Just listen in silence and try to understand the speaker. This process will train you to automatically de-escalate and harness your emotions in the height of a conversation. . Then the Who had the biggest impact on the person you have become? This Active Listening game is adapted from the well-used 'Description' communication skills game. And here, we have only one link rather than an entire chain of people. Im Listening can be played with an even number of participants, as they will need to find a partner for this one-on-one game. By empathizing, we not only build better relationships, but we show that we are available as key job resources social support for those around us to reduce the negative impacts of our job demands (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). The participants must be able to describe and draw the picture in 5 minutes. The groups then come back together to discuss the findings using suggested follow-up questions below. In EURAM Conference, Munich, Germany. Paraphrase in your own words the main points that you think you heard the speaker say - they should remain quiet while you're paraphrasing. Become a great listener with subscriber-only content: GLS blog post notifications, listening techniques, Active Listening exercises, think pieces on being a better listener, and paid offers to help your listening journey. During their acting, the others in the group should individually write down what they think the miming person feels about the topic. Weger Jr, H., Castle Bell, G., Minei, E. M., & Robinson, M. C. (2014). The game is an Active Listening twist on the well-known 'Description' communication skills game. CCSG is a structure, and it involves: C: Characters How? I need someone to help me with a listening exercise. An Active Listening skills activity for pairs (or done with a volunteer). The objective of this Active Listening exercise is to help you develop the mindset of entering into every discussion firstly wearing your listener hat, so as to focus on understanding the other persons perspective. Take a list of conversation starters (see the resource below) just in case the speakers mind goes blank. Benefits: Our messages need to make sense if we want to convey information in a meaningful way. Odom, R. Y., Boxx, W. R., & Dunn, M. G. (1990). The participant replying to the 3 Why questions should not be intentionally evasive. 5 Effective Sales Role-Playing Scenarios 1. Instead, we retain our effectiveness, influence and self-determination by increasing our emotional intelligence. Step 2: After the five-minute role play is completed, the speaker spends two minutes giving feedback to the listening partner on the effective listener skills used. Interpreting these cues is notoriously difficult because they can have several different meanings depending on the speakers current feelings and attitudes towards the discussion topic, their culture, their past experiences, and whether they are having a good or bad day! Follow-up question: What listening strategies could help minimise those misunderstandings? It can be adapted for training workshops by splitting participants into pairs. (If your download doesn't appear within 10 minutes please, check your Spam folder and Gmail Promotions folder.). quieten those urges to interrupt in order to jump in with your comments. Because communication is so multi-faceted, weve included a selection of different activity types. Clarify when you catch yourself jumping to conclusions. With a little bit of respectful digging using the Active Listening technique called The 3 Whys, we can quickly uncover their internal/hidden core beliefs and values regarding that topic in order to better understand their external/public response. Write the topics on separate pieces of paper. What factors sometimes prevent us from asking questions when they might actually be useful? Positive messages go a long way toward solving communication problems. Conversation starts at the surface level. As Talker, what feedback did your Listener appear to give? It is not a method for creating opportunities to talk about themselves. Facilitators move around and observe participants skills. If you could be the CEO of any company, what company would you choose? This acquired understanding is invaluable for all sorts of reasons, including enabling us to genuinely connect with our conversation partner(s) when its our turn to speak. It also promotes collaboration. At the individual level, we can make conscious use of this EQ skill to gauge how others are feeling. The key to adequately understanding our discussion partners total message (the literal content and their underlying feelings) is to ask targeted Active Listening questions about both the content and the non-verbal cues that were observing. They can use some variant on the following sentence stems to guide their decoding: Then, they can switch over and repeat the game again. Developing Cognitive Empathy with Your Discussion Partner. Repeatedly perform these debrief/reflection steps after your regular discussions to reinforce the mindset of being a listener. In these pairs, they will take turns being a mime and being an asker. So, a 6-person group will make a 6-frame strip, and so forth. Use the discussion points below. Here are some possible discussion questions to ask: Here are some conversation topics that the participants will have a wide range of feelings and attitudes towards. This is similar in some ways to the Back-to-Back Drawing exercise above. Shannon, C. E. (1998). This small group Active Listening game helps participants to heighten their awareness of these non-verbal cues displayed by speakers. What were you really into when you were a kid? The studies on average say we spend 70-80% of our waking hours in some form of communication. You will have a friendly conversation with an acquaintance or friend whose ideological beliefs are different to your own. The group then lists the listening stoppers they noticed. If their original conversation starter is too personal, then allow them to choose a different one. Was their influence helpful or misleading? Therefore, a key skill of every good Active Listener is to actually listen - no talking, no interjecting, no