WorkSMART Blog

I’m always on the lookout for ideas that apply knowledge of how the brain works to specific teaching and facilitation techniques. So, my interest was piqued when I came across Daniel Willingham’s article, “Unlocking the Science of How Kids Think.“* He explained that 16 years ago, as a psychologist studying brain science, he didn’t think teachers would care about what he had to say. Now, 15 years, four books, and dozens of articles later, teachers and trainers rely on his unique perspective and research studies. In the article, Willingham pairs his research and theories with a collection of scientific observations translated into classroom applications. Putting Theory into Action Synthesizing his recommendations, I recalled a handful of tools and approaches that help teachers carry through on the kinds of efforts he suggests: 1) Practice is crucial. Allow sufficient classroom time to practice new skills. Use paper, computers, or dry-erase boards, books –whatever you need. To eliminate the worry about time, use a Time Timer so everyone can easily see how much they have left. 2) Memory is more enduring if practice is spread over time. Distribute lessons across multiple days. 3) Probing memory improves retention. Use low-stakes or no-stakes quizzes to boost student memory. Jeopardy games are great for reinforcement, but you can also adapt many other game show-style games to your content quite easily. 4) Students who believe they can get smarter through hard work, try harder. Take the time to recognize student effort and communicate your belief in each person’s abilities. No need for time-consuming or expensive endeavors; simply dash a note on a small Kudos Sticky Note or send a KUDOS Memo Note. 5) Shallow Understanding always precedes Deep understanding. Don’t be put off if students’ initial understanding is shallow. Try building a pipe-cleaner tower to symbolize the foundational principles the group is starting with and build it up as concepts and understanding deepen. The visual image acts as a great reminder of the learning process and progress taking place. What’s next? Thanks go out to Dr. Willingham for sharing his research and insights, enabling teachers and trainers worldwide to make learning experiences more meaningful and productive. I’ll definitely be putting his book, Why Don’t Students Like School? on my reading list and will report back more insights! Read more The 10 Biggest Breakthroughs in the Science of Learning Six Brain Science Principles Every Teacher Should Know —————— * “Unlocking the Science of How Kids Think: A New Proposal for Reforming Teacher Education” by Daniel Willingham in Education Next, Summer 2018 (Vol. 18, #3, p. 42-49), https://educationnext.org/unlocking-science-how-kids-think-new-proposal-for-reforming-teacher-education/; Willingham can be reached at willingham@virginia.edu.

The more engaged students are in the learning process, the more they will absorb. While this makes intuitive sense, the assertion is also backed up by loads of brain research showing that when more areas of the brain are involved in an experience, the more memorable it becomes. So, to maximize learning, we must continue to engage the mind and the body, by offering physical experiences as well as cerebral ones and stirring up learners’ emotions. None of this will happen if the “sage on the stage” stands there lecturing. Instead, we need to replace talking heads with participation. Click for Participation Infographic. Participation 101 When I look at my kids’ report cards and their Schoology reports, I often see references and grades for “class participation.” When teachers or trainers ask questions, inviting learners to raise their hand to share a response, they put the onus on the student to single themselves out to share. I don’t know about you, but when I was a teenager, I wasn’t the most confident or outspoken student–only a handful of students in my classes were. I wasn’t particularly shy but was still unlikely to raise my hand with an answer unless I really knew it. I grew up in the pre-Growth Mindset world, but even in the Carol Dweck era of today, where failure is appreciated as part of the learning process, many students (young and old) are still reluctant to participate in a roomful of peers. Participation 202 Historically, we’ve thought of class participation in terms of participating in discussions or answering questions posed by a teacher or trainer. I think that’s what my kids are still graded on. However, as teaching formats have evolved, so must our understanding of what constitutes “participation.” Beyond talking and discussing, participation can involve, walking, standing, writing, drawing, clicking, and playing. The challenge for teachers and trainers is to link their teaching and learning goals with an appropriate type of participation. Goals might include the introduction of new material, practicing new techniques, improving memory, or committing to next steps. Depending on the goal, teachers may use a myriad of different tools to facilitate broad participation, rather than engaging only the handful of students who happen to raise their hands to speak. Let’s explore 7 teaching goals and ways to make those efforts more participatory. 1) Introduce material In place of lecturing, ask questions and have learners think through the material before divulging answers. Quick Response Answer Boards allow every participant to think up and jot down an answer. Have them raise their boards so you can quickly scan the room and get a sense of the group’s understanding. Audience Response Clickers give every person a chance to guess an answer, usually A-B-C-D or True-False. With these, facilitators can easily tabulate results. If everyone knows an answer, they can move along to the next topic. If not, they can take more time to delve into the correct and incorrect answers. Sometimes incorrect answers can lead to an extremely interesting conversation. Jeopardy games aren’t just for reinforcement. They can be a super fun way to introduce new information. By chunking their presentations into categories and questions, facilitators can help learners begin thinking about material to which they’ve never been exposed. Flash cards aren’t flashy, but they can be a great way to activate the mind and body, as they can require writing, flipping, shuffling, sorting, walking, folding, etc. 2) CHECK understanding Use tools that will allow EVERY participant to think of an answer, not just your fastest thinkers. Audience Response Systems (ARS) equip every participant with a clicker (or phone), so that players can key-in a response. Many ARS are best-suited to multiple-choice and true/false answers, but some do allow players to give more complex answers. If you prefer open-ended questions and free-thinking questions, rather than prompting the group with multiple-choice answers, try dry-erase Answer Boards. Find ready-made boards or create your own. A variety of dry-erase surfaces are readily available. Write it and Show it on Paper. If you don’t have the time or budget to get fancy, plain ol’ paper works really well too — and can be recycled! 3) Get Physical & Have Fun! If your goal is really just to get people moving around, you may not need to tie the movement to the learning curriculum. Simply getting the blood moving to different parts of the body can have a positive impact on learning. Energy Break Thumball. Catch the ball and act out the movement described on the ball. Tabletop Jeopardy. Have teams write questions for each other or come up and turn over a question card. It’s more active than listening to a question read by a teacher, for sure! Prize Wheels. Spinning a prize wheel can help groups pick questions, teams, categories, and prizes . . . or it can be a good excuse to get learners up and moving around. They can even spin to determine how many points they’ll get if they answer a question correctly. Be creative! Scratch & See. For maximum movement, have players stand up and pick a custom-made card, then scratch away. Make-your-own scratch tickets can also be great for prizes, team assignments, question categories, and more. Paper airplanes and paper balls. Rather than having learners raise a hand to ask a question, ask them to write it out on paper then fold it into an airplane or squeeze it into a ball. They can then toss it to someone else to read. 4) Practice and Quiz Play quick-response games to improve memory and retention. Be warned, however, that you run the risk of leaving slower thinkers behind. Following are some tools that reward quick recall, and ways to adapt them to include folks who need more time to think through their answer or feel shy about answering questions in a big group. Jeopardy game with Who’s First or Me First buzzer. Game buzzers add excitement to competitive games as teams race to buzz-in and answer questions first. They also help facilitators focus on the game content, rather than defusing arguments about who gets to answer a question. Adaptation: to engage slower thinkers in the game, you might require every player on a team to come up with (or understand, or be able to explain) an answer before the team rings in. Toss and Recall games. Toss a ball or Koosh and have them remember a fact or answer a question. Adaptation: invite recipients to consult with someone next to them before sharing with the bigger group. Create-Your-Own Thumball / Beachball / (or Write and Toss Dice). Write questions or discussion prompts on the ball. Then, give it a toss and ask the recipient to respond to the prompt or answer the question under their thumb. Adaptation: have student teams write on the content reinforcement questions/prompts and see if they can stump one another. Adaptation: create three balls of varying difficulty. 5) Commit to Action Ensure that learning is applied by asking participants to write down (and commit to) next steps. Start-Stop-Continue-Change. At the end of a learning module, discuss the takeaways. Ask the group what they’d like to START doing in the future; what they should STOP; whether they want to CONTINUE or CHANGE other actions. What? So What? Now What? The focus of these questions is: What have you learned? So what, what is the significance of the learning? Now what are you going to do or change going forward? 6) Spark Conversation For some, coming up with stuff to say can be a daunting challenge. A variety of tools call on visual metaphors, quotes, or discussion prompts to spark creativity and the flow of new ideas. And, they can be adapted to any topic in any discipline. Favorites include: Photo Decks, which offer an array of thought provoking images. Challenge your group to find an image that reminds them of an important fact or concept or have them choose an image that reflects how they’re thinking or feeling. Then they can discuss why they picked the image they did. Discussion Prompt Cards. On each card is an open-ended question. Pick a card and ask someone else the question or go ahead and answer it yourself. With discussion prompt activities, the facilitator can decide whether everyone should answer and discuss the same prompt, or let each person pick a different topic. Using the later approach, you might cover more material, but not dig in as deeply or engage in rich dialogue. Thumballs. These require players to toss a ball, catch it, and respond to the prompt under their thumb. When using a tool like this, consider how well the group knows each other and what sort of discussion topics would be welcome. Do you need to avoid uncomfortable silences? Get to know each other better? Or, dig into more difficult topics about Stress, Diversity, Goals, Team Dynamics, etc.? Finding Closure The variety of examples above reflect that participation can look very different depending on the age of a group, content being covered, or where the group is within a learning process. No matter what the specifics, participation will help bring closure to learning events and make material more memorable. Read more: 9 Ways to Increase Student Engagement    

