Time: Ways to spend free time, weekends, vacations, etc. Favorites: Favorite foods, activities, apps, show, books People: Family and friends who impact your life Growth: Goals, talents, or skills you’d like to develop Moolah: What you’d spend money on You: claims to fame and more… Identify experiences and interests you share with others with prompts such as these: What does your perfect day look like? Favorite show(s) to watch What do you like to read? Sports I like to watch My favorite childhood memory What do you do regularly to stay healthy? Favorite art form (music, dance, art, theater, film) Who are the most important people in your life? Who in your family are you closest to? For good advice, who do you turn to first? For more prompts, or to purchase the product, click here: Common Ground Thumball $32.95 Common Ground UNZIP-it! Deck $29.95 Common Ground PowerPoint $7.95 WHAT MAKES YOU YOU? This interesting grouping of “What…?” questions helps colleagues identify what makes each person special. The conversation starters cover a range of topics, including: Skills and interests Quirks, wishes, and facts Motivations & fears Likes & dislikes Goals and contributions This sampling of icebreaker questions will give you a sense of the questions: What are you good at, but embarrassed to admit? What is something you like to do the old-fashioned way? What could you give a 30-minute presentation on with no prep? What is something you think everyone should learn? What amazing thing did you do that no one was around to see? What are you looking forward to in the coming months? What is the most impressive thing you know how to do? What’s the dumbest thing you’ve done that turned out okay? What is something you can never seem to finish? What would annoy you about having yourself as a roommate? Find the full sets of conversation prompts in these great training tools from Trainers Warehouse: What Makes You YOU Thumball $32.95 What Makes You YOU UNZIP-it! Deck $29.95 What Makes You YOU PowerPoint $7.95 GETTING TO KNOW YOU Getting to Know You questions are intended to be thoughtful and easy-to-answer. With them, you’ll be able to spark conversation and help players know more about each. Questions will explore: Experiences: memorable moments in your life People: Family and friends who have affected your life Most favorite and least favorite: Gifts, ages, sounds, chores Activities: pastimes, hobbies, bucket list items, travel Hopes, Fears and Wishes: the details that make you unique Least favorite mode of transportation A sound that you love A new skill you’d like to have (with no effort) The most difficult thing you’ve ever done? The age you’d most want to relive The age at which you became an adult An experience that made you a better person Something you did that got you in trouble One item on your bucket list Your claim to fame Probing prompts that get to your phobias, wishes, and favorite moments, explore these resources: Getting to Know You Thumball $32.95 Getting to Know You UNZIP-it! Deck $29.95 Getting to Know You PowerPoint $7.95 SESSION OPENERS These prompts will help build relationships and tease out session objectives to help trainers kick off their learning sessions. Prompts primarily cover these three categories: Getting to Know You: dreams, peeves, wishes, decisions, frustrations, talents Learning Styles: best teachers, preferred learning methods, learning goals Work Styles: proudest accomplishments, creative contributions, strengths I’m here because… I’ll be successful if… I’d like to change… Childhood dream A day I’d live over Most creative contribution I hope to learn… Oops! I forgot to… Greatest strength at work… I learn best by… For more session opener icebreaker prompts about goals, motivations, and aspirations, consider the Session Openers Thumball $32.95 Session Openers UNZIP-it! Deck $29.95 Session Openers PowerPoint $7.95 SHAPED BY OUR PAST The experiences in our lives shape who we are today. Engage your group in conversations about their past experiences and the people who influenced their growth and development. Icebreaker questions focusing on our past typically include: Childhood memories: birthdays, vacations, regrets Past experiences: scary moments, hospital visits, turning points, accomplishments Daily life when you were younger: extracurricular activities, friendships, summer traditions People & personalities: impact of birth order, mentors, grandparents Challenges & accomplishments: difficult choices, challenging times, goals Following is a selection of conversation starters that will help groups share the experiences that shaped them: A time you got in trouble at school A time you went to the hospital An important turning point in your life Describe your “group” in high school Extra-curricular activities you did How you spent your summers How you spent your time after school How your birth order affected you Something you hated as a child You’ll find 32+ icebreaker questions