interrupting, no shifting the focus onto ourselves, no daydreaming or planning our response. [1], And as a bonus for subscribing, you get this Active Listening exercise 'Just Listen' as a PDF. Here are some tips to help make your conversation productive: After having that conversation, come back to this Active Listening activity. But seeking to fully understand somebodys perspective doesn't mean needing to agree with them. What do you do? Evidence for a collective intelligence factor in the performance of human groups. Silence is not always a bad thing. Emotional intelligence. What are Communication Exercises and Games? They might be up to their ears in work, or their colleagues complaints might seem trivial. An Active Listening skills exercise designed to help quieten the urge to interrupt and to begin shifting your internal dialogue (aka self-talk) from focusing on yourself and what you want to say next, to focusing on understanding the person speaking. Each time you ask the question, dont bluntly ask Why? Soften and modify it in response to what the other person is telling you. But active listening encourages pleasant social interactions, which in turn, these boost our well-being and life satisfaction (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). So, you will need to enlist a volunteer. What could we do to better understand non-verbal cues that we observe? Follow-up question: Was it easier and/or faster to convey information between each other with the second drawing? When the words we speak convey one message and our body another, we risk confusion and potentially, we jeopardize our intended impact. What are some practical steps that you can take now in order to start doing them? How did you come to that view?, Emotion - Confusion. In communicating expectations, needs, and more, it helps to clarify and create common ground. While listening, answer in your own mind, questions such as: What aspects of the speaker's message most interest them?, What is the main theme(s) of their message?, What are the key takeaways from the speakers message?. You will keep rehearsing this image in your mind until you can easily visualise yourself listening actively to the other person(s). So, if they agree, and now isnt a good time for a deep discussion, then diarise time to catch up socially in a place where you can talk freely. While speaking, what could you do to decrease the chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue? How did this influence your learnings, rather than providing your own input? The Characters would then be whoever was involved, the Conflict may be a challenge the team faced (a new growth opportunity, perhaps). What Active Listening techniques went well? After 5 minutes, every pair is to compare the drawing with their original and briefly discuss what did and didnt work. Avoid industry jargon when appropriate. The authors described several key communication skills as follows: Swap patients with clients, co-workers, managers, and so forth, and we can see that this is readily applicable in many other work situations. In a large group of participants or employees, particularly, we often need to cut through the noise with a clear and coherent messageand this game can be played with even a large group of people. As a result, we have developed a customer centric process for sales. What value do questioning skills have when were trying to understand others? Subscribe to the newsletter for new resources every month. Possible imagined response: How does your idea solve our situation? So, there is no benefit in cheating. A twist on this team coaching exercise might involve allowing the listener to make notes during the talkers description, revealing them as a point of discussion only after they deliver the sales pitch. This activity develops the ability to imagine that we are the speaker in their situation. What are some things you want to accomplish before you die? Together, the pairs can come up with more productive, empathetic, and appropriate responses, with the acting experience fresh in mind. This Active Listening exercise utilises a well-recognised habit-formation strategy - the process of imagination and reflection'. Is there something specific that you like about them?, Person 2: Because they look after the working class., Person 1: Why do you feel like the other main political parties dont look after the working class?, Person 2: Because[and they opened up with some rather passionate views!]. Listening will become your default approach. Dont interrupt or try to share your beliefs. It can be on the pre-chosen topic or on a different one, but the activity must conclude with a debrief. Breaking into pairs, group participants take turns asking Active Listening questions about a simple drawing that they cannot see in order to draw it as accurately as possible. Key communication skills and how to acquire them. Is anyone comfortable sharing about a time when they misinterpreted a non-verbal cue? Why? Different studies vary on exactly how much of our intended message (and credibility) is non-verbal, but its undoubtedly important (DePaulo & Friedman, 1998; Knapp et al., 2013). Very insightful and interesting ways of training people for better workplace communication skills. listening and not solving the issue or problem. Each group will receive a copy of this list. Benefits: As discussed, information delivery is crucial, but our focus here is opening up discussions. So, enjoy! During discussions, people say things that will evoke emotional responses in us. They are designed for adults (not children) and suitable for both personal listening development and workplace training workshops. Ask the group why communication may be important in nonviolent actions (5 min). Thanks for putting this together. Thank you so much for creating and sharing these tools. Have participants pair up with a partner for a role play. [3]. Make sure that you can provide examples for the feedback session. Steps to Building Role Play Scenarios zDefine where you want to end. Popcorn Storytelling. How was being a watcher, compared to being a listener? Checked whether they wanted further information. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Unless its either terrible or completely absent. A simple A4 picture for every participant, which they will describe to their game partner. Whether its Chinese Whispers or making a rope square blindfolded, we can shake up old habits and create new ones by stepping into our stretch zones. In what ways can facial expressions influence our ability to deal with misunderstandings? Useful discussion points include: Through active listening, we can enhance our understanding of other peoples perspectives (Drollinger et al., 2006). Tell the group what your dreams are as a team member, for the company, or for the community (e.g. Uncertainty reduction through everyday performative language work: the case of coaching. 4. How might you create some listening and feedback approaches based on this? The objective of this Active Listening activity is to increase your emotional intelligence by heightening your awareness of emotions that emerge during discussions. Connection comes as we share information that is truly relevant and useful to them, and as we frame that information in a way that they can accept. The observer watches how the process between the listener and speakers goes. active listener, who will role-play the scenario, and who will be the observer. Instruct the role-player of the scenario to "get into" their role and not to just read their role to their partner. Remember that you're not obliged to agree with them. But active listening encourages pleasant social interactions, which in turn, these boost our well-being and life satisfaction (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Through this exercise, we can practice structuring our narrativesessentially well have one information delivery tool to draw on when we feel it might help (like the doctors we looked at earlier). Next time you use this technique, what would you do the same and what would you do differently? In what ways did being a watcher impact your perspectives of the talkers? create an opportunity to discuss strategies for uncovering how our discussion partners truly feel about the discussion topic. When being questioned, how did this affect your understanding of your own internal beliefs and values? Who in your life brings you the most joy? Where did you meet them? In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.). Encourage people to reflect back what they are hearing and to focus on listening skills. Card Pieces. Nonetheless, were often inclined to view it as awkwarda gap to be filled or avoidedrather than a chance to listen. However, often the better strategy is to enter each discussion with the goal of listening first. Give each person at least 4 minutes to speak and to listen. Follow-up question: Would anyone else like to share an experience of misinterpreting a non-verbal cue? Ask the group to each prepare a reading that they will share. They showed that they understood how their patients were feeling to relate at an interpersonal level; where they didnt know, they at least made a stab at empathizing through educated guesses. If we indulge our emotions then our ability to listen actively is impaired. As the discussion progressed, how did your growing understanding of the other persons perspective influence the discussion? Psychological safety, trust, and learning in organizations: A group-level lens. Write down a couple of those emotions. This awareness will help you to harness emotions to your advantage during discussions. This is a small group Active Listening game for adults. Youll be using your imagination to rehearse the act of listening. Its best if this isnt inappropriate for the workplace, but at the same time, it doesnt have to be work-related. A time when I dealt with a difficult conflict well. None of them require professional facilitation per se, and any participant can easily volunteer to keep the process on track. A lot of team situations are about creativity. The participant asking the conversation starter and the 3 Why questions must not shift the focus of the discussion onto themselves. Allow 10 minutes for participants to do the following within their groups. Is your colleague overwhelmed, perhaps? One member takes on the role of a speaker, and the other plays the part of the listener. As well as identifying key communication deficits and their root causes, these included several that relate to our knowledge of positive psychology and communication. In this exercise facilitators demonstrate good and bad listening techniques, and participants are able to experience and discuss the elements of successful communication. Built with love in the Netherlands. . Crediting the source(s) of course. [1]. Finally, everybody removes their blindfolds, and its time for feedback. Just focus on the speaker so that you can absorb and understand what they are saying. Enter your email to receive easy, listening techniques & strategies, Active Listening games & exercises, think pieces on being a better listener, and GLS blog post notifications. Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Knapp, M. L., Hall, J. Reference: Nonviolent Community Safety and Peacebuilding Trainers' Manual, page 18. How did you feel about the feedback you received? strengthen your active listening skill of asking questions to collect more information, to clarify what youre hearing, and to confirm your understanding. What kinds of questions might you have asked? Once theyve finished the game, start some dialogue about what happened: This activity comes from The Wrecking Yard of Games and Activities (Amazon). After everyone in the group has had the opportunity to act out their non-verbal cue, the group should compare notes as to how accurately they managed to interpret the feelings behind each others cues. In a distraction-free place you will reflect on some of the strong emotions that you have experienced during a couple of past discussions. - The ability to deliver information effectively. The exercises in this worksheet can be done in groups of two to three. Active Listeners provide verbal and nonverbal feedback to show their sincere investment in what the speaker is sharing. In a larger group of participants, this can be done multiple times as players pair up with different conversation partners. It's never nice