I just happened upon the Pipe Cleaner Team Building Game, a popular STEM development challenge created by Dr. Laura Bottomley & Heather Smolensky, of NCSU. I quickly read through the very clever facilitation notes, and thought the game would also be an excellent, low-cost team building activity for adults. With the plethora of team building games available out there, I got to thinking about what makes this one so appealing. It isn’t just the low cost and ready availability of the supplies, but rather the care taken to construct a scenario–a reason for playing. In the case of the Pipe Cleaner Challenge, the situation is fun, engaging, believable, and can be easily be applied to real-life situations. In fact, many of my favorite team building games share these characteristics: FUN: Creating a scenario that’s different from people’s day-to-day work challenges will free players to “try-on” different roles and approaches. People are more likely to take risks when they are playing a low-stakes game, rather than trying to prove themselves in a job they already do. Moreover, the more fun and creative the scenario, the freer your group will feel to take risks. ENGAGING & BELIEVABLE : Beyond taking the time to create a story line that brings the challenge to life, stay “in character,” layering on additional detail and nuance to your story line. APPLICABLE: For any team activity, the true learning comes in the debrief, when you take the time to break down the details of what happened and why. Identify and discuss the productive behaviors that led to success and the actions may have side-tracked the team. The challenge In this quick, 10-minute exercise, teams of “engineers” are challenged to build the tallest free-standing structure possible with only 15 pipe cleaners. The facilitation First 2-4 minutes: tell the teams “there have been budget cuts and each team member must place one arm behind their back!” Next few minutes: stop the teams again and explain, “as engineers, you work in a global marketplace where people speak different languages. To symbolize this challenge, you can no longer speak.” Final 1-2 minutes: tell the teams that “business is booming and you now have the funds to hire translators, so you can speak again!” The debrief After a team building game, ask questions such as: if they all had similar ideas at first; how they came to agreement; the way they developed a process for building; ideas for how they could do a better job; roles they each played; was it helpful or detrimental to have (or not have) a leader; etc.

I had thought that old adage, “everything we need to learn, we learned in kindergarten” was true. Remember “show and tell,” when children are invited to share a favorite object and talk about why it is meaningful to them? Now I’m not so sure. To improve communication and spark dialogue, we need to take a journalistic approach and ask more thoughtful, probing questions. Sharing When my now teenage boys were in pre-school, they were pretty good at sharing. Much better, in fact, than they are now! When it was my son Ted’s turn to share, he brought in a shark-tooth necklace that he’d gotten at the Miami Seaquarium. He was so proud of it! At the end of the day, I asked how it went. He told me that all the kids wanted to see and touch the shark tooth. “Did anyone ask any questions about it?” I asked. Nope. Asking questions Certainly, one aspect of Show and Tell is developing a comfort with presenting in front of peers. The other half of Show & Tell, however, is learning to listen and ask questions. This part was difficult back in pre-school . . . and still is! Apparently we DIDN’T learn everything we needed to know in kindergarten. Gossiping vs. Asking Questions I’ve often wondered if people spend so much time gossiping because it’s easier than asking each other questions. In her Psychology Today article about “Why we Love to Gossip,” Peggy Drexler writes, “Anthropologists believe that throughout human history, gossip has been a way for us to bond with others.” If we want to connect with other people, it may be easier to share information we know than ask about something we don’t know. We shouldn’t be surprised that pick-up lines such as, “Do you come here often?” have become a joke. We laugh at how cheesy or lame they are. The problem is that any good conversation starter begins with an open-ended question, and we’ve never honed our skill of asking good questions! Maybe the only ones who really master this trade are journalists and media professionals. And, one of the first principles they learn is that they must prepare. Prompting Discussion in Meetings To improve the level of discourse and sharing in meetings, managers, team-leaders, trainers and facilitators, must approach the effort with journalistic care, and prepare specific questions that will yield open-ended discussion or promote brainstormed solutions. Your team may have their own challenges to discuss, but if you’re looking for questions about Team Dynamics, Stress Management, Diversity, Ethics, Happiness, or Leadership, Silver Series Thumballs can get you started. Each themed conversation-starter ball is imprinted with 32 discussion prompts that ask meaningful, open-ended questions. Read more… Communication and Listening Exercises Learning How to Talk to Each Other Again Finding the Right Questions to Ask