focusing on past experiences in these Trainers Warehouse resources: Shaped by Our Past Thumball $32.95 Shaped by Our Past UNZIP-it! Deck $29.95 Shaped by Our Past PowerPoint $7.95 Topic-Specific Icebreaker Questions DIVERSITY Address the factors and experiences that shape our understanding of differences in ethnicity, age, religion, and more. For instance, An instance when someone went out of their way to make you feel included? A time you went out of your way to make someone feel included? A time you shared an unpopular idea Describe a time you felt lonely in a big group of people What were your parents’ attitudes towards LGBT communities? Should companies/school close for all religious holidays? Why or why not? Name 2 ways in which men and women may be treated differently? Is it easier to be male or female? Why? What gives you hope that people are becoming more accepting of diversity? What’s your generation’s biggest challenge when it comes to acceptance? Explore more Diversity-themed conversation prompts with the: Trainers Warehouse Diversity Thumball. ($32.95) Diversity Questions UNZIP-IT! Deck $29.95 Diversity PowerPoint Deck with Conversation Prompts $7.95 D.E.I. Gain personal and organizational insight. Explore us vs. them thinking, privilege and power, and community initiatives. A dominant aspect of my identity that influences how I feel & act An aspect of my identity that makes me feel proud is… With whom do you feel more/less safe in sharing emotions & experiences? What new initiatives could strengthen feelings of belonging? How can we create a culture of inclusion & equity? Something I’ve learned from people whose identities differ from mine In your mind, what does oppression look like? In what ways do you feel privileged? Why is it important for us to take action in DEI initiatives? What prevents people from stepping up as an ally for diversity and inclusion? Consider the DEI Thumball by Trainers Warehouse for more DEI conversation starters and icebreaker questions ($32.95), or the DEI PowerPoint Deck with similar content. SAFETY TOOLBOX TALKS “Toolbox Talks” are informal safety meetings that address workplace hazards and safe work practices. They help promote an organizational culture that is healthy, safe, and supportive. Use Toolbox Talks Thumball to supplement safety training, not replace it. It’s a great way to kick off safety initiatives, raise awareness, and identify areas to improve workplace safety. What should you do if someone’s doing something dangerous? What can you do if you’re bullied or harassed? What accidents happen most frequently in our environment? How are we “covered” in case of an accident? As Individuals? As company? What workplace activities are best not done alone? The safety rule that is hardest to comply with is… Do I feel safer in the summer or winter? Why? What do I look for on product warning labels? How does mobile phone use affect workplace safety? A safety protocol at work that should be changed is . . . For more Toolbox Talks discussion prompts to help start conversations about workplace safety, try these Trainers Warehouse tools: Toolbox Talks Thumball ($32.95) UNZIP-it! with Toolbox Talks (Safety) Conversation Card Deck ($29.95) Toolbox Talks PPT Deck ($7.95) BE A LEADER In this unique Leadership Thumball, find a full range of conversation starters, including: Leadership traits that I have or aspire to have in myself and my team Ways to motivate, inspire, and recognize employee contributions Methods for dealing with disagreement, decision-making, and mistakes Reflections on challenges, frustrations, delegation, and impatience Approaches to promote growth and learning Techniques to get buy-in, promote diversity, and share feedback When prompting conversation, aim to include some reflective questions (past experiences) and others that are appreciative (questions that encourage participants to envision the future and focus on positive potential). A good range of leadership conversation prompts should cover vision, innovation, competence, integrity, continuous improvement, teamwork, accountability, diversity, and development. For instance: A time I used power in a positive way What makes me impatient? I get to know my staff by… What I like/dislike about coaching others In my role, I am most frustrated by… I foster learning by… I am least effective when… I last thanked a colleague or staff member when… I dislike having power because… I inspire creativity by… Find additional icebreaker questions and conversation prompts that explore leadership qualities and experiences integrated into these Trainers Warehouse tools: Be a Leader Thumball ($32.95) Be a Leader PPT Deck ($7.95) TEAM DYNAMICS Promote team spirit, boost flagging energy, and initiate meaningful conversations with team dynamics conversation prompts. Indeed, with the right conversation prompts, you can tactfully explore how your group is working as a team. Discuss… Benefits and drawbacks of teaming