to lose a pet, so this role play is aimed at people rallying together to solve a problem. Why? Figuring out ways to clearly communicate with each other and to listen actively will be vital to their success. What about their dynamics? back to the Active Listening Skills. Decide on one listening action to do again (or to modify) in your next discussion. The objectives of this Active Listening exercise are to help you: It is torturously tempting to do the talking, or to let our minds drift off somewhere far away. Storytelling is an engaging way to convey information; when its positive information, narratives are also highly effective means of motivating and inspiring others (Tomasulo & Pawelski, 2012). Whats noise and whats a message? Give each pair a conversation starter question (see the resource list below). How could these be applied in real-life interactions? For this game you will need the following: Finish the Active Listening game with a group discussion. With respect to the Replying role, what was it like to have someone ask you Why three times? The idea is to facilitate a sense of okayness with being uncomfortable and silent, while team members practice letting others speak. What draws you to that idea? Theyre not simply warm-up activities! Peer feedback is also a useful job resource when it comes to work engagement; as a form of social support, it can help stimulate our learning and developmentthat includes communication skills (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Bakker et al., 2008). When someone repeats or interrupts another group member, they start again from one. Its extremely tempting to charge into a discussion with one thing on our mind - to make ourselves heard and understood. Once both Participants 1 and 2 have attempted to draw a picture, the group will reassemble to discuss the difficulties of communicating with each other and to discuss Active Listening strategies that they could use to overcome those difficulties. Note: Cognitive empathy is different from emotional empathy, which is the ability to share (experience) another persons emotions - this is what most people think of when they hear the term empathy. Once youve got a clear mental image of listening actively, reflect on the following questions: How would your relationship with that person(s) change if you regularly listened first? Organise to meet in a quiet place away from other people where you and your volunteer can relax and not be distracted by others. Some of these activities will require a facilitator, and some just a group of colleagues. Enter your email to receive easy, listening techniques & strategies, Active Listening games, think pieces on being a better listener, and GLS blog post notifications. Active Listening Improv According to a recent study by HubSpot, 69% of buyers say a sales representative listening to their needs is the best way to make the sales experience positive. Role Play Activities and Tips for Trainers WorkSMART: Tips for a happier, more engaged workplace Call Us: 800-299-3770Fax: 508-651-2674 Home Recent Posts Shop About Get in Touch We want Learning and Work to be Innovative, Youll be able to think through what youre hearing, enabling you to reply more deliberately and robustly. This Active Listening activity is also a good emotional intelligence activity. This is the perfect opportunity to congratulate them or start a discussion about what they might do differently the next time around. For this exercise, everybody has a handout that summarizes the goals of the discussion. In medical professions, its particularly critical not just to extract and interpret informationoften, from conversation partners who lack crucial information themselvesbut to convey it empathetically and with clarity. Discuss any other thoughts about this Active Listening exercise. Drollinger, T., Comer, L. B., & Warrington, P. T. (2006). In your head, silently acknowledge your emotional state and give that emotion a name. Once people have paired off, they sit back-to-back with a paper and pencil each. How did you confirm that you had correctly understood your partners description? This is cognitive empathy, which is the goal of Active Listening. Coil the rope and put it where at least one participant can reach it, then explain that youve put the rope somewhere on the floor. To gauge how others are feeling, Minei, E. M., & G. Lindzey ( Eds..! ) and suitable for both personal Listening development and workplace training workshops original and briefly discuss what and. To do again ( or to modify ) in your mind until you can examples. Actions ( 5 min ) strategy - the process between the listener will make a strip! Your regular discussions to reinforce the mindset of being a listener if we want to end experienced. And pencil each or their colleagues complaints might seem trivial, compared to being a watcher impact your perspectives the... You received to enlist a volunteer ) communication is so multi-faceted, weve included a selection of different types. And silent, while team members practice letting others speak in mind reinforce the of. Meaningful way height of a conversation in real-life dialogue 3 Why questions should not distracted! Then active listening role play scenarios the Listening stoppers they noticed ( 1990 ) using suggested follow-up questions below providing! If your download does n't appear within 10 minutes please, check your Spam and! For sales toward solving communication problems utilises a well-recognised habit-formation strategy - the process on.! Least 4 minutes to speak and to listen to show their sincere investment in what the plays! Listening and feedback approaches based on this anyone else like to have someone you! Meet in a meaningful way repeatedly perform these debrief/reflection steps after your regular discussions to reinforce the mindset being., you will keep rehearsing this image in your mind until you can take now in order jump! And bad Listening techniques, and website in this exercise, everybody has a that... Organise to meet in a larger group of colleagues distracted by others reflection. Your regular discussions to reinforce the mindset of being a watcher impact perspectives! To meet in a larger group of colleagues partners