Prestige Worldwide, a consulting team of Suffolk University business students, set out to understand the impact of using fidget tools in classroom and workplace environments. They conducted surveys before and after introducing fidget tools into learning environments, asking 119 students in 2 classes about their experiences of engagement, productivity, and stress. Engagement Regarding the first questions, How engaged were you during class?, they report: In the pre-survey, before anyone was introduced to or given a fidget tool, 14.4% of students indicated being ‘not at all engaged.’ After being given a fidget tool to use during class, this value dropped dramatically to 1.1%. On the opposite end of the spectrum, those who claimed they were ‘very engaged’ increased 103.3% (from 9% to 18.3%), when using fidget tool in class. Productivity The team next asked, “How productive were you during class?” Similarly to the engagement question, the number of students reporting that they were unproductive dropped considerably, from 11.7% to 2.2% when using a fidget toy. Stress In the third and final survey question, participants were asked about their experience in feeling stressed during class. Fortunately for the students at Suffolk, the classroom experience is not deemed to be stressful. Consequently, no results are pertinent. Conclusions The group complemented their primary research with secondary research conducted at schools and universities. In doing so, they learned of a sixth grade class consisting of 29 students, who explored the impact of using stress balls during class. In that study, 10% of the students realized significant increases in test scores. Moreover, a stunning 47% of the students were reported to be less distracted during class(1). Evidence for the effectiveness of using fidget toys to improve focus, engagement and productivity continues to abound.   (1) Trade Journal: Stalvey, S., Brasell, H. Journal of At Risk Issues Vol 12 #2; (2006) Article: Using Stress Balls to Focus the Attention of Sixth Graders (2006, August) Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ853381.pdf   Find the best fidget toys for you. Explore more data showing meeting attendees’ preference for toys.

Let’s get personal! When it comes to fidgeting everyone has different preferences. Some buy fidget toys for friends, colleagues, students, or family members; others need to find that just-right fidget toy for themselves. Take this super-quick, super-fun quiz and discover your “Fidget Type”!  Discover the Best Fidget Toys For You Fidgeting is Good for your Health Fiddles – How and Why…

One recent LinkedIN discussion that drew a lot of interest asked “Why do we use Training Games?” So many people liked and commented, that I wanted to synthesize the conversation and pull out the highlights. Whether you’re using games to improve communication and listening skills, advance leadership skills, or build teams, these 40+ reasons why they work so well are sure to inspire you. Thank you to all the contributors, and especially to Krzysztof Szewczak who posted the question. Following I’ve included an outline of the highlights, organized thematically. Below that are excerpts of contributor’s comments. Create a shared (and recent) experience Not-Real-World Experiences are liberating Reduce threat: Games take the threat out of what maybe a difficult or challenging subject, creates positive team and individual competition, adds the FUN into facilitation and fact finding. Helps support emotional learning without the vulnerability. Pat Tyler. Build confidence: Game experiences can boost confidence. Steven Drezner Time to reflect: After the game has finished it allows time to reflect on whether they have the desired skills for their role or have been conditioned by their experiences and have “learned habits.” Jonathan Pitchfork Safe environment: Experiential exercises allow teams to do very different work together and as a result see the ingrained patterns of behaviour that occurred in the game but also in their daily work together. Other exercises allow individuals to practice new awareness or a newly learned skill in a safe environment to help them embody and refine their understanding preparing them to effectively transfer that wisdom into their workplace. Jenn Lofgren CPHR, MCC Take risks: Humans love to play. Playing is more than a learning strategy, it is a simulation of reality, allowing us to try something different, take risks, experiment, fail, and grow, without pressure. Playing exposes our humanity without masks, letting us act “as real”, and making possible a whole new way of understanding each other, working together and achieving goals. Pablo Luengas Less threatening: Games are a fun way for people to review material and discuss relevance. They also make it less threatening to clarify any misunderstood info. Mark Evans Learn by doing Recent, shared experience: Games are a great way to create a first-hand personal experience related to the topic of the training, and the game experience then can be debriefed together with the group. I found that the depth of learning is much bigger when there is recent personal experience participants can relate to. So, games are not simply for breaking the ice, but for providing a fertile soil for learning. Robert Cserti Develop own insights: People learn best when they gain their own insights rather than being told. Simon Leckie Experience Ah-Ha Moments: Participants have their own ah-ha moments, rather than being told what the learning point is. Sujatha Menon Increase participation: Games and activities enhance participant engagement. It’s all to do with neuroscience. Julie Edmonds Learn more by doing: People learn by doing better than any other ways. When they play, participants get the sense of ownership rather than feeling guests to the training. Hany Adel Games are brain-friendly and aid retention Games are more memorable: From a cognitive standpoint, games create memory markers. The more vivid an experience, the more markers our brains create around an experience or chunk of information. When the time comes to recall information, if it was reinforced by many markers, it will be easier to recall. This is especially helpful when content is dry or formulaic. Throwing in a few games keeps the learners engaged, but also functionally improves their ability to recall (and later apply) the content that they might otherwise have glazed over. Suzanne Corbett High learning intensity: Learning and behavior change are most often linked to Explicit Memory (consciousness), Declarative Memory (facts and events) and Episodic Memory (experiences) – Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin – 1968. Games provide the highest learning intensity outside of trauma. Bill Yetman Evoke emotions: Training games are a great way of creating the space for people to work with any new knowledge they have acquired in the session and apply it. The experience can also help to anchor the learning – a positive experience will evoke emotions that are long remembered after the event itself. Recalling the experience reminds us how good we felt, strengthening the neural connections every time we bring it to mind. Simon Leckie Subconscious learning: Training games allow the learning to slip in by the side door so to speak. By passing the conscious gatekeeper enabling the subconscious to explore, analyse and accept concepts that may on the face of it have been rejected. Patricia M. Hands-on learning: Hands-on learning ensures a higher degree of emotional involvement as well as information retention. The experience in itself evokes positive emotions in most participants. Junie G Use of multiple senses: Training games use three senses not just one. Generally, laughter is involved too which is proven to activate memory receptors. Laughter, doing, thinking and listening are 4 ways to impress on the mind. David Featherstone Laughter: Learning and laughing at the same time, can really help learning stick in one’s memory bank! Chris James Fun: Games engage learners and allows them to integrate themselves into the content. They are also great disruption. They break up the monotony of training and if used correctly, leave a lasting impression on the participant. Because games are kinetic you tie muscle memory to the concept, which allows the learner to access that memory easier in the future. Aja Millar Bring out our “inner child”: When adults play, inhibitions, fear and anxiety turn off and we become more receptive to learning new concepts/topics. Also, games set in friendly, light and joyful environment register in the brain quickly and become positive, happy and long-term memories. Suchitaa Paatil Creativity: Games stimulate the creative and cognitive sides of our brains!! Pat Tyler Self-learning: Many adults don’t like to be taught. They prefer learning by themselves. Games often result in stronger buy-in and fit well with the adult learning theories. Tommy Fung Games change the tempo of a meeting Break the ice: Quite often I have to deal with diverse groups, where participants’ nationalities differ. Irrespective of the age, sex, nationality and level, people love activities and they work bring people together. Saif Rahman Unwind and relieve stress: Activities can help players unwind. They provide a break and some fun to those who are over-stressed from work and life. Saif Rahman Transition. I use activities to introduce new topics. Learning transfer is relatively easier. I use canvas sheets, colors ,symbols and detailed lesson plans for sequencing them. Flip time. Depending on the topic, I might encourage my participants to present a part of the session. I give them ample time to prepare and work as a Coach. I challenge them to present a topic and have activities. This works well as I believe that the best form to learn something is to teach and practice. Saif Rahman Change Tempo and allow for deep thinking: I like games to change the rhythm of the meeting, but more importantly, to let people explore and think more deeply about concepts that have been introduced. It’s a chance to let ideas percolate a little. Carol Bleyle Games impact the learning environment Improved focus and motivation: Although I could teach exactly the same thing in a simpler, traditional way, I prefer to use different methodologies, because it keeps students focused and motivated. Games can also create relaxing learning environments, allowing people to learn in a new and enjoyable way. Mihaela El Azzi Petrov Relaxation: The games help to relax the mind, and open up locked up/shut up mental faculties to be reactivated, this in turn creates active participation in the training. Erican Turyahama Break up the monotony: Games can also break up sections of a course that might be more information heavy (especially when dealing with technical or slightly dry topics), and there’s a lot to be said for energizing learners by getting them moving/up on their feet! Anna Bezodis Energy boost: I use games to boost participants’ energy and level of interest in the session. Munaza Azeem Fun: I train preschool teachers. The more fun they have the more engaged they seem to be and the more the material I am teaching them seems to stick. Trainings do not have to be boring. We need to train the brain and games wake up the brain! Renae Lingafelt-Beeker Games build community Group cohesion: Games help in bringing about group cohesion where each participant aids the others in attaining their goals. A well-planned game and the debrief that follows is much effective than a long lecture in hammering down a point. Vineetha Aravind Team-building: Games encourage collaboration and team-building. Laura Browder Engage quieter learners: Games stimulate the development of team building skills. They allow students to get to know each other and can help you identify leaders and followers. Facilitators can also identify and engage the quieter students. Greg Wills Improvement of class culture: Games increase the intensity of a peer learning environment. The social interactions provide an opportunity to relate with other group members in a positive way. This ultimately improves the class culture and facilitates meaningful learning. Jacade S. Hanson Appreciation of different perspectives: Using games helps people connect and be more open to various perspectives even if they contradict their own beliefs. Kavitha Prakash Opportunity to practice Change from within: A training is intended to bring a change in the individual. But change can come only from within. Training games help the participants to bring their learning into practice and thereby reinforce it. As they understand the need of change, they will be ready to change. Vineetha Aravind Moving from theory to practice: Most people understand the theory when it’s explained to them but going through the motions shows them that it’s often not that easy to do. It’s often easier to remember various steps after having made mistakes or to understand why you should say/do things differently when you’ve been at the receiving end of e.g. badly worded feedback. Minda Carl Opportunity to Debrief Transparency and explaining WHY: I think that beginning with a brief explanation of “Why are we doing this,” as well as a meaningful debriefing. are highly necessary. I saw great games spoiled by poor debriefing and simple games converted into a learning opportunity by an appropriate positioning at the beginning and a relevant debriefing after. Stefania Luca Reflection. Game expert, Thiagi, always said that the whole value of a game is in the debrief. The exercise or playing of the games just gives the fodder for discussion. It’s up to the facilitator to draw out learning points about, a) what happened; b) how it felt; c) what was learned from the experience; and d) how it can be applied to real-world challenges. Susan Landay What to call them? Not “FUN”: I really don’t like to use the words “game” or “fun” While lots of “activities” “experiments” and “exercises” are “enjoyable,” the moment a trainer tells me “we are playing a game and I am going to have fun,” I fear I will have anything but. Steve Robson Think C.O.R.E.: I use this language instead: Closers, Openers, Revisting and Energisers. rather than games and fun. Tracey Davis “Activities,” not Games: “Learning Activities,” not “Training Games.” Graham Nugent Don’t call it anything: You don’t need to give it a name, just ask your group to form themselves into teams and get going. Ryan Barretto Game Resources Trainers Warehouse HRDQ RSVP Designs (UK) Northgate Training Co. (UK)