Ways to make others feel heard, show respect, and draw in multiple perspectives Systems to improve productivity and minimize duplication of efforts Approaches to identify goals, work to completion and celebrate success Management of disagreements, problems, and mistakes Methods to develop consensus, show support, and motivate each other. Effective teamwork is often based on: Accountability * Motivation * Trust * Respect * Commitment * Diversity of Capabilities * Adaptability * Creative Freedom * Collaboration * Conflict Resolution * Communication Rich conversation prompts might include these, i.e.: How should we manage disagreements? Give an example of a goal we are all working towards Do we have clearly defined team goals? Do we learn from our mistakes? Do we admit mistakes to each other? Give an example of a mistake we learned from. How can we support each other? Do we respect each other’s role in the team? When was the last time we had constructive conflict? How do we check that we are working toward the same goal? To explore the factors that enhance or undermine your team’s success, consider more prompts on Trainers Warehouse’s Team Dynamics toos: Team Dynamics Thumball ($32.95) UNZIP-IT! with Team Dynamics Conversation Deck ($29.95) UNZiP-it! PowerPoint Deck w/ Team Dynamics Prompts ($7.95) DEVELOPING RESILIENCE Resilience helps individuals adapt to difficult situations. To assist your groups in building resilience in their personal and professional lives, facilitate conversations that encourage optimism, positive thinking, compassion, and growth mindsets. The following 10 skills are most often associated with resilience. The questions that appear with them can help people begin to build that important skill. Patience – when facing situations that test your patience, how do you calm yourself? Optimism – what happiness might the future hold? Gratitude – for whom and what are you grateful? Acceptance – how might you productively respond to bad news? Kindness – what are your preferred ways to spread happiness? Purpose – what goals and accomplishments inspire you? Forgiveness – when, why, and how can you forgive others? Connection – do you regularly reach out to the people who create joy in your life? Composure – when you lose composure, how do you refocus your energy? Listening – what techniques do you use to show you’re listening? For more icebreaker questions to foster patience, acceptance, kindness & forgiveness, consider these: Building Resilience Thumball GET HAPPY AT WORK Use workplace happiness icebreaker prompts to enable colleagues to express their goals and articulate challenges. By focusing on positivity, workplace engagement, and meaningful relationships, conversations can elicit optimism and opportunities for a happier, more productive workplace. Discussion starters like these might get the ball rolling, e.g.: A new challenge I hope to take on at work? My top priorities for the day/week What risk would you take if you knew you couldn’t fail? What permission do you need/want to move forward? Something you’re thankful for at work The best thing about our organization is… I’d like coming to work more if… Our meetings would be more productive if… How do we encourage/discourage risk-taking? An area where I’d like more autonomy Access additional happiness-at-work icebreaker questions, which emphasize goals, achievements, hopes, and dreams, in these Trainers Warehouse exclusive tools: Get Happy at Work Thumball ($32.95) UNZIP-it! with Get Happy at Work Conversation Card Deck ($29.95) UNZiP-it! PowerPoint Deck w/ Get Happy at Work Prompts ($7.95) STRESS MANAGEMENT Here’s another important topic for the workplace: Stress Management! Ideal conversation starters relating to stress management should cover this range of topics: Causes of stress: tasks, chores, times of year, and situation that bring angst Controlling stress: ways to minimize stress and focus on priorities Sources of calm: hobbies, activities, quiet places that bring relaxation Wellness practices: Sleep, exercise and diet that nourish you Dealing with stress: what do you do (can you do) when you get stressed Electronics: impact of technology and email on stress levels For instance, you might ask: What forms of exercise are most enjoyable? Do you get as much sleep as you need? Is there a new hobby you’re hoping to start? What are your most dreaded household chores? When you’re busy, what’s first to get cut from your routine? If you took a “1-minute mental vacation,” where would you go? If you had one day left to live, what would you do? When stressed do you prefer company or solitude? What most relaxes you? How would you use two extra hours per day? To help your group discover the causes of stress and the ways to manage it, consider more conversation prompts and icebreaker questions on Trainers Warehouse tools like these: Stress Management Thumball ($32.95) UNZIP-it! with Stress Management Conversation Card Deck ($29.95) UNZiP-it! PowerPoint Deck w/ Stress Management Prompts ($7.95) CHANGE MANAGEMENT These prompts are excellent for any who are experiencing a life change. When facing difficult times, the challenge is to move beyond the past experience toward an unknown future. If your team is facing substantial change–as individuals or as a group–consider icebreaker questions that promote conversation about how to move forward, onward, and upward. Address topics such as these: People to seek out for assistance Healthy habits — mentally and physically Personal sources of strength and joy Methods to interrupt and reverse bad mojo For instance: What’s the silver lining of a challenging time? A person I remember fondly My “go-to” indulgence When feeling blue, I prefer company/solitude because… Where do you find spiritual strength? I’ve learned to accept that… Something I accomplished recently An activity that relaxes and calms me My top priorities for the day/week Something that makes me proud These Trainers Warehouse tools will have a range 30+ questions and prompts to discuss methods for managing change: Change Management Thumballs ($32.95) UNZiP-it! PowerPoint Deck w/ Change Management Prompts ($7.95) EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Emotional Intelligence (a.k.a. EQ) requires five skills: Self-Awareness , Motivation , Self-Regulation , Empathy , and Social Skills . Conversation prompts and icebreaker questions that develop EQ delve into these 5 topics. For example: What contributes to distrust? (Empathy) How could someone regain composure after snapping? (Self-Regulation) What holds you back from being your best YOU? (Self-Awareness) How can I make colleagues feel valued? (Motivation) What would your best friend say is your weakness? (Self-Awareness) How can we make others feel appreciated? (Empathy) Describe three ways to communicate non-verbally (Social Skills) What could be a “blind spot” (a strength others might consider a weakness) (Self-Awareness) What do you do if you find yourself overreacting to something? (Self-Regulation) Find more conversation starters to build self-awareness, empathy, motivation, and social skills on the Trainers Warehouse Emotional Intelligence Thumball. BUILDING TRUST Trust allows us to take risks, open up, and look for mutually beneficial solutions when conflicts occur. It gives us peace of mind when we need to rely on one another, and comfort to share our vulnerabilities. Like a bridge, trust also brings people together and deepens relationships. In turn, with strong relationships, we enjoy emotional support, confidence, reduced stress, good health, and happiness. Building trust starts with communication – asking the right questions and taking the time to listen. Discuss topics such as: Causes of trust and distrust People you entrust with secrets Impact of promises, apologies, and lies Ways to make others feel safe Dealing with mistakes and resistance Being genuine Conversation starters that will help explore the topic of trust, and in the process, begin building trust include: What might be the impact of admitting mistakes? Are “white lies” okay? Why/why not? Who do you consider to be your “family”? What topics are hardest to discuss? How do you decide if someone is trustworthy? Do you tend to say “I don’t know” or make something up? Why? How can we build trust in one another? How do you make others feel safe? What is “active listening” and why is it important? Do you ever resist asking for help? When? Why? Build bridges and explore issues of interpersonal trust #Building Trust Thumball ** MORE CONVERSATION PROMPTS FOR THESE TOPICS TO COME! ** COACHING QUESTIONS Use the G.R.O.W. model to affect change (Goals – Reality – Options – Way Forward) #Coaching Questions PowerPoint Deck READ MORE Are Icebreakers Important? 7 Tips for Formulating Questions Using Photos and Images for Deeper Conversations

If you remember going to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus when you were a kid, you might recall arriving early to see clowns walking around the arena, greeting guests, and carrying their funny “walk-around” props (instant sight gags — visual images that make you chuckle). The clowns were onto something with their welcoming “come-in” ritual, and so are trainers when they greet you upon arrival and treat you to an “icebreaker.” I know. Many are skeptical of training icebreakers, but for trainers and participants alike, the first few minutes matter a lot. No matter what you call them, strong openers are essential to building trust, making connections, and setting the tone for effective learning experiences. Meaningful and effective session starters require that you: Understand and Focus on your Goals Build Trust, Credibility, and Mutual Respect through Transparency Make Connections Between Content and Participants Choose the Right Activity Let’s look at each in more detail. 