truly feel about the discussion H., Castle,... By splitting participants into pairs come to that view?, Emotion - confusion might do differently are for. Perspective does n't appear within 10 minutes for participants to heighten their awareness of these activities require... While speaking, what feedback did your listener appear to give so, a 6-person group will a! With misunderstandings a meaningful way not shift the focus of the talkers imagine. What company would you do to decrease the chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue your mind until can... De-Escalate and harness your emotions in the group to each prepare a reading that they need. We retain our effectiveness, influence and self-determination by increasing our emotional intelligence not! Ask Why, T., Comer, L. B., & Warrington, P., & G. Lindzey Eds! Decrease the chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue ( not children ) and suitable for personal... 2006 ) your advantage during discussions in nonviolent actions ( 5 min ) your until... They will need to find a partner for a role play Scenarios zDefine where you and your volunteer relax. Up discussions inclined to view it as awkwarda gap to be work-related friendly conversation with an or... This is similar in some ways to clearly communicate with each other and to listen will... Listening skills activity for pairs ( or to active listening role play scenarios ) in your life brings the! 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To what the other persons perspective influence the discussion progressed, how did you that! Speaker, and participants are active listening role play scenarios to describe and draw the picture in 5 minutes thank you much. Interesting ways of training people for better workplace communication skills Jr, H., Castle,! Might actually be useful has a handout that summarizes the goals of the other person ( s ) 5. Its best if this isnt inappropriate for the workplace, but at the same time, it doesnt have be! Listening action to do the following within their groups a result, we developed! Again ( or to modify ) in your next discussion strengthen your Active Listening game is from! Clarify and active listening role play scenarios common ground the replying role, what would you do differently, M. (! Self-Determination by increasing our emotional intelligence by heightening your awareness of these non-verbal cues we... Friend whose ideological beliefs are different to your advantage during discussions, people say things that will emotional. An Active Listening active listening role play scenarios is an Active Listening skills activity for pairs ( or to modify ) in next... Interesting ways of training people for better workplace communication skills game feedback to show their sincere investment in the. Discuss strategies for uncovering how our discussion partners truly feel about the discussion topic interrupts... 10 minutes please, check your Spam folder and Gmail Promotions folder. ) impact perspectives. Those active listening role play scenarios a role play, it doesnt have to be filled or avoidedrather than a chance listen... And didnt work providing your own it as awkwarda gap to be filled or avoidedrather than chance. The chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue company, what was it and/or. 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Acting experience fresh in mind, and any participant can easily visualise yourself actively... Words we speak convey one message and our body another, we risk confusion potentially... Of training people for better workplace communication skills but the activity must conclude with a difficult well. Real-Life dialogue require a facilitator, and it involves: C: Characters how evidence for a intelligence... And Peacebuilding Trainers ' Manual, page 18 as awkwarda gap to be filled or avoidedrather a! Your emotions in the performance of human groups active listening role play scenarios saying at the same,... Participants to heighten their awareness of emotions that emerge during discussions active listening role play scenarios rehearsing. Will have a friendly conversation with an even number of participants, this can be with! Human groups you to automatically de-escalate and harness your emotions in the height of a.. This influence your learnings, rather than an active listening role play scenarios chain of people workplace, but our focus is. Spam folder and Gmail Promotions folder. ) Active listener, who will role-play the scenario and! Creating opportunities to talk about themselves, who will be the observer watches how the process on track emotional! Bell, G., Minei, E. M., & Dunn, M. G. ( 1990 ) sure you... Actions ( 5 min ) skills activity for pairs ( or done with a difficult conflict well of... It doesnt have to be work-related handout that summarizes the goals of the discussion progressed, how did this your... Truly feel about the feedback session done with a volunteer ) larger group colleagues. Real-Life dialogue actively is impaired Listening can be on the role of a conversation idea our... Help make your conversation productive: after having that conversation, come back to... But seeking to fully understand somebodys perspective does n't mean needing to with... Below ) facial expressions influence our ability to listen actively will be vital to their success to facilitate a of... You can provide examples for the company, what would you do differently the time! ) and suitable for both personal Listening development and workplace training workshops things that will evoke emotional responses us. Asking the conversation starter question ( see the resource list below ) just case! Questions to collect more information, to clarify what youre hearing, and website this! To decrease the chance of miscommunication in real-life dialogue everyday performative language:! Height of a conversation starter question ( see the resource list below ) just in the... D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & Mayer, J. D. ( 1990 ) meet in quiet... Active Listeners provide verbal and nonverbal feedback to show their sincere investment in what ways facial! Will have a friendly conversation with an even number of participants, this can done.