Not sure which Thumball is perfect for your needs? Take a moment to complete this quick quiz and get a handful of ideas about which discussion prompts will be best for your team and what your Thumball Style is!  What’s a Thumball? It’s a soft ball imprinted with 32 discussion starters. Create-Your-Own or pick one that has content perfect for your needs: Cut through the silence with an Icebreaker Thumball or What If Thumball Discover shared interests and build new relationships with Common Ground Thumball or Which are You Thumball Get to know people better with the or Getting to Know You Thumball Dive into deeper conversations with a Team Dynamics or Diversity Thumball. Read more about… Finding the Right Questions to Ask

A good leader knows how to give feedback and praise. Just ask Kim Scott, whose TED Talk on Radical Candor, transformed our understanding of what it means to be a good boss. Certainly, criticism may be hard to take, but withholding feedback doesn’t do anyone any favors. Scott’s “radical candor” encourages honesty, but doing it well takes practice. Feedback vs. Criticism Coaches, trainers, managers and leaders need to find that sweet spot — the middle ground where they share important feedback but also preserve the recipient’s self-confidence. The “Feedback sandwich” (say something positive, then critical, then positive) is not necessarily a magic bullet. Use scenarios and role-plays to practice giving feedback. Praise If the only feedback you ever give is criticism, your team will quickly know to equate “feedback” with “criticism.” However, positive feedback is also critical for success. Several studies have been conducted over the years, which focus on the benefits of praise. In 2004, Chalk & Bizo found that levels of on-task behavior were significantly greater when praise was given for a specific behavior, rather than general praise. In a 2005 study, Keller, Brady & Taylor found that praise increased student motivation, accuracy of responding & task persistence. So praise is not just about being nice and balancing out your criticism. Praise is essential, in and of itself. To get the most mileage out of giving positive feedback, consider these 7 tips: Recognize specific behaviors – keep it credible and meaningful by identifying details that you noticed. Share praise publicly – extend the praise by allowing others to overhear your recognition. They too, can then reiterate the accolades and be inspired to act in praiseworthy ways. Offer praise frequently – don’t save praise for a momentous occasion. Instead, recognize small successes, as well as efforts to grow and change. Praise people behind their back – some suggest you should tell someone else that a person did well. They will inevitably hear about it through the grapevine and the praise will be perceived as more believable. Personally, I prefer the direct method. Make sure the praise is meaningful – don’t give praise for something silly or too effortless or the praise won’t be valued by the recipient. Create a culture of appreciation – encourage peers, siblings, colleagues and friends to give one another positive feedback. Keep it simple – don’t create a cumbersome process for recognition. All you really need is a kind word, a quick note or email. Great tools for sharing praise Positive reinforcement does not require a huge amount of time or a large budget. Try some of these playful and easy-to-implement resources: Use your words – I remember telling my toddlers to “use their words.” The same goes for us grown ups! Take the time to say “Thank you!” Tokens of Appreciation – Share a token that says “Token of Appreciation – pass it along!” The small coin will be a reminder of the appreciated actions and the importance of spreading the sentiment! Kudos Notes – try a memo note, where all you have to do it check a box and sign your name! Mini Kudos Notes – leave a little sticky-note that just says “thanks” The element of surprise If a teacher were concerned about a student’s progress, he or she would not wait until after the final exam to discuss those observations. Similarly, recipients of feedback, especially “constructive criticism,” should be made aware of issues rapidly, as they arise, and not be surprised months later at a performance review. Positive feedback, on the other hand, is always a welcome surprise and should be given without restraint. For more recognition tools, visit Trainers Warehouse (or our friends at Baudville). You might also want to take a look at Pinterest for tons of do-it-yourself recognition ideas. This link will take you to our collection of favorite “candy kudos” ideas. As a final note, let me compliment YOU on reading through to the end of this post! View also: 10 Easy Appreciation Exercises