1. Understand your Goal. Focus on your Purpose Before you get too far in thinking about training icebreakers and starters, know what you hope to accomplish–not just for the opener, but for the entire learning event. Then, tie every exercise, presentation, and activity to these goals. For your opener, you might set your intention on building camaraderie, fostering new relationships, surfacing participants’ goals and concerns, or fun-for-the-sake-of-fun. Or, you might want to establish a foundation for the learning segment to come. Whatever it is, formulate your agenda around that goal. 2. Build Trust, Credibility, and Mutual Respect through Transparency Set participants’ minds at ease by assuring them that their time won’t be wasted. That you are a capable facilitator from whom they can learn something useful, beyond what they already know. To quickly accomplish this, be transparent about your goals for both the training icebreaker and the learning outcomes. Always explain why you’re doing what you’re doing. Express your respect for the knowledge and expertise your participants bring to the table and encourage them to share their knowledge as well. Using a Learners Bill of Rights or another list of ground rules, let participants know that they won’t be put on the spot, embarrassed, or stuck in an uncomfortable conversation. When trainers exhibit respect for their learners, they will be rewarded with reciprocal trust. 3. Make Connections Between Content and Participants Perhaps the most primary purpose of intros, training icebreakers, and starters is to create mental links. You should make links between prior knowledge and new material; between the learners; and between the learners and facilitators. For instance, by asking learners what they already know about a topic, you are simultaneously helping them make their own mental connections, introducing core concepts, and giving the group an opportunity to connect with one another. 4. Choose the Right Activity Time-Relevance Matrix Once you’re clear on your goals and have allayed the group’s fears, your challenge is selecting or formulating an experience that will serve these needs. You might like to think about your choices by plotting them within a matrix that takes into consideration the amount of time an activity will take and its relevance to your content. Strive for the upper quadrants of the matrix where activities are appropriately tied to course content. If an activity is not relevant to your goals, consider limiting the time you allocate to the exercise or eliminating it altogether. Picking Perfect Prompts When it comes down to it, most training icebreakers fall into a handful of categories: Personal introductions Question/Answer Discussions Collaborative Problem Solving Collaborative Creativity Of these 4 types of opening activities, Question/Answer formats are probably the most popular. You may want to use a ball populated with getting-to-know-you questions, like a Shaped By Our Past Thumball, or come up with a single question that gets to the heart of matters. Keep questions open-ended – stay away from yes/no questions or questions that require one-word answers Focus on experiences and interests – choose questions that draw from people’s experience, something they can answer easily Make the questions “safe” – be sensitive to prompts that might be awkward to answer Inspire dialogue and sharing – make sure there is no right or wrong answer Mix would and should questions – consider how the question’s framing will best promote positive dialogue Balance reflective and appreciative questions – include “appreciative” questions about goals and hopes. Making it fun After deciding on the questions or discussion prompts that might draw out an interesting exchange, trainers have many options for facilitating those conversations. For instance, rather than working their way around the room, they might ask groups to “pair and share” with a single partner, table talk, create triads, or roam the room. Trainers can also get creative with playful props including balls, answer boards, question decks, and image decks. Players can get creative with image decks by assembling one or more photos that tell a story, suggest a metaphor, or remind them of an experience or learning point. Powerful Openers No matter what icebreaker, discussion prompt, or activity you choose, be sure to explain why you’re playing with honesty and transparency. Show respect for your participants and their time, and give them an opportunity to make connections with the content and one another. Finally, you might also want to reconsider the word “icebreaker.” Because training icebreakers can be loaded with negative associations, do yourself a favor and call them “starters,” “openers,” “appetizers,” or “come-in.” That way, your participants can start with a clean slate and an open mind. READ MORE Icebreakers to start a soft-skills workshop The Perfect Prompt for any Session Training Circus – Lessons from a Clown-Turned-Trainer Icebreakers to start a Soft-Skills Session Learning from Mistakes – Creating Safe Spaces for Learning