Life before stress looks like unadulterated happiness — laughter, dancing, and ear-to-ear smiles. Life after stress looks like the parents in the image above, who are watching the kids at play. To the extent that happiness and productivity are linked, we need to do more about having Stress Management Conversations at Work! Stress at work Work and stress seem to have a symbiotic relationship — work causing stress on one hand, and stress impeding work on the other. In addition to inhibiting productivity, it affects our relationships, impairs sleep, and may even lead to addiction. In order to create a healthy workforce, companies must do everything they can to eradicate stress. Unfortunately, most of the stress management literature I’ve read that lists “Top 10” ways to minimize stress, focuses on exercise, sleep, humor, hobbies, etc. These tips, like the squeeze balls that frequently accompany them, are simply not enough. While these playful tools might establish a more play-friendly environment and help individuals let off a little steam, which is certainly worthwhile, they’re unlikely to get to the root of the problem. To tackle Stress Management at Work, organizations must go a step further and equip managers, team leaders and colleagues to initiate honest and open conversations about the specific situations that are causing anxiety. Stress Management through great conversation! The Stress Management Thumball, featuring 32 discussion topics relating to stress, is just the tool to make such rich and important conversations easier to facilitate. About half of the discussion questions focus on sources of stress. Each prompt is open-ended, so that respondents can choose whether or not to share more personal information. Prompts are also thoughtfully crafted to allow colleagues to address common workplace challenges with sensitivity and respect. Sources of stress Questions that uncover the causes of stress might include: Which “urgent” tasks most distract you from important ones? Is saying “I’m sorry” hard for you? Is your space usually organized or cluttered? Do you care? What’s your most stressful month of the year? Why? For how long can you comfortably unplug? What work task would you most like to avoid? Who do you hope will cut you some slack? How does your mood affect your stress? Is trying something new more energizing or stressful? What are your most dreaded household chores? When you’re busy, what’s first to get cut from your routine? Do you know when to say “NO”? What most relaxes you? Do you get as much sleep as you need? Alleviating stress Beyond identifying the situations that promote stress at work, a second series of questions can help individuals reflect on which tips and techniques might help them manage stress. That is, rather than telling me, “You need to exercise more,” I’d rather be asked, “What activities cause you to lose track of time?” After all, when folks participate in the development of solutions, they are more likely to adhere to them. Questions to help people find their own stress management techniques might include: Where is your favorite “quiet” place? If you found $5000, how would you use it? What activities cause you to lose track of time? What forms of exercise are most enjoyable? Is there a new hobby you’re hoping to start? 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? How would you use two extra hours per day? When I’m stressed I __________. Who or what makes you laugh? What’s your favorite time waster? What are your favorite comfort foods? How would you like to change your diet? These questions help people to discover the types of activities they hope to make time for, lifestyle changes they aspire to, and ways to calm their own nerves. Find your smiles Once we start talking about and addressing our stress triggers, I hope we’ll look more like smiling, dancing children, and less like scowling adults.   Click here for more Stress Management Activities.

You already know that learning requires an investment of time and mental focus. Listening to a lecture, reading a book, playing an experiential game, or watching a video can only get you so far. The real learning happens when you apply Thinking Methodologies to digest, discuss, and process the learning. Tools for Reflection and Thinking Methodologies Whether you’re processing and reflecting on material you just learned in school or training, an activity you experienced, a project you completed, or something else, Thinking Methodologies can help you debrief and process — that is, draw out meaning and apply learning down the road. From the range of Thinking Methodologies available, choose the model that’s best suited to your content and needs: Rose-Thorn-Bud The Rose-Thorn-Bud model hones in on achievements, opportunities and obstacles. The versatile tool can be used to process the day’s events, a learning experience or even be used as an icebreaker. Questions that go with each prompt include: ROSE What was the highlight of your day? How have you been successful? What did you like? Describe efforts that blossomed What are you most proud of? THORN What went wrong during your day? What was most stressful? Identify causes of difficulty What impeded your efforts? What are you most fearful of? Did you experience pain points in the process? BUD What are you looking forward to tomorrow? Describe opportunities that energize you What possibilities need growth and nurturing? What? So What? Now What? The What? Model is ideal in situations where different people might have different ideas about what was learned and its significance. The “Now What?” questions forces people to consider and commit to next steps, making this methodology ideal as a team-building game or meeting wrap-up. Start-Stop-Continue-Change Start-Stop is easily applied to a broad range of experiences and is a particularly useful construct for groups to evaluate current projects and processes. Body Smarts Body Smarts is a creative way to draw out observations and consider take-away learning points, using parts of the body as thought triggers: Brain- a new idea Hand – a helping hand you might need Heart – feelings you experienced Ear – something you heard that gave you pause Eye – something you saw differently Feet – an important take-away task Design Thinking Design Thinking is a popular methodology used to solve complex problems. The five-part model focuses on Understanding, Problem Definition, Ideation, Prototyping, Testing. Putting Thinking Tools into Action Facilitators, managers, and team leaders can use any of these Thinking Methodologies to frame discussions on the fly. However, participants might get more out of the experience if the leader plans and structures the conversation, giving participants time for individual reflection, small group sharing, then larger group discussion. The facilitation, sometimes referred to as "1-2-4-All," would look something like this: Individual reflection: Request that individuals jot down their thoughts on a sheet of paper or a Sticky Note (use different colors or icons to signify different questions/prompts). Small group discussions: When they’re ready, ask them to take about five minutes to discuss their ideas with others at their table. Encourage tables to continue to take notes either on a worksheet, Tabletop Whiteboard, or on the Sticky Notes Large group discussion: When the energy seems to drop, open up the conversation to the larger group, using either of these methods; Sticky Note Method: invite them to post their Sticky Notes on a poster, wall, or board at the front of the room. Then, group similar comments together and see what themes begin to emerge. “Spokesperson” method: have one person speak on behalf of each group. Use a flip chart or overhead to capture ideas and refer back to them. If ideas are mentioned more than once, add a check mark to indicate the popularity of that idea. Equipped with some playful sticky notes and a structure for your conversation, the time spent in your meeting is sure to yield worthwhile insights! See also . . . Take Time to Debrief Memorable Debriefs