Back in 2014, on LinkedIN Phuong Nguyen posted the question: “What CRAZY facilitation ideas have worked well for you?” I reposted the wonderful question again on the group called “Effective and Fun Training Techniques” then assembled some of my favorite posts from those discussions. There are some crazy ideas below, indeed! More than ten years later, I’ve updated it with a few additional tips, including some that fit the category of “crazy critical” from Jim Cain’s Tips to be a World-Class Facilitator, As you teach and train, remember you are merely a facilitator of learning. Focus on asking the right questions; questions that will help students discover learning on their own–not on feeding learners a series of correct answers. Facilitation Squeeze the Lemon In Jim Cain’s “Twelve Tips for Becoming a Better Facilitator,” Squeeze the Lemon tops his list. Jim explains, “When I choose an activity to share with my audience, I want to squeeze harder and get more out.” It’s like squeezing lemons to make lemonade. The harder you squeeze the lemon, the more juice you’ll get out. In Tip #8, he also advises us to Take Your Time. “Some facilitators stop just short of the promised land. By that I mean concluding an activity before the group has achieved the ultimate insight or explored the teachable moments available to them. Don’t be afraid to let an activity run to completion. One simple question that a facilitator can ask their group is, “are we done?” This question does a powerfully simple thing. It empowers a group to make their own decision when to move on.” Breaking into teams: The Gender Gap I had a course of 15 people with two-thirds male and one-third female. I put all the women in one group and the men in two other groups to work on a case study in the evening of a residential course (with a presentation of their findings first thing the following morning). When I handed out the group lists I was greeted with cries of “bastard.” The male teams decided that they just could not do worse than the female team. And, the female team decided that they would smash the male teams into the ground. Instead of working until about 9:30pm and then adjourning to the bar all groups worked into the early hours! Posted by Jeremy Hall Managing Varying Abilities I once had a class that had PhDs along with non-HS graduates. The PhDs tended to go too fast and the non-HS graduates had trouble keeping up. Until… I paired them together. That worked well because the experts helped the new users. I’ve used the technique since, to help struggling students and to help those students who arrive late or “miss” a portion of the class. Posted by Glenn D Pay for great questions This technique gets (and keeps) people engaged. Early in the training, someone will ask a question. I’ll pause, look at the person as if I’m going to be mad, pull out my wallet, and hand that person a $1 bill, exclaiming, “That was an OUTSTANDING question! Jimmy gets a dollar.” And then to the rest of the class, I’ll say, “You’ve heard of ‘pay for performance’ right? Well, in this class I pay for great questions, and that was a great question.” I’ll do this several times and sometimes even include a $5 bill for a truly SUPERIOR question. This, of course, gets people wanting to ask questions — which is good! Pretty soon, someone will catch me NOT handing out a dollar and say, “That was a great question; Sally should get a dollar!” I’ll respond, “Well, there are dollars floating around out there; who’d like to give Sally a dollar?” Sure enough, someone will hand Sally a dollar. THEN the dollars become tokens for recognizing their peers for contributions and get passed around throughout the training. P.S. most of the time I get all my money back at the end of the training. For Creativity and Brainstorming Worst idea We have participants try to generate bad ideas instead of good ones (and then find something of value/a trigger in the worst idea to inspire a good one.) Object Role Play To invent a new laundry detergent, we had session participants role-play a day in the life of a sock. To generate a new make-up, we had participants imagine the unique make-up needs of a mermaid, a pioneer woman, a vampire, and an animated character. The animated character led to a very successful new product from Prescriptives: the idea of light-reflecting make-up called, appropriately enough, Magic. Posted by Bryan Mattimore, author of Idea Stormers (Wiley Jossey-Bass) Icebreaker What do you want others to know about you? I presented one training session to a Polish Army unit getting ready to deploy. No one in the class knew anyone else in the class which I found quite different from the US Forces I have trained. As an icebreaker, I ask each soldier to tell us their name, where they are from, and the one thing they would like the group to know since they would be spending the next year together. The group came to discover many were playing instruments but not planning on taking the instruments while deployed. By the end of the class, many agreed to form an ad hoc musical group, who would practice as time allowed while they were deployed to a country at war. A few others found common interest to make their time away from home more bearable with “friends” sharing time together. Who would have thought such an innocent question could build deeper bonds among “strangers” Posted by Robert Parry Introductions, Aspirations, and Unusual Facts I ask participants who do not know each other to introduce themselves giving their names, why they are in the class, plus an aspiration for the future. Then everyone has to write down an unusual fact about themselves that no one would know, something surprising or unusual. Then the facts are read and the group has to guess one by one, which fact belongs to which participant. This does help people get to know each other in a rather light-hearted way. Posted by Kathryn H.W. McCrary Orchestrating a team To develop a team that works together ‘like an orchestra,’ we did just that. We bought 100 musical instruments, including penny whistles, harmonicas, xylophones, ocarinas, etc., and then set the entire team the task of planning, rehearsing, and performing an ‘orchestral’ piece of music! The result was stunning! The whole team was fully engaged, those with some musical ability trained others when they did their final performance. I have to admit it brought a tear to my eye. The team was certainly proud of what they had achieved. Posted by John Cooper Energy Booster Move it! When I find an audience beginning to dose off, wander away, or when there is negative energy that is starting to build in the room, I announce: “The energy isn’t working properly like this, everybody MOVE now!” and I ask everyone to change his/her seats, most preferably far from the old ones and next to new mates 🙂 Posted by Doaa K (Trainer’s Box) I changed the seating from a standard classroom formation to groups of 5-6. It created a new energy and level of participation. Posted by Thomas Dworak, Sergeant at Wilmette Police Department The Energy Break Thumball from Trainers Warehouse is another great way to get your group moving around! Managing Change Organized Mayhem For a Managing Change class, we purposely do not set up properly, meaning chairs are scattered about, the doorway is partially blocked by a table, trash” such as empty bottles, notepads, etc. are scattered on the tables, flip charts from other classes are still hanging in the room – the appearance of the classroom not cleaned up and re-set for the next class. Obviously, things need to be changed! Yet it is amazing to see how differently people react. Our observations yield key insights as to how each person approaches change. Some leave and come back later; others make a space for themselves; some start cleaning up and rearranging the room (with or without asking the facilitator if it’s okay). Confusing but great introductory activity. Posted by Dixie Grow, Career Growth Associates Make Lessons Visual Images stick with people more strongly than words alone. Always look for ways to create a strong visual image of the concept your teaching. Howard Ellison exemplifies this with the following technique” “I did a presentation on the value of their community activity. To create a memorable image, I printed key actions and ingredients on big cartons; I had the audience stack the boxes in a pyramid. At the right moment, a volunteer stepped forward and pulled out the foundation box: PEOPLE. This brought down the whole pile and made its point. It’s memorable, raises a laugh, and makes a good picture for the local paper.” Posted by Howard Ellison Rubber Glove Treatment (for training in communication and interview techniques) An essential element of being competent at interviewing is asking “probing questions.” When a candidate responds with a partial answer, or you want to explore the motivation/background/technique, etc., that underlies their response, you must ask follow-up questions. Before class, stop at a pharmacy and get a box of inexpensive thin rubber gloves. When you set up the room, lay out the participant guide and one glove for each person. As people come into the class, they sit down, and then with wide eyes, look at the gloves, then look at me. The look in their eyes clearly radiates, “You’re not going to ask us to DO something with these gloves, are you?!?” Just smile and respond, “we’ll be using those a little later…” About two hours into a class about communication and listening, when we discuss the topic of asking good questions, I make an exaggerated display of putting on my glove, which causes nervous energy around the room. Then I turn around so participants cannot see what I’m doing, but loudly announce, “when you hear this sound … … what comes to mind?” People generally respond with “doctor’s office/doctor visit, etc.” Then I say, “MEN only … what ONE word comes to mind when you hear this sound?” and snap the glove again. Squeamishly, they respond, “PROBING” — and the women all laugh. Then I ask them to put their gloves on, and say, “From now on, whenever you do an interview, I want you to remember putting on this glove … and the snapping sound … and remember that ASKING PROBING QUESTIONS” is a critical communication and interview skill Then I invite them to take the glove off. At the end-of-day review, almost everyone talks about the importance of probing questions — and in that way, I know that the glove has had its intended effect. The combination trigger of the word, the visual image, and the snapping sound all together plant the skill for them. (BTW, the vinyl gloves don’t snap, that’s why you need latex or nitrate.) Posted by David Rappuhn

We had the pleasure of Jamie Thompson’s insight during a Trainers Warehouse Show & Share conversation. Jamie is the principal of MTa Learning, a game development company based in the UK. As a seasoned developer of experiential learning leadership activities, Thompson shared a handful of memorable tips. Because of groups’ interest in emotional intelligence, we also discussed a bunch of ways we can improve EQ training for our leaders. Consider the Learning Journey In response to many leaders’ requests for leadership training, trainers are often asked to conduct complex experiences for their management and leadership teams. While games must be intellectually demanding enough to challenge leaders, and reflect the complexity of their environments, trainers should resist the impulse to begin with such challenges before developing basic teaming and communication skills. Note: Thompson’s suite of MTa Team Development and Insights games offer a rich menu of experiences that will allow you to step up the activities as leaders become ready for new challenges. Adapt Games for Emotional Intelligence Training Several participants articulated an interest in developing their leaders’ EQ skills. While the group shared a roster of Emotional Intelligence Activities, we also discussed these approaches: Draw out emotions You might not have access to an EQ-specific game. If not, you can elicit “emotional friction” by altering a game’s rules: Take away supplies that might be needed to complete a task Equip a competing team with some of the necessary resources and instruct that team that they should be wary of sharing their limited supplies Blindfold players and add “noise” – perhaps a blindfolded participant needs to receive instructions from three other people in a noise room. Develop visual or auditory obstructions – imagine a team needs to replicate a structure, but can’t see it and can only talk to the “architect” once, for a limited amount of time. Limit time – create urgency and/or not enough time to come to a full understanding of another’s perspective or information Instruct some team members to “be difficult,” “refrain from active listening,” or undermine another’s efforts. In each of these examples, the team experience will be challenged and create some degree of frustration. By manufacturing this friction, teams will come to appreciate the impact of vulnerability and the necessity of trust and emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, emotions, empathy, social skills). Discuss the impact of those challenges, behaviors, and approaches in your debrief and relate the learning to workplace issues. Develop a vocabulary of emotions using a Mood Matrix or Wheel of Emotions These two models will help your groups develop a lexicon of emotions and better identify and discuss their own and other’s feelings. To introduce these models, you might begin by asking: “How are you feeling?” See how many people instinctively reply, “fine” or “good.” Afterwards, introduce one of these colorful illustrations to help them better understand the huge range of feeling that they might call upon. Matrix: On an emotional Mood Matrix you find Intensity or Energy on one axis, and Pleasantness on the other. Emotions are sorted in this manner. Several card decks of emotions identify emotions according to these quadrants including the Emotions Card Deck and Playmeo’s Emoji Deck. Wheel: Then show them an adaptation of the Robert Plutchik Wheel of Emotions and ask how they REALLY FEEL. We have so many words to describe feelings, encourage your group to find the words that reflect their true emotions. Choose Intellectually and Cognitively Demanding Experiences As Jamie reiterated, the quality of your experiential leadership activity will depend upon the: The degree to which it is intellectually demanding Quality of the facilitation instructions in setting up and drawing out learning points. While you can adapt many games to suit the needs of your groups, be sure to select your games based on their ability to elicit the lessons that will be most useful to your group! Read More Leadership Activities EQ Activities & Games