If your group would feel more relaxed and benefit from knowing a bit more about one another, try this Quick Response Board activity. Have each person write on the board a most unusual fact about themselves (oddest job, a phobia, worst nightmare, proudest accomplishment, etc.) Then ask everybody to pass boards around from person to person (without looking) until you say, “STOP!” At this point, have each person, in turn, hold up a board and guess the original author, with the help of others in the group, if needed. Have them write the name on the board. When all participants have been discovered, have the group quickly return the boards to their original owners. Whiteboards have so many uses! Quick Response Whiteboards can also be used: in learning environments to check for understanding, as every participant has an opportunity to answer your question. as a study or practice device, allowing you to write-on and wipe-off answers Find Whiteboards in multiple colors and sizes! As Quick Response Whiteboards have grown in popularity, the number of varieties have also expanded, making it easy to get just what you need. Size STANDARD: 2-sided Quick Response Whiteboards are 6″ x 7-3/4″. EXTRA EXTRA: If you need even more space, you slip a piece of paper into DocU-Sleeves (8.5 x 11, 11 x 17, etc), and write on the clean-wipe surface. This solution is also great if you want a custom grid or design on paper, instead of a blank sheet. COLOR We call them “whiteboards” but they really don’t have to be white! Briteboards are bright, neon colors with the same write-on, wipe-off surface. These can be used for teams, or just to energize the environment. “Erasability” If you don’t buy your boards from Trainers Warehouse (which have been thoroughly tested!), be sure to test them for erasability, as not all boards are created equal! If you forget to erase whiteboards and leave the ink on for a long time, you might need to use one of these tricks to clean them up: Use a whiteboard spray cleaner or Windex. If you have a permanent marker stain on a whiteboard, you can often write over it with a dry erase marker, then erase it. I’ve also found a bunch of recommendations online including Comet, coffee grinds, Ben-Gay, Toothpaste, WD-40, Magic Eraser, etc. We’re in the process of trying each of these methods! Find Quick Response Whiteboards at Trainers Warehouse. Click here for more on Getting to Know You.

I’m laughing at myself as I think about how long I’ve taken to post this wonderful Time Management Infographic, courtesy of the folks at MyTasker. The truth is, time-management was an issue on my end! Perhaps, if I’d embraced their 17 tips sooner, I’d have shared this wonderful resource sooner, as well. In my self-assessment of how I applied their 17 Time Management Tips, here’s how I measured up on a handful of key techniques: Time Management Infographic Tips… Schedule everything – gosh, I’m organized, but scheduling EVERYTHING is tough. When you’re running a business (or a department or even a family), stuff comes up. Prioritize your tasks – despite having to deal with unexpected issues and opportunities, understanding priorities is key! Certainly, staffing trumps blogging, but blogging surely ranks higher than data entry (which can be, and was, Delegated to experts!). But, what of that presentation that I need to deliver in September? When I’m really on top of my game (or spinning out of control), I write everything down on one To Do list, look it over, and decide in what order I’m going to attack each task. That seems to help! Reduce Distractions – another difficult one for me. My inbox is always so swarmed that I need to force myself to turn off new-email notifications and focus on the task at hand. Take time to pause and think – With a lot of transition happening in my world, plus my need to focus on the development of new products and a presentation on Building Communication and Relationships at Work, I have to admit I’ve been disciplined at taking time to think. Take a gander at the MyTask 17 Tips and see how you’re doing with Time Management. For More Time Management tips, games, and exercises, click here. P.S. Don’t you hate it when you’re just about ready to check another task off your list and then the computer freezes and loses your work? Luckily I had most of it backed up!

The tradition of fidgeting dates back to ancient times. Ali Jaffe’s recent article, “Quit Worrying, Fidget Toys have been Around Forever,” takes a spin through the ages, looking at the fidget toys that have captured our attention in bygone years. She cites Drs. Katerine Isbister and Michael Karlesky who have conducted research about why and how we fidget in their article, “Understanding Fidget Widgets: Exploring the Design Space of Embodied Self-Regulation.” Karlesky explains, “We are hard-wired for self-regulation enacted through tangible, tactile sensory experiences.” In other words, we look for ways to soothe ourselves. Ancient Fidget Toys Some of the earliest fidget toys Jaffe mentions include these: Baoding balls – a.k.a. Yin Yang Balls or Meditation Balls. You roll this pair of metal balls over and over in the palm of your hand. Developed by the Ming Dynasty in China circa 1368-1644, you can still purchase Baoding Balls around the world! Worry Beads (or Greek kompoloi) consist of a string of beads manipulated with one or two hands and used to pass the time. Unlike the similar prayer beads, used in many religious traditions, worry beads have no religious or ceremonial purpose. Prayer Beads (Mala, Rosary, Prayer Ropes) reputedly originate in the Eastern religions in India in the 3rd century BC (admittedly, I haven’t yet verified this claim). Modern Fidget Toys More recently, TIME reporter Allie Townsend assembled a list of the 100 most influential toys from the 1920s to 2000s. A quick scan through this list of favorite toys of the ages reveals a bunch that remain popular today! Longtime Favorite Fidget Toys Slinky – (1940s) sure, the slinky is said to be able to step down the stairs, but I’d assert that the ability to manipulate this giant spring between two hands is what’s accounted for it’s continued popularity. Slinky’s and generic “Springs” come in a variety of materials and sizes. Silly Putty (1950s) – the malleable, stretchable putty was also able to pickup newsprint writing, but has continued to evolve as new putty manufacturers have added playful colors and effects. Crazy Aaron Putty, Theraputty, and Brain Putty are brands you will find readily available today. Gumby (1955) – the bendy green guy, and his buddy Pokey, have been favorites since their movie debut in 1953. They remain favorites to bend, pull and shape. Play-Doh (1950s) – starting off as a mashable wallpaper cleaner in the early 1950s, developer Joe McVicker quickly learned that it was better as a kids’ toy than a cleaning product. By 1980, 8 colors were available and remain a favorite for adults and children worldwide. Rubics Cube (mid-1970s) – the Cube gained its popularity as a brain puzzle, and has remained a fixture in toy stores. I’m guessing it’s only in part because people love the challenge. They also love occupying their fingers even when they’re not solving the puzzle. Koosh (late 1980s) – the hundreds of rubber strands on the Koosh Ball have made this product a continued success as both a tossable ball and a fidget toy, because it’s easy to catch, won’t hurt you, and is so pleasant to handle. Remember these? Buckyballs (1996) – this block of tiny magnetic balls was an immediate success as a fidget and desk toy, but was taken off the market shortly after its launch because the small magnets proved to be extremely dangerous if ingested by children. Troll Doll – a Danish Woodworker, Thomas Dam made the first Troll Doll in 1959. The brilliantly colored, soft hair made these a rapid success. Stretch Armstrong (1970s) – this was marketed as the “unbreakable toy,” that could withstand bending, pulling, twisting, then revert back to it’s normal size without a mark. Pull Stretch’s limbs to four times their natural span! Stretch is still available today! Fidgeting without Fidget Toys In addition, to these familiar toys, you’ve likely seen girls twirling their hair, lifeguards looping their whistle endlessly around their finger, or men fussing with their pocket change. Examples of people fidgeting are endless. Perhaps quitting smoking is so hard because in addition to the nicotine addiction) it gives people something to do with their hands. If you take away the cigarette, a “patch” might not be enough. Try, too, to keep a fidget toy on hand to occupy your fingers and reduce stress! Fidget Spinners and Fidget Cubes certainly took over the world for a while. But, who knows what will be next? As fidgeting grows in popularity, brand new fidget toys continue to hit the market! Check out Trainers Warehouse fidget toys here.

Can ethics be taught? We know the question is at least 2500 years old, as the Greek philosopher Socrates is said to have debated the questions with fellow Athenians, and expressed the opinion that doing what is “right” can be taught. Why then, do only 46% of consumers in the United States trust that businesses will do what is right? (2011 Edelman Trust Barometer). Because too often, they don’t. Either good ethics haven’t been taught, or people are choosing to do otherwise. When the Ethical Consumer surveyed their readers, asking for the names of the least ethical companies of the last 25 years, these familiar names topped the list: Nestlé, Monsanto, Amazon, Shell, Tesco, Barclays, Exxon, Wal Mart, Coca Cola, Primark. Which companies do we trust? According to the Forbes list of 124 Most Ethical Companies, these 13 have made the cut every single year: Aflac, Deere & Company, Ecolab, Fluor, GE, International Paper, Kao Corporation, Milliken and Company, PepsiCo, Starbucks, Texas Instruments, UPS and Xerox. A model of teaching ethics: Forsyth’s Taxonomy In 1980, Donelson Forsyth published an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, arguing that individual variations in approaches to moral judgment could be thought of in terms of two basic dimensions: relativism and idealism. Relativism suggests that ethical rules (i.e. “Thou shalt not lie”) may depend on circumstances rather than universal truths. Idealism considers whether moral codes should be absolute, or consider their potential for causing harm. Based on these two dimensions, Forsyth created this four-quadrant classification for thinking about ethical decisions (See the Table): Another model for teaching ethics: Conversation As conceptually interesting as Forsyth’s model is, it still begs the question, how do we teach ethics and discuss moral dilemmas? Where do we find useful case studies and probing questions to stimulate meaningful conversation? One great resource is the Daniels Fund website. Bill Daniels, a leader and pioneer in the cable industry, left more than $1 billion to the Daniels Fund, in an effort to expand business ethics education. The Website contains tons of cases, debate issues, podcasts, and teaching videos. Another playful resource is the Silver Series Workplace Ethics Thumball, developed by Office Oxygen. The ball contains 32 discussion prompts. Toss the ball and ask the recipient to respond to the prompt under their thumb. The Ethics Thumball raises appropriate workplace questions and fosters discussion about individual and organizational norms and ideals regarding making and breaking rules, fostering ethical leadership, whistle blowing, bending the truth, and more. With the tool, players can have rich conversations about the types of people you look to as a moral compass; how you’d handle different situations; what integrity, rules, ethics, and fairness mean to you; and how your organization or team handles ethical issues, and more. Prompts include: Who is your role model for ethical leadership? Who can you depend on to “tell it like it is”? If you faced an ethical dilemma, who would you consult? What do you believe compromises the ethical workplace? Can a behavior be “ethical” but also “unfair”? If a rule is unfair, should you still abide by it? How are “internal reporters” perceived? What if someone will get hurt if you do what’s right? When is it “not your place” to correct someone? Do you apologize if you haven’t done anything wrong? So, can ethics be taught? I’ll side with Socrates. I do think that despite the complexities of nuance and circumstance, people can be taught what’s “right.” The challenge facing organizations, and the people who work within them, isn’t about KNOWING what’s right, but CHOOSING TO DO what’s right–despite peer relationships, corporate expectations, cost, and repercussions. So, let’s start talking!

Fidget Spinners have taken the world by storm, but I’m not sure they’re the best option for most people who might benefit from a fidget toy. I put together this “How to Pick the Best Fidget Toy” Infographic to help folks understand the options and select the best “tool” for their unique needs. Use these 11 variables to help you choose the  best fidget toys for you and your group: Who Consider who will be using the fidget toys. If it’s for a single person, then you can move on to the other variables. However, if it’s for communal use in meetings, workshops, or waiting rooms, you’ll want fidget toys that can be easily cleaned. Plastic items like Tangle and Snap and Click can easily be put into a dishwasher, whereas foam, putty, and sand are more difficult to clean. Material Fidget toys run the gamut when it comes to material. Wood, plastic, metal, rubber, stone, and latex components can create items that feel soft, squishy, hard, wiry, or malleable. The “softer” fidget toys, such as sand, clay or putty, fuzzy pipe cleaners, and squeezable balls like the air-filled Puffer Balls, and sand-filled Isoflex Balls lend themselves to squeezing and shaping. Beach-in-a-Box kinesthetic sand falls into this category too. Materials that are more firm are often manipulated in other ways, such as bending, flexing or twisting. Tangle, Klixx, and Magnetic Stones are great examples. In a class by itself is the KOOSH ball with its iconic rubbery strands, offering a singularly unique feel. Motion Some are not drawn to a fidget toy because of the material, but rather the motion used to manipulate it. Consider what form of movement is most soothing — stretching, twisting, flexing, building, spinning, shaping, clicking, etc. When thinking about the motion required to manipulate a fidget toy, you will become aware that some are better suited for either one hand or two, while others are satisfying no matter how many hands you use. You will also find that some require the motion of just one finger (like pen clicking), rather than using more muscles. Fidget toys that let you build, mold or shape can stoke creativity and activate different areas of the brain in a way that simply clicking a pen would not do. Gyrobi, Loopeez and Jeliku, each move in a distinct fashion. Size Having a fidget that’s small in size can be a big issue. I’ve heard of many fidgeters who like to keep something in a pant pocket, so that it’s easily transported, indiscreet, and can be used without anyone seeing. Tutti from Fidgetland is a great example. Small fidget toys can also be ideal for one-handed use and finger-tip manipulation. However, the small items don’t always feel as good in your hand as ones that are larger and chunkier, which can both feel more substantial and engage more of your muscles and therefore more parts of the brain. Appearance Even though fidgeting is really a tactile experience, looks do seem to matter. Fidgeters are drawn to playful colors, looks, and shapes when choosing the perfect fidget toy. Because memory and recall have been shown to improve when more areas of the brain are activated, the additional stimulus created by the visual, auditory, and emotional experience of using a fidget toy is likely to have a positive impact. Sound Ideally, a fidget toy will be silent, but not all are. A pen clicking is not silent, nor is a Slinky, but they are still great fidget tools. Simply be aware that some may be louder and more distracting than others and ascertain whether your group is mature enough to control the sounds of their fidget toys or not. Cost Serious fidgeters are the least sensitive to cost and will not flinch at $10-$25 for a single item. If you’re looking to purchase one item for individual use, you will likely pay a premium for the right item. If you like variety or are buying for a classroom, meeting room, or team of people, you may have a stronger interest in keeping the individual price a little lower. Fidget toys generally run anywhere from $1.00 to $12.00, with the average being closer to $3.50. Durability Many tools that we use as fidgets were initially developed for the toy market. They are fairly inexpensive and if you try to break them, you probably will succeed. If it’s not strong enough to withstand a lot of repetitive motion, it shouldn’t be called a fidget toy! Still, you will find some variance in durability and washability. Hard plastic, wood, and metal are likely to stand the test of time longer than rubbery or gel-filled items, which pick up more dirt and are more difficult to clean. Weight  Our fidget toy testers often prefer a little heft or weight. Of course, they can’t be too heavy or cumbersome, but those that are really light or flimsy are often found to be less appealing. Fun Factor Sometimes you just want a toy that will make you smile. The Cheese and Mice is a perfect example. It’s just plain, old fun! Fidget toys come in literally dozens of colors, shapes, sizes, and materials. If you’re among the millions of people to have #fidgetfever, taking a bit of time to think about what features will suit your needs or the needs of your group can help you narrow your options. I encourage you to jump on the Fidget Cube bandwagon and support them through KickStarter AND start building your own collection of fidget toys, so that no matter what your mood, what you’re doing, or who you’re with, you have the perfect fidget to help you focus. Some great shops for fidget toys include: Trainers Warehouse, Therapy Shoppe. Sterilization Did the fidget toy pass or fail the test? This has been especially top-of-mind during COVID, but the ability to clean and share fidgets is always an important consideration. Click here to view the Fidget Toy Matrix and see which Fidget Toys are best for you!  Read more… Fidget Toy Sanitation Test Results Which Fidget Toys are Best for You? Finding the Right Fidget for Any Sensory Diet – ADHD and more

This past March, 2017, my 13 year-old son told me that we should add these “cool fidget spinners” to our product line. In April, we tested a few spinners found one we liked and started selling them online, along with 100s of other vendors! My son even started a mini-business selling the popular toy to his friends (until his school asked him to stop). Since then the Fidget Spinner has gone viral. Fidget Spinners Banned! In May, however, schools started banning Fidget Spinners, saying they were distracting and disruptive in class. I have to admit, I’m not surprised. Fidget Spinners are really cool, spinning fast for up to 3 minutes. But, I’m still on the fence about whether they are a fidget toy, or just a toy. Fidget toys are best when they occupy your hands, not your brain. When they feel good, not look good! By these tests, the question of whether Fidget Spinner is a toy or a fidget, depends on how you use it. If you spin it by holding it in one hand by a thumb and finger, spin it with the other hand, then sit and watch it, I believe it belongs in the toy category. But, if you quietly rotate it back and forth, in one hand, out of sight and out of mind, then yes, I’d call it a fidget toy. Fidget Toy vs. Tool Fidget toys can be extremely effective for kinesthetic learners, folks with ADHD, and others who are easily distracted. One of the reasons they work is because they use up our “floating attention,” that’s the excess attention we’ve been wired with to protect us in the wild. Nowadays, we’re more likely to use these attention reserves to daydream or check a mobile device, not protect ourselves from attack. When you compare using a fidget toy to using an electronic device during meetings, classes, driving or other situations that require mental focus, it’s easy to understand why the toys are preferable. Not only are they less distracting than the alternative, they can actually help users stay focused. True fidget toys activate different parts of the brain, than those required for language, communication or cognitive functions. In other words, you should have to think about them at all. Consider, for instance, how difficult it is to talk and read simultaneously. It’s also difficult to rotate one foot counterclockwise and move the other up and down because each of these paired actions uses the same parts of the brain. So, just because Fidget Spinners might be a little distracting, let’s not rule out the effectiveness of fidgeting in general. If you want to find the perfect fidget toy, you may want to refer to this fidgets infographic (to be posted shortly!), which can help you sort through options based on use, cost, materials, motions, etc. My recommendation? Keep fidgeting . . . but not with a Fidget Spinner!

As a designer of conversation starter tools, which I’m proud to say have been wonderfully received, I have some strong feelings about what makes a good icebreaker question and what simply fails to inspire sharing. If you’re hoping to weed through the millions of discussion-starter questions out there to find the ones best suited for your group or want to create your own, these seven tips should help. 1) Keep questions open-ended Try to stay away from yes/no questions. If you’re asking a question that suggests a one-word answer, be sure to follow up with a “Why?” to draw out an explanation for the answer. 2) Focus on experiences, interests, and wishes The goal is to draw out interesting responses that are easy to answer. While different questions may be easier or harder for different people, questions that draw from people’s experiences tend to be easier to answer than those that require on-the-spot creative thinking. For instance, consider the question, “If you could invent one thing, what would it be?” People spend years trying to think up inventions; you can’t expect someone to come up with an adequate answer in a moment’s time. 3) Understand your goal Determine the type of dialogue and relationships you hope to nurture through your discussion questions. If you have a short period of time, and simply want to break the ice and get people accustomed to sharing, you’ll want to select more superficial questions that don’t require too much thought, discussion, or explanation. If you want people to get to know one another, network, or find common interests, you’ll need questions that scratch under the surface, but don’t feel too intrusive. If your group knows each other well but wants to explore a topic more deeply (stress, team dynamics, ethics, values, etc.), you can select more probing questions. 4) Make the questions “safe” No matter what level of intimacy you’re seeking among the participants, you want to be sure that people will not feel like they’re being put on the spot or being judged. In part, this can be addressed by setting up ground rules (i.e. listen actively; respect differences, etc.), however, you can also adjust the way you phrase a question. For instance, if you’re exploring your team’s dynamics, you wouldn’t want to ask, “Who’s not pulling their weight?” But, you could ask, “What if someone isn’t pulling their weight?” 5) Inspire dialogue and sharing Thought-provoking questions, which might take a little more time to answer, can also stimulate an interesting discussion. If your desire is to open up the conversation, make sure that there is no right or wrong answer to the question. 6) Mix would and should questions Questions can feel different if they are framed as a personal inquiry (what would I do if…) versus as a general inquiry (what should we do… or what should one do…?). When formulating questions, consider whether one format or the other would be easier or more comfortable to answer, and which would better promote a positive and productive discussion. For instance, “What would you do if you witnessed bullying?” “What should you do if you witness bullying?” and “What should we do to respond to bullying,” are all likely to result in different conversations. 7) Balance reflective and appreciative questions Some questions require that people think back on prior experiences. These can be a beneficial way to understand someone’s past, but that perspective ought to be balanced by asking appreciative questions, which focus on goals and on envisioning the future. If, for instance, you want to foster conversation about leadership techniques, you’d want to include prompts that evoke a current experience, such as “I make employees feel valued by…” as well as those that promote forward thinking, like “I’d be a better leader if I….” Facilitating with ease Having great questions is most important when it comes to facilitating dynamic conversations. But having a good process is also key. Keep these quick tips in mind: Transparency – before you begin a Q&A activity, be clear about your goals and intentions for the conversation. This will help participants understand how in-depth they should make their answer and what they, too, should hope to get out of the experience. Simplicity – Whenever you’re facilitating conversations, on any topic, be sure to ask questions that are short, concise, and easy to digest. Long-winded questions are harder to decipher and answer. Repetition – repeating the question once or twice can give participants additional time to process the question and think of an answer. Ground Rules –If you’re concerned that conversations might be emotionally charged, set a few ground rules to help guide your group. To increase buy-in on the rules, you might also ask participants to help generate the rules or vote to accept the rules you suggest. These might include: Critique ideas, not people Speak only for yourself; avoid generalizations Speak with respect Share the airtime No personal attacks Listen – make sure everyone feels heard and validated Only one person speaks at a time Use “I” statements Agree to disagree; disagree without being disagreeable Be positive and non-judgemental; open to new ideas Honor confidentiality Ask questions to insure you understand others’ perspectives Take your time – Understand that some individuals, and some questions, might require more thinking time. For a rich exchange, don’t rush. Give participants ample time to offer a thoughtful response and respond to one another. Armed with tips on formulating questions and facilitating discussions, you can look forward to stress-free conversations and getting